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Dragon Coop

Dragon Coop

In the Brooder
Apr 11, 2025
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Hello from Tennessee
I am a first time chicken mom. 5 cream crested legbars, 5 weeks old, supposed to be all girls but I am having the suspicion one might be a roo.
I owned and raised a lot of different animals over the years with fur, feathers and scales, so with my grandson being in 4H and raising chicken and watching the little ones hatch, I finally gave in and got some too. I mean how hard can it be to have backyard chicken? Right? Well like with most of my animals my 5 chicks quickly became my babies, so only the best is good enough for them, (within my budget anyway) so I am studying up on nutrition, habitat, safety, health and diseases, predators, equipment and housing choices.
So far I have concluded that nothing is safe for them and I might have to keep them in my house indefinitely to protect them from predators, diseases and getting a heart attack when we have a thunderstorm.
The chicks on the other hand have decided that they can take on the cats if I would just let them out of their cage, they could outrun a road runner and that my appearance should always mean live worms and choice veggies are being served.
And yes, I was definitely crazy before I added chicken to the mix.
 

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Hiya, and welcome to BYC! :frow

Cute intro! Love the picture! :love

Do you have a coop yet? If not, we have a Coop Forum and you could make them a secure run as well. 1/2" hardware cloth is pretty much standard and keeps out nearly every predator, though bears maybe not. Some folks put their run instructions in with their coops.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC!:frowI understand that diseases and predators and such is a very scary thing to face when owning chickens, but in my opinion, as long as you (as in you personally):

#1: have a predator-proof coop and run
#2: practice good hygiene with chickens (e.g. washing their waterer, sanitizing stuff, keeping birds and pests away from them to prevent the chickens from getting parasites)
#3: keep them locked up

Then they should be totally safe. Many many people don't free-range their chickens due to predators and such and that's totally okay! You can bring the outdoors to them by bringing them bugs and chunks of sod to peck at. :)
Diseases are unavoidable- if you have the cleanest coop and run in the whole world you wouldn't be able to avoid them unfortunately.😞But if they live outside, at least they will build up some immunity to all that stuff that lives outside and thus be healthier and more immune to things overall.:thumbsup

Debbie292d and pennyJo1960 bring up very good points! Hardware cloth is crucial for a predator-proof, safe run. Remember that mice can fit through as little as a 1/4 of an inch gap!🤢
 
Last edited:
talkinboutchickens said:
Hello and welcome to BYC!:frowI understand that diseases and predators and such is a very scary thing to face when owning chickens, but in my opinion, as long as you:

#1: have a predator-proof coop and run
#2: practice good hygiene with chickens (e.g. washing their waterer, sanitizing stuff, keeping birds and pests away from them to prevent the chickens from getting parasites)
#3: keep them locked up

Then they should be totally safe. Many many people don't free-range their chickens due to predators and such and that's totally okay! You can bring the outdoors to them by bringing them bugs and chunks of sod to peck at. :)
Diseases are unavoidable- if you have the cleanest coop and run in the whole world you wouldn't be able to avoid them unfortunately.😞But if they live outside, at least they will build up some immunity to all that stuff that lives outside and thus be healthier and more immune to things overall.:thumbsup

Debbie292d and pennyJo1960 bring up very good points! Hardware cloth is crucial for a predator-proof, safe run. Remember that mice can fit through as little as a 1/4 of an inch gap!🤢
Click to expand...
We do free range, but have two dogs that keep them safe, and at night, nothing can get them.
 
Hello and welcome to your insanity! :frow At least you are not alone in this madness, Lol. I totally agree with this person:

Debbie292d said:
We do free range, but have two dogs that keep them safe, and at night, nothing can get them.
Click to expand...
Only in our case it's now three dogs. They don't actually protect the chickens. They just mark the perimeters so coyotes respect the boundaries. Whatever. It works. Happy chickening!
 
Welcome to the flock. You came to the right place. Read as much as you can, learn from others mistakes or experiences, but don't let it freak you out. Just remember, more space than you ever thought they needed, and hardware cloth is your best friend. That is, once it's installed. While installing it, you will have a whole different opinion.
 

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