My Three Chicks
Crowing
Background: I currently have 3 hens and will be getting 3 more this Spring (yey!). Eventually I'll have up to the allowable 8 (or so - hehe).
Right now they have a 5'x8' storage coop that they only use to sleep. They have a predator proof 8'x14' attached run. When I'm home (which right now is every day since I'm currently working from home) they free range in my suburban backyard which is heavily tree'ed and canopied (at least in the spring and summer).
I am not super worried about predators (we are in Seattle) but I know there have been coyote sightings in the area. I've seen 2 racoons (one at night and one at 8:30am) in the 8 month we've lived here. Haven't seen any real threat of aerial predators like hawks although I know they exists. Our most frequented 'predators' are probably the neighborhood and stray cats that will wander through. I've seen a couple of them during the day when my chickens are out there. The girls will perk up and cry their alarm (although it sounds like the egg song to me!) and the cats just seem to stand there until I go and chase them away.
I'll soon be returning to the office a few times a week. Not 100% comfortable with leaving them to roam in the entire backyard (1/3 of an acre suburban lot). Although the yard is completely surrounded by a 6' high wooden fence.
So on the days I'm not home, I was thinking to give them a little more space (and sun - since our run has a solid roof) by covering a small side yard area (13' x 20' next to their run with some welded wire overhead. I'd leave the sides open (although as you can see in the 2nd picture that it's surrounded almost entirely between the fence, the garage, and the run itself. It's completely bare (no trees).
What do you think? Good idea? Worth doing? I'm thinking just some posts and a trellis frame over top to attach the wire to.
Right now they have a 5'x8' storage coop that they only use to sleep. They have a predator proof 8'x14' attached run. When I'm home (which right now is every day since I'm currently working from home) they free range in my suburban backyard which is heavily tree'ed and canopied (at least in the spring and summer).
I am not super worried about predators (we are in Seattle) but I know there have been coyote sightings in the area. I've seen 2 racoons (one at night and one at 8:30am) in the 8 month we've lived here. Haven't seen any real threat of aerial predators like hawks although I know they exists. Our most frequented 'predators' are probably the neighborhood and stray cats that will wander through. I've seen a couple of them during the day when my chickens are out there. The girls will perk up and cry their alarm (although it sounds like the egg song to me!) and the cats just seem to stand there until I go and chase them away.
I'll soon be returning to the office a few times a week. Not 100% comfortable with leaving them to roam in the entire backyard (1/3 of an acre suburban lot). Although the yard is completely surrounded by a 6' high wooden fence.
So on the days I'm not home, I was thinking to give them a little more space (and sun - since our run has a solid roof) by covering a small side yard area (13' x 20' next to their run with some welded wire overhead. I'd leave the sides open (although as you can see in the 2nd picture that it's surrounded almost entirely between the fence, the garage, and the run itself. It's completely bare (no trees).
What do you think? Good idea? Worth doing? I'm thinking just some posts and a trellis frame over top to attach the wire to.
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