Maine

[HoopyFrood]

If you get the plants from the Fedco Tree sale, you might not want to plant the feral raspberries and blackberries. (if they are wild, I wouldn't, but if they are a cultivated berry that has just gone rogue, then they might be worth saving.) I believe the purples I got from Fedco are Royal purple.

I believe cultivars gone rogue... but I'm not 100%. I have 120 ft of fence I'm planting along. Maybe I can start them on opposite ends, just to make sure the feral ones aren't full-on wild. If they aren't I can transplant more next year. And the next, etc... they look like they've been lurking on the edge of the woods for a LONG time and someone did live down there decades ago. I love me some raspberries...

I'll let you know once we're in the swing of spring if we can take some of those items off your hands Thank you so much!

 

[tigger19687]

Wouldn't a nice row of Raspberry be worth it to help keep out "critters" (fox, coon etc?)
Or do they just go through it?

I had Raspberries years ago and those runners went under ground and popped up 20 feet away ! Love them but not sure I would want to do that again in a small area.

 

[lazy gardener]

I don't think raspberries will keep any critters away. They may be more likely to provide cover to the critters.

 

[tigger19687]

Oh good point Wish they behaved better

 

[OpalSecret]

Hello everyone!
Moved to Maine a couple years ago and doing research into getting chickens (about 6-10), egg layers. I am wanting to build my own coop tho' and do it right so looking at getting chicks next year.
Any helpful tips or advice is always welcome.
Been reading/watching a lot on YouTube and picking friends' brains who have chickens.

A little leary about getting chickens as we have active fox and coyote in the area. I have 46 acres of mostly woods, so oh yea, it will be a challenge! Of course the deer are all over the place. Friend in Vermont said she had to put up bars on her window to help deter bears. I haven't seen any here in these woods yet, tho' I think we saw a track once but nothing so far on the trap cameras. Did catch a bit of footage of a momma and baby moose. Beaver, raccoon and of course the wild turkeys!
Love it!

Anyway, wanted to say hello!

Opie
/|\

 

[HoopyFrood]

Hello everyone!
Moved to Maine a couple years ago and doing research into getting chickens (about 6-10), egg layers. I am wanting to build my own coop tho' and do it right so looking at getting chicks next year. ...

Welcome to the Maine thread, Opie! Wonderful to have you here (and in Maine)!

And you are very wise We planned for about 18 months before getting ours. And things still didn't go according to plan, not even close! But we would have been in a much worse situation if we had just "jumped in."

I think most of Maine is overrun with chicken predators. We have bears in our town (I've found their poop in my yard) but thankfully I have never heard anyone speak of a bear that developed a taste for chicken feed (or chickens) around here (northern Waldo county). We make sure to leave no feed in the run at night. A determined bear is almost impossible to deter. The only ideas I've heard of to beef up a run against bears are very expensive and involved. Ask your neighbors if they've ever heard of anyone in the area having bear trouble. Hopefully not. Our approach has been: "We love our girls, but if a bear decides to try to get in the run or coop, there is very little we can do." Apart from trying to scare it off in the act, of course...

It sounds like you've got a lot of wild country around. That helps. Left to their own I think bears really prefer to avoid people. It's only when they learn human activity can lead to easy treats that things start to go bad.

In my immediate vicinity we've heard of flocks being decimated by foxes, coyotes, weasels, and mink. Less common are reports of hawks/eagles, and raccoons, though those tend to pick off individuals rather than entire flocks.

We have at least one large pack of coyotes whose territory surrounds our land. I've found lots of their poop in my yard, too. Additionally every bird of prey you can think of (even osprey) are frequently overhead at our place. So we opted for a run constructed post-and-beam style with a rigid metal roof and clad in 1/4" hardware cloth with a 2 ft HW cloth skirt around the perimeter to deter diggers. It's not impossible to break into, but even the hungriest critter would probably find it not worth the effort once they started to try.

The degree of protection you'll want depends on the number of birds you have and your chicken keeping style. Ours are our babies; layers "just for fun" that get full retirement. That's pretty unusual around my area. Most people I talk to are pretty laissez faire; they let the chickens free range and simply buy twice as many as they want... They assume they'll lose significant numbers to predators.

While I could never take that approach, I am a little envious at the relative lack of effort they put into housing chickens

Again, welcome! Hope you have lots of fun here!
Oh and love the Miss Prissy avatar

 

[lazy gardener]

Welcome, Opal. I'm glad you've joined us, and even gladder still that you are doing your homework before getting your birds. Chickens are in my blood. I grew up with them, had my first flock at 12 years old, then got my first flock as an adult after hubby and I built our house. Went without for several decades, and recently got back into flock keeping about 6 years ago. This time around, I spent a lot of time researching, and it has paid off with increased enjoyment of the whole process.

A good read:

A good coop: The Wood's open air coop. If I was starting from scratch, that is what I'd build. WITH A SOIL FLOOR. Other option for cheap but functional and easy to build: hoop coop.

Good birds: For Maine, you will benefit by choosing small combed birds. I also refuse to keep feather footed birds. Don't want the mud, snow, and ice tracked in on those foot feathers. Check out Henderson's chicken breeds chart. My favorites: Dominique, Easter Egger, Ameraucana, Plymouth Barred Rock, and Black Australorpe. I also like Silver Laced Wyandotte, but don't believe they are as productive as the previously mentioned breeds. Unless you intend to cull your birds every 2 years, I'd avoid the hatchery sex linked and production hybrids.

Thread searches: Fermented feed, MHP style brooding, deep litter management in coop and run.

Want a project: build your own incubator for $25.00. Check out the many "how to" you tube videos by Rush Lane Poultry.

Predator control: Build your coop SOLID with 1/2" hdw. cloth covering all openings, and be sure to lock your birds in every night. Chicken wire will keep your birds in, but will not keep a predator out. You might like the added security of electric fencing.

My primary predators have been hawk and coon, as well as wandering dog. Weasels or mink are capable of killing an entire flock in a single night.

Be sure to welcome the wild turkeys. They carry a strain of Marek's dz. which is less lethal. Having turkeys in your yard acts as a natural Marek's innoculant.

 

[OpalSecret]

Welcome to the Maine thread, Opie! Wonderful to have you here (and in Maine)!

And you are very wise We planned for about 18 months before getting ours. And things still didn't go according to plan, not even close! But we would have been in a much worse situation if we had just "jumped in."

I think most of Maine is overrun with chicken predators. We have bears in our town (I've found their poop in my yard) but thankfully I have never heard anyone speak of a bear that developed a taste for chicken feed (or chickens) around here (northern Waldo county). We make sure to leave no feed in the run at night. A determined bear is almost impossible to deter. The only ideas I've heard of to beef up a run against bears are very expensive and involved. Ask your neighbors if they've ever heard of anyone in the area having bear trouble. Hopefully not. Our approach has been: "We love our girls, but if a bear decides to try to get in the run or coop, there is very little we can do." Apart from trying to scare it off in the act, of course...

It sounds like you've got a lot of wild country around. That helps. Left to their own I think bears really prefer to avoid people. It's only when they learn human activity can lead to easy treats that things start to go bad.

In my immediate vicinity we've heard of flocks being decimated by foxes, coyotes, weasels, and mink. Less common are reports of hawks/eagles, and raccoons, though those tend to pick off individuals rather than entire flocks.

We have at least one large pack of coyotes whose territory surrounds our land. I've found lots of their poop in my yard, too. Additionally every bird of prey you can think of (even osprey) are frequently overhead at our place. So we opted for a run constructed post-and-beam style with a rigid metal roof and clad in 1/4" hardware cloth with a 2 ft HW cloth skirt around the perimeter to deter diggers. It's not impossible to break into, but even the hungriest critter would probably find it not worth the effort once they started to try.

The degree of protection you'll want depends on the number of birds you have and your chicken keeping style. Ours are our babies; layers "just for fun" that get full retirement. That's pretty unusual around my area. Most people I talk to are pretty laissez faire; they let the chickens free range and simply buy twice as many as they want... They assume they'll lose significant numbers to predators.

While I could never take that approach, I am a little envious at the relative lack of effort they put into housing chickens

Again, welcome! Hope you have lots of fun here!
Oh and love the Miss Prissy avatar

Thanks HoopyFrood! I appreciate that!
I am beginning to think it may take 2 years and get the chicks in 2020 with all the projects I have to do. LOL

As for the bears, yea, I've not seen any on my trap cameras yet. The people who owned this place before us saw a bear once in their 12 years that came up to go after a bluebird house that the bees had taken over so it was after the honey. No one else has seen a bear from what I have learned so far. I definitely want to keep the coop closer to the house, near my room so I can hear if they have any issues.

Aye, that's what I am looking to do, a metal roof over run and coop, hardware cloth for sure. Apron around and dug in. We do have eagles and hawks so nothing open for the chickens. I won't do the free range only because of the predators but they will have a very large run and I planned on a nice big winding chicken tunnel or two to let them wander around the garden. Tons to build! LOL
I agree on the full retirement. I already know how attached you can get when you name them and they are more like pets that have the benefits of supplying eggs.

Gotta love Miss Prissy! YEEEAAAAHHHSSS!! lol

 

[HoopyFrood]

Thanks HoopyFrood! I appreciate that!
I am beginning to think it may take 2 years and get the chicks in 2020 with all the projects I have to do. LOL

As for the bears, yea, I've not seen any on my trap cameras yet. The people who owned this place before us saw a bear once in their 12 years that came up to go after a bluebird house that the bees had taken over so it was after the honey. No one else has seen a bear from what I have learned so far. I definitely want to keep the coop closer to the house, near my room so I can hear if they have any issues.

Aye, that's what I am looking to do, a metal roof over run and coop, hardware cloth for sure. Apron around and dug in. We do have eagles and hawks so nothing open for the chickens. I won't do the free range only because of the predators but they will have a very large run and I planned on a nice big winding chicken tunnel or two to let them wander around the garden. Tons to build! LOL
I agree on the full retirement. I already know how attached you can get when you name them and they are more like pets that have the benefits of supplying eggs.

Gotta love Miss Prissy! YEEEAAAAHHHSSS!! lol

I love it!

Glad you're in the clear on bears. Hopefully that's normal for the whole state.

Ditto on the free ranging and the aerial predators. We have a garden attached to the run (so the girls can gleefully murder anything we try to grow for them). This gives them a little more space and entertainment when we are not taking them on supervised "free" ranging. We use an aviary netting over that garden to thwart winged predators. Chicken moats are a great idea, too!

For the apron, of course take whatever approach seems best to you. I just stapled my down onto the ground with 6" landscape staples because I'm too lazy to dig I may bury the leading edge just so the girls (or ourselves) don't accidentally step on it. But like you I've got so much to do I have to eliminate unnecessary steps!

When you're planning your run roof here are some thoughts: I opted for corrugated roofing (galvalume metal sandwiching polycarbonate panels). Unity is a little was from you, but Maine Form Real Steel has incredible roofing prices and great customer service (run by the Amish community here). I don't have this year's pricing but last year linear foot pricing was $2 for galvanized/galvalume, $2.40 for painted and $3.50 for polycarbonate. These are 39" pieces providing 3 feet of coverage after overlap.

The PC was a "luxury" item because I wanted sunlight to get into the run. It wasn't strictly necessary though. My whole 220 sq ft run roof could have been as cheap as $160 If I had just stuck with galvalume. Oh but I'm a sucker for those cuties so they got PC skylights, too

 

[OpalSecret]

Welcome, Opal. I'm glad you've joined us, and even gladder still that you are doing your homework before getting your birds. Chickens are in my blood. I grew up with them, had my first flock at 12 years old, then got my first flock as an adult after hubby and I built our house. Went without for several decades, and recently got back into flock keeping about 6 years ago. This time around, I spent a lot of time researching, and it has paid off with increased enjoyment of the whole process.

A good read:

A good coop: The Wood's open air coop. If I was starting from scratch, that is what I'd build. WITH A SOIL FLOOR. Other option for cheap but functional and easy to build: hoop coop.

Good birds: For Maine, you will benefit by choosing small combed birds. I also refuse to keep feather footed birds. Don't want the mud, snow, and ice tracked in on those foot feathers. Check out Henderson's chicken breeds chart. My favorites: Dominique, Easter Egger, Ameraucana, Plymouth Barred Rock, and Black Australorpe. I also like Silver Laced Wyandotte, but don't believe they are as productive as the previously mentioned breeds. Unless you intend to cull your birds every 2 years, I'd avoid the hatchery sex linked and production hybrids.

Thread searches: Fermented feed, MHP style brooding, deep litter management in coop and run.

Want a project: build your own incubator for $25.00. Check out the many "how to" you tube videos by Rush Lane Poultry.

Predator control: Build your coop SOLID with 1/2" hdw. cloth covering all openings, and be sure to lock your birds in every night. Chicken wire will keep your birds in, but will not keep a predator out. You might like the added security of electric fencing.

My primary predators have been hawk and coon, as well as wandering dog. Weasels or mink are capable of killing an entire flock in a single night.

Be sure to welcome the wild turkeys. They carry a strain of Marek's dz. which is less lethal. Having turkeys in your yard acts as a natural Marek's innoculant.

Thanks lazy gardener! That's a lot of great info! I will be sure and check those out!

My dad had chickens and now sitting back and having learned so much already about them and good coops etc, I can see so much he did not do or what I could do better. Granted there is a lot more out there now than there was then but I have a bit to draw on as to what not to do.

Good to know about the feathered leg breeds.
That might be something to think about, the electric fencing. We have mostly deer that wander about here and I will be fencing in new plants and trees more this year and while I am at it, will start to fence a bit in the front yard that will end up being a floral garden.

As for coops, I had originally really liked the Omlet coops but after all the reading and youtube vids I've watched, I think it's better with a stationary coop instead of tractor style.
I've looked at different areas and taken note as to sun and wind and where might be better than another spot. So far I have it down as to where so they will have some nice wind breaks from trees to the north.

Awesome about the turkeys! I get them as frequent visitors along with the deer. I have not seen any wandering dogs, nor weasel or minx. Just fox and coyote and rarely ever during the day.

This is the trap camera footage of some of the wild life I have here:

Thanks again!