Maine

[bwockbwock]

I am always open to comments.....thanks for the feedback.
My existing birds would not be very happy confined, but my newbies will have to be.
I am also getting a few geese to alert me to things.
I am watching the woodchuck family out on the lawn right now, they seem to be thriving, LOL
I have raised bed gardens so I can manage to coexist peacefully with them.

 

[NewEnglandChick]

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Sorry to hear about your girls. Mind would NOT enjoy being shutdown either.

Ours free range from spring - fall, and we live in a heavily wooded area where we frequently see coyotes, fox, fishers (okay, I've never ACTUALLY seen a fisher, but everyone swears that is where their missing cats are going) and I don't have any problems except for the occasional skunk digging under the coop, or mice stealing feed from the dishes. Everyone gets let out first thing in the morning & spend the day on the back lawn, at my in-laws, or somewhere in our wooded lot (seriously...it feels like Jurassic Park - you can see all the overgrowth moving, and hear the "creatures" in it, but you can't actually see them until they come out onto the mowed lawn. I go out after 8 - sometimes 8:30, sometimes 10:30, depends on when I get out there -do a head count, close 'em up, and do it all over in the morning.

We have a dog though and I'm guessing that's a big help. Perhaps a chicken guard dog is in order?!

 

[mysweetgypsy]

BLRW Roos ~ Kind of off topic but this is the Maine thread so it was my best guess as to posting. I have 2-3 BLRW roos that will be up for "rehoming" in a few weeks. I'm thinking of keeping one, but want the quietest one, I have 3 toddlers and don't want a pushy roo. Once I get the most mellow, anyone interested in a BLRW roo? They'll be about 6 weeks when we rehome them. They have been very well started, are healthy, happy, and very friendly. Only one acts roo so far, but I know there's more!

 

[buckabucka]

I've got 7 extra roos! It seems like everyone has too many. Ours will go to freezer camp in the fall.

As to predators, - we have been lucky here. We have 70 acres of woods with plenty of predators. We do what I call semi-free-ranging, - with a large area enclosed by an electric fence. The stupid thing is, we have never electrified it!

You have to have a well-mowed lawn and make sure not one blade of grass is in contact with the fence or it will short out. Ours is on rough ground in a partly wooded area so they get some shade. Only one chicken flies over the fence, and we don't leave them out in it when we are not home. It is sort of a compromise.

Our original intention was to keep them in their secure run at all times, but after the first winter, they were stir crazy and pulling out all each others feathers. The semi-free-ranging has eliminated that problem.

 

[Mom555]

We are building a coop on an old tent trailer frame. The basic frame is 8'x10'. It will have a shed roof. How many hens will it take to keep them warm this winter?

 

[Mom555]

I forgot to add it will be insulated. How much glass does it need?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I've, too, been pretty lucky here. Aside from a few skunks, a very scary dog and a bald eagle, we've been pretty free of predators. Haven't lost one yet to predators and I've been ranging them over a year. I let them free range in the evenings when I get home from work (if I'll be home). A few always fly over the fence every day and roam around while I'm at work. I figure even if I do lose some to occasional predation, I think they'll be much happier to have a few years roaming free(ish) than many years cooped up.

They're pretty destructive on my gardens though... and they eat the styrofoam insulation around my house. That makes me really mad.

 

[Speed]

The area we live in is partly field and forest, enough land that I can go far enough out back into the woods that I can't hear cars going by on the road. We let them out anytime between 6am and 7:30 am. They stay out all day even if we leave. at night just like a clock 8:15 they are all back in the coop roosting. We have a run for them that on a few days a week we try to keep them locked in as no one will be home till after dark. The kids forget what days the flock needs to stay in the run and let them loose. I'm sure it's bound to happen, but we haven't lost any yet. We get a lot of enjoyment out of having them around us while we are out in the yard, the chickens run with the kids and even chase one of our cats around.

 

[bwockbwock]

OK! I have had it, I am declaring war. As much as I absolutely loath leg hold traps there will be one out in back of my barn by night fall, as soon as I have the cats in. This morning I lost Henrietta my original banty that started it all. She was feral and only came in the barn while sitting. She took off outside with her new chicks when they were three days old, they appeared this AM without her so now they are in the house as they are still less than two weeks old.
I WILL win this war.

 

[hudsonnascarfan]

might take more than just 1 trap to catch that critter you might have to bait the traping area with a chicken or 2
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