Howdy BYC Gang from Northern VT!

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Michele C

Michele C

In the Brooder
7 Years
Sep 4, 2012
9
1
11
Hello and Happy Labor Day Everyone!
My husband and I are raising our first flock of hens. We have 11 lovely ladies who were born on May 18th of this year. The girls are just starting to get their wattles and we are learning a lot as we go. I have found BYC to be an invaluable resource and finally decided to officially join your ranks.

We purchased our hens from the local hardware store, ordering 8, but there were some left over so we ended up with 11. We ordered 4 Rhode Island Reds and 4 Barred Rocks, however, the shipment arrived with Golden Comets instead of RIR. One of the Barred Rocks turned out to be an australorp, as was one of the extra 3, so our flock is 6 comets, 2 australorps and 3 barred rocks. I'm wondering what the favorite breeds of other cold weather dwellers are.

We live in a very rural area, and have had one bear visit since putting the girls in their coop. The bear didn't venture near them, however. Instead, he went after the yellow jackets who were nesting under our deck! That said, I'm wondering what others have done to keep their flock safe. We have fenced in a 30' x 75' section of the yard and placed the coop in the middle... I'm hoping the fence is enough of a deterrent to keep the bear(s) away once they figure out the chicks are there.



I appreciate any additional information anyone can lend and I look forward to exploring even more of this site.

One more question... we are currently using pine shavings as the bedding in the coop, but I read that river sand works well and is easier to keep clean. Does anyone have any experience with the sand?

I'm so glad this site is available and thank you all in advance!
Michele
 
Hi and :welcome from Ohio. So glad to have you aboard. I have all 3 of those breeds and they do fine in Ohio's winters. I have both sand with shavings on top for bedding and they have a 50ft run attached. I only clean out the coop twice a year, fall and spring. As for the bear, I don't have that problem but some folks here use electric fencing to keep the bears out. Good luck and enjoy the site. :thumbsup
 
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. Love your coop! I don't raise chickens but I do use sand in my duck pens.
 
Hello, that's a very nice looking coop! I'm sure the 11 girls love it very much. As far as advice for predators is concerned you look fairly safe with the outside covered run area and then the chain link fence farther out from that. Well done. The only other thing I might suggest for night predators might be the night guard red lights. It will help keep most nocturnal predator away except raccoons which are color blind. We have no bears thank goodness, so with that I'm not sure what would keep them away or getting into the coop if they are big enough and hungry enough.
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Either the red lights or electric fencing.

Talking about the run area, a lot of people choose to use the sand in the area and I've heard good results about it as far as cleaning is concerned. Ya'll have done a great job on the coop, etc! Way to go!


Howdy,

 
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Hello and welcome to BYC
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We don't have bears here, thankfully! Only mongoose and proper facing kept them at bay. I see you got some good advice from the above posters. Enjoy the site!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
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I use wood shavings, in winter it is not as cold and hard as sand. Check out the Deep Litter method.

Bears are usually more interested in the chicken food than the chickens, so you might want to store that in a garage or other sturdy structure. Electric fences don't work that great (bear went through the electric horse pasture fence twice last year in the middle of the night, resulting in phone calls about horses running loose at the local bar at 2 am).
 

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