Michigan

[chicken grandma]

Eeyore!
I am very sorry you lost your chickens!

Are you guys talking about not having floors in your nighttime coops?

I have a floor in the coop and my run has wire that is dug two feet into the ground. I am not bragging I just wondered if people don't put floors in their coops...........are your coops on dirt?

Also, tiny mesh / hardware cloth is needed for the run at least around the bottom and into the ground. To prevent weasels which can get through chicken wire.

For the old timers - why would a predator kill a coop full of chickens and eat one head? I don't get it.

 

[EeyoreD]

I am not bragging I just wondered if people don't put floors in their coops...........are you on dirt?

Yeah yeah you're just rubbing it in (I'm kidding).

Yes, I'm on dirt. I had a hardware cloth apron extended (in various places) from 18 in to 24 in round the coop. But it had buckled in places (it could get underneath) and also there were some gaps near the corners.

I think (I hope) that if I screw it better into the base of the coop and then put a double row of those 8 x 16 blocks on top right next to the coop (so they'll extend 16 inches out on top of the cloth) it will keep anything else out. Again, I hope.

theron, thanks! I definitely need some largefowl. But I also really got attached to those little bantams, poor things.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

I am wondering if it was a CAT/ DOG that did it. They have a fondness for killing without eating, i don't know of ANY predators that wouldn't have at least taken one out to eat. Is there at least one missing?

How you find out what it is is by putting a body back out nearby and watching with a .22.....................

Look in the dirt for prints, you may be able to tell then. If not put up a pic of the print and someone on here may be able to help. Whatever it is will definitely be back, they always are. I lost my first flock except for my pet roo to coons...............

 

[NovaAman]

Well, In my chuckles coop, solid floor. In my summer coop, no floor, just earth, and in the big coop, has solid floor unless I take out the wood that has the opening... but since it has the summer coop attached right to the front, I don't even close the doors. It is skirted closed in all around the bottom, because all my coops are up off the ground. the silkie coop though that I just build a few weeks ago, its open to its little run, and that does not have an apron because move it... I am thinking of changing that though, making the run 8 feet longer, but going out the back side of it where I open and close the coop to clean... In which case, I will move it over the tree roots also, but surround it with the step stones also...

 

[NovaAman]

I am going to go with coon. they are persistent little suckers...

 

[EeyoreD]

Maybe while I'm out getting my pavers I'll get a live trap and a rifle... That should tell me, for sure, what it was.

 

[chicken grandma]

Yes, I'm on dirt. I had a hardware cloth apron extended (in various places) from 18 in to 24 in round the coop. But it had buckled in places (it could get underneath) and also there were some gaps near the corners.

I think (I hope) that if I screw it better into the base of the coop and then put a double row of those 8 x 16 blocks on top right next to the coop (so they'll extend 16 inches out on top of the cloth) it will keep anything else out. Again, I hope.

EASY FIX -- GET SOME PLYWOOD AND PUT A FLOOR IN YOUR COOP!

 

[NovaAman]

There is that too. It might be cheaper in the long run too... A few 2x4s across the bottom... and they have those nifty little 2x4 brackets you could use to attach them, and then lay the ply over, nail down. Then you wouldn't have to worry about an apron not working...

 

[fuzzybutt love]

A floor is really the only surefire way to stop this. Are you in the city or country? is this a chicken tractor? Mabie you could have a tractor for daytime and a little house to lock them in at night?


The chicken feed comments were in response to concerns about MG in my flock, breeding concerns. i didn't want anyone envisioning poor, weak, sickly chicks over here.
I don't use medicated feed, i want their immune system to develop naturally. Henceforth the obsession with having a broody, i read that they are more healthy raised that way. Mine do have the luxury of being free range in the country, when i am there to watch over them, so they get the good stuff from the dirt with the bad...........

My goal is to create a personalized flock, right now i'm in the beginning stages. Helps a lot with the chicken math, i need to have a small amount of the right birds for now, once i am closer to what i want then i can let them hatch away. I figure this is at least a 10 year project. At this stage it's all about personality and body shape, getting the lav genes into them.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

sorry, took so long to type my novel.... a day late and dollar short, as usual!

Off to go play with some babies, may get the last of my garden planting done. This rain couldn't have come at a better time for me!