Is it foolish to even try raising poultry in my location?

[Kentucky]

Stumpy:

answer: "No".

For example our driveway is 1/4th mile long, we're bordered by dense woods and open pastures, with lots of predators everywhere.

Simply build a small fortress, with a .22 for close range, scoped .30-06 for long range and a 12gauge for aerial attacks.

Kentucky

 

[Stumpy]

LynneP, I hadn't noticed your post before I replied.

That misery is what I am trying to avoid. One of the reasons I want to do it is because of the prices, etc. I have a garden for the first time in years, but it's not nearly large enough. I believe we are going to see very hard times.

We have a bad habit of not being able to take all stray dogs to the pound, so we have a large fenced-in area of five dogs, which are quite good at alerting us to strangers. We've never seen a coyote close to the house, but there's never been much to attract them, I imagine. I would never dream of having a run that was not covered.

BTW, what sort of things does this poultryman do that are superior?

 

[Stumpy]

Kentucky, LOL. DH sometimes works as a firearms instructor. Need I say more? ;-).

 

[d.k]

*hey, again. Don't know a thing bout ducks, but you might wanta go with 4 hens to start. Mine lays 1 egg every other day, sometimes a little faster. 3-4 eggs a week, then. 4 hens should get you a dozen eggs a week, a maybe a couple extras.

 

[plucky]

Hey Stumpy,
My predator situation is very similar. I wanted chickens in an open-bottom chicken tractor, but realized it just wasn't feasible out here. With Dad's help, I built a 5'x10' coop with a raised insulated indoor area for nest boxes and roosts. The interior coop area and roof is enclosed with metal (scrap from a pole barn builder) and the rest, INCLUDING the floor is covered with 1" x 1/2" 16 gague welded wire. The whole thing is built on skids, so either hubby or I move it about once a week. During the day my 12 chickens exit one of the little doors to range in a movable electrified poultry netting fence. (Another benefit of having a mesh floor - the poop falls through, and we can scoop it up to use in garden/flower beds later).

The whole she-bang cost about $300...we started collecting culled lumber from Lowe's a couple months before we started building...the only lumber we bought outright were the treated 4x4's for skids.

You could build a much smaller coop for cheap! Especially if you scavenge from that old coop or other free lumber places.
Electrified poultry netting is kind of expensive, but you might not need much.

On a side note...if you decide to dispatch predators, be careful thinking of shooting anything out of the air - Hawks, Owls, etc. are VERY protected under the Migratory Bird Act, and killing or even wounding one comes with a VERY LARGE fine and possible jail time.

Good Luck!!![IMG]https://www.backyardchickens.com/img/smilies/yippiechickie.gif

 

[chcknrs]

I have quite a few predators in my neck of the woods, too. My DH built a chicken tractor from an old fence we took down, and I let my chickens free range every day. We have two big dogs who chase off any wild animals, and so far have only lost chickens to our mini dachshund. She is being rehomed this weekend! I have the wire-bottomed run, and it works well for me.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

We live adjacent to a wildlife management area We have lots of predators as most of the land around us is wooded. We can not freerange our chickens but we have built a secure coop and run for them we have had them for 2 years and have not had a problem. We did have a snake in the coop how he got in is anybodys guess but he was just trying to get out of the cold and did not harm anything. Something tries to dig under our coop during the night but we fhave a very secure floor so they can not get in. We also have ducks and geese. As long as they are confined in a secure coop at night theres no problems Our goose pens do not have a roof but I dont think anything could pick up a full sized 12-14 pound goose from above.

 

[Stumpy]

d.k, thanks. That would be plenty of eggs for us. I’d like to be able to share also.

Plucky, that is a fantastic, solid-looking coop! That electrified fencing sounds like a good idea. What kind of insulation does yours have? I have always assumed I would lock them into a solid enclosure every night. One question I have, though, is about the netting on the floor. I read at one website that this could be very painful and cause problems for the chickens. Is this true?

Oh, I wouldn’t dare shoot one of the hawks or eagles. I was thinking about coyotes, etc.

 

[plucky]

Hey Stumpy
The insulation is regular 3 1/2" house insulation we had laying around left over from insulating the well house. Dad just helped me stud it up like a regular house, then we stapled in the insulation, (Floor is insulated too, since it's off the ground) then put panelling on the inside so they wouldn't peck the insulation. (The panelling was next to nothing at Lowe's in the cull rack.)

I've been told that here an insulated coop is overkill. We don't get THAT cold here in Arkansas in the winter, though it's possible to have nights down in the teens down to zero in January. I was thinking more for keeping it cooler on really hot summer days so the hens don't lay hard boiled eggs.

I'm sure you've read how important ventilation is, too.

On the other side I put an access/cleanout door to rake out pine shavings and poo. That's one thing I might change...instead of having to rake out the litter, is having a dropping board you can pull out.

As far as mesh being hard on chickie feet, I think the issue is getting the mesh small enough so it doesn't hurt their feet. Others may want to weigh in on this. Mine seem fine on the 1" x 1/2"...it's pretty stout stuff, and I've got enough floor support that even the weight of several chickens in one spot doesn't budge the wire. Regular "chicken wire" would not be good for a floor...and really not for any coop you need to keep predators out of. Plus, my chickens are usually out on the ground, or in the enclosed part, so they spend a relatively short amount of time on the wire. However, I know others who's chickens spend a lot of time on wire floors and have no problems. The reason I designed mine with such a large mesh floor was so if we went away for a few days, they'd have enough room to strut their stuff even being locked in the coop, and yet still be safe from predators.

One little tip about that welded wire - I've found that around here you can get it in pre-packaged 10' lengths OR you can buy it by the foot in different widths. Stores like Orchelans (sp?) sell it pre-packaged, but a lot of (for lack of a better phrase) "real" farm stores will carry by the foot. It's a better buy and less hassle when you can just get the amount you want by the foot, and you have much less waste.

I had a hard time deciding on regular 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth or the heavier gauge 1"x1/2". I decided heavier was more important. Hubby was a little concerned about a coon still being able to reach in, but I know from the coons I've raised in the past that they can't reach very far through even the 1x1/2".

Sorry to get so long-winded on you! I think you're going to do great with chickens...it all sounds a little overwhelming at first, but it's definately a quick learning curve.

 

[S0rcy]

I don't see any problem with it as long as they are not infested with termites or termite eggs. Sand them down well, treat them with a disinfectant and I'm sure they would be fine. I don't know if beeswax is toxic to chickens - anyone? if it is not you could melt a bit of beeswax and then add some vegetable oil and rub the warm (let it cool off a bit, dont get burned!) melt into the wood. This will help prevent decay. I do this with wooden artwork pieces that are going into the garden.

Quote:
I forgot to add to my first post that in the past few days of looking at some chicken keeping videos, I have seen some amazingly creative ways for people to keep chickens in their lives! People with very little space are using it to good effect and are proving (at least to me) that it is economical and worth it to keep chickens in the most interesting places! The most interesting I've seen so far was a dog "igloo" house being used on a porch for two chickens being kept by a few college kids sharing a downstairs apartment. By keeping their 'igloo' coop clean and the chickens fed, the boys had no complaints from any neighbors and were defended by those same neighbors when the manager tried to kick the chickens out! (The lease did allow birds)