INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Nyla]

Does any know if it would be okay to store hay bales inside a tent during winter if not all year round?

I found a Northwest Territory Grand Canyon 20' x 12' tent said to be able to fit 12 people for $200. I figured this would be so much cheap to buy and less time consuming, instead of buying another shed or building one.

I don't know if it matters, but the hay bales are only meant for bedding.

I have a super cheap hay bale supplier ( $1 a bale and they are big rectangle bales) and want to stock up on hay for winter for my lovely Muscovies but I only have a 7ft x 7ft shed with walls of 4ft and a peak of 8 ft. I currently have 10 bales inside and could fit more but I want to have lots lots lots more of hay because well.. I love clean clean clean duck coops! Plus I like to watch my Muscovy's go nuts for new hay.

 

[Nyla]

So this Sunday is the Knox Animal Swap!!
I'm hoping to find Lavender Trio if not more, Blue Male, Chocolate Male, and possibly any other Muscovy's that appeal to me. Is anyone here going?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Nyla
I think you could safely store hay in a tent
IF

1. You raise them up off ground level by putting skids down on the floor first, then stacking them on the skids.

2. The tent must be water-proof with no leaks.


Even if you're using it just for bedding, wet hay will mold and the mold produces mycotoxins that are deadly to man and beast Even hay that hasn't been dried properly before baling has that risk.

 

[Nyla]

The hay is good quality and dried properly. They are a hay business and since I'm a close friend to them, they sell me cheap hay bales. And I always keep my hay off the ground. I use milk crates to keep the bales off the floor even in my shed. I'm going to be putting a huge thick trap over the tent just to be extra safe from the rain or snow.

Thank you so much for your help!

@Nyla
I think you could safely store hay in a tent
IF

1. You raise them up off ground level by putting skids down on the floor first, then stacking them on the skids.

2. The tent must be water-proof with no leaks.


Even if you're using it just for bedding, wet hay will mold and the mold produces mycotoxins that are deadly to man and beast Even hay that hasn't been dried properly before baling has that risk.

 

[Faraday40]

So now for some bad news...

The fox came back yesterday around 6pm. Still very light outside.
It terrorized the chickens & was going hard after Cookie's chicks (my laced orps) in the tractor. (He/she was digging & clawing at their enclosure.) My kids caught the fox in the act. Two pullets were lost for a while, but were found squeezed under the big coop. Thankfully OK, just scared and wedged under there for a while until we could maneuver them out.

Three of the 11 wk olds inside the tractor got a few comb abrasions, and the 4th got hurt. The fox somehow scalped her. I feel sick. There's a flap of skin & feathers. Strangely not as much blood as I would think. I disinfected the wound & am keeping her inside for observation.

For now, my dog gets to spend the whole day outside, and I moved the chicken tractor closer to the house. (I think the fox is hitting the tractor because it's farther away from activity & not in line of sight from the house & garage.) At night I have talk radio, blinky lights, motion sensor spot light, a very secure coop and a hardware cloth run fastened to a perimeter of buried cinder blocks. I did not expect the fox to hit so early.

I'm obviously glad that no chickens got eaten, but I feel so bad for my sweet blue buff colombian orpington. I really can't afford a $100-300 vet bill, so all I can do is keep her clean & comfortable. If we need to, my friend will put her down. Now that the fox got a taste of blood, I'm very, very scared.

The roosters were crowing & the dog was barking like crazy at something in the neighbor's yard this morning. I really hope this fox is deterred by our dog.

BTW- I'm very open to recommendations for electric fencing. I would need something inexpensive & movable / easy to install.

(I guess I should also say safe around curious little boys. My son's very interested in electric fences & circuits as we discovered when visiting a friend with cows in WI. LOL )

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
I use the Premier1 electronetting with a solar charger. The most expensive part is the charger. I can send you some links and videos if you like.

I wonder if you could set out a trap for the fox. I've read some about trapping fox with live traps. It seems that they are smart as a fox and can often "out-fox" the traps (go figure ), but I've seen how some people have set them up to make a catch more likely. You could google live trapping a fox for some ideas.

 

[Leahs Mom]

PS: The electronetting is portable to wherever you want to set it.



Also, @JanetMarie set up regular electric lines on here perimeter as she was having fox problems. I'm hoping she'll chime in, show some photos, and tell her results. I'm thinking you had regular perimeter fence on your yard already, right? Of course, that won't be moveable.

As far as child safety, your son is old enough to know not to touch it. But you can also get the little signs that you zip tie to the fence stating that it is electric so that everyone that may come into your yard knows it's electric too. I wouldn't run an electric fence without the little signs so that folks are warned. Otherwise it just looks like plastic netting.

The new chargers PULSE the electric. They're not a steady flow of electric. They're a jolt, but it isn't steady.

 

[Leahs Mom]

This photo shows what the netting looks like. This is the poultry net plus in green. Sorry no chickens showing.

 

[Faraday40]

PS: The electronetting is portable to wherever you want to set it.



Also, @JanetMarie set up regular electric lines on here perimeter as she was having fox problems. I'm hoping she'll chime in, show some photos, and tell her results. I'm thinking you had regular perimeter fence on your yard already, right? Of course, that won't be moveable.

As far as child safety, your son is old enough to know not to touch it. But you can also get the little signs that you zip tie to the fence stating that it is electric so that everyone that may come into your yard knows it's electric too. The new chargers PULSE the electric. They're not a steady flow of electric. They're a jolt, but it isn't steady.

Thank you for the ideas & pic. Is there a rough estimate for costs? (like $2 per foot)

We have mostly old fence around the perimeter. Enough to keep our dogs & chickens inside - but most wildlife knows were the holes are. (Some areas have 6-10" gaps along the bottom, and due to soil deposits one area is only about 3' high.) The 2 side 300' fence sections actually belong to the neighbors on each side, so only a little bit of the fencing belongs to us. For over 20 yrs, all 3 of us had dogs & the fence worked well enough to keep them inside the proper yard. A gap more than 18" gets repaired, but there are too many small gaps to repair. I know if we wanted to replace the fences at our cost, they'd be fine with it. Both neighbors are elderly & on fixed budgets. What I don't know is if a regular horse or chain link fence would keep a fox out. That's why I'm thinking about an electric fence, but sad because the cost would limit the amount of space the chickens would get.

Yesterday our dog spent 8-5pm out back with the chickens. He was one happy boy! Several times he went crazy barking at something & the roosters crowed with him, but I never could see what it was. I brought the flock in at 5pm and have not seen any evidence that a fox returned at night. As a temp solution, the dog will do. However our 9 yr old dog is not an "outside" dog. We'll need a new plan before it freezes. Does a fox leave to hibernate or are regular fox attempts our new normal?

 

[JanetMarie]

The fox was going through the large openings in the cattle fence to grab a chicken and escape quickly. We put 4' chicken wire along it to stop that, then put a strand of electric wire a few inches from the ground.

On one side of the property we just put up the 4' chicken wire fence without electric, and have not had a fox climb over. Foxes creep close to the ground like a cat, and do not like to climb a fence to kill your poultry, because that exposes them.

I'll post some pics later, after I take some.