I've had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, peafowl, and the requisite experience with coons, opossums, hawks, dogs, etc off and on for many years. Now I'm getting some Japanese Quail and will likely add some chickens to the yard. This is, however, the first time I'll be keeping them in a backyard. We've previously had farms. So I'm hoping that I can get tips here for keeping poultry in my backyard in a small northwestern US city. We've had a number of kinds of chickens. Our favorite were mille fleur bantam chickens. As to other birds, our favorite have been peafowl. My current back yard is fairly small so my challenge will be to give the birds enough space that they can scratch without tearing up too much of the yard.
Hello and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. I’ve no doubt that you will find the tips that you are looking for. You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find Your State Thread Best wishes Pork Pie
Welcome! I'm in the NW too. Enjoy the site. Tips for backyard keeping-- make sure you have a covered coop and run if you keep birds that can fly, like quail and Mille Fleurs. Fliers can all too easily end up in someone else's backyard and if they have dogs they can be gone in an instant. And it also hacks off the neighbors. Make sure you keep the birds in a safe and secure coop at night, and keep it locked. We have lots of raccoons up here and they are very good at figuring out latches. And owls can easily take chickens, too, at night, so that's double the incentive to keep them protected when they're sleeping. Also use hardware cloth instead of the regular chicken wire, and make sure the spaces are no more that 1/2 an inch for chickens-- much less for quail. Otherwise, the birds can stick their heads through and be decapitated by possums and skunks. And it also keeps weasels and rodents from being able to enter. You'll also want a partially covered run. We get a lot of rain here in most seasons. Unless there is a covered outdoor area, the birds will be stuck inside a great deal of the time. Another tip-- talk to your neighbors before buying to get a feel on how they are going to respond. And also check your city ordinances. Some places still don't allow poultry, some places will allow no roosters, and sometimes there are ordinances about where you can place a coop. And more. Good luck and enjoy.
Thanks, Jed I appreciate the warnings. Do quail actually stick their heads through hardware cloth? I've been on the warpath with coons when we live on the farm in WI. In one summer we trapped at least 50.