Minnesota!

[scandiafowl]

Foxy, that middle picture had me laughing!

Thank you so much for sharing the photos. I hope next year we'll have some to share as well!
Wonderful, keep posting.

 

[gofeedthegirls]

Hey all! I hope everyone has been enjoying this weather as much as I have. I spent the better part of yesterday and today finishing up my coop run. It is 10x12x8 with buried hardware cloth 1 ft in the gound. With my very minimal carpentry experience and the lack of new lumber(a lot was recycled wood)
I am pretty pleased with the way it came out. The poles on the north side of the run are 2" higher to provide slope if I were ever to put any type of roofing over it, besides hardware cloth. Next thing to do will be to work on the inside of the coop and get that ready to go! Im excited to move the girls out here. Only six more weeks!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks Ralphie. They are a convenient size for birds of prey. My other loss was a bantam. Standard birds--never had an issue.

DH thinks I'm presumptuous to ask the neighbors to put in the low fence. I don't know what else to do other than boxing them in their run or running miles of fencing around mine.

You can ask, but i tend to agree with him.

I also cannot picture a fence to let deer in and keep chickens out.

 

[Scott16475]

Update on our hurt SLW. Beak is healing and doesn't appear to be causing any issues. This was our first issue with one of our girls so we may have panicked.

On a lighter side; it's amazing how it took our four BA's 3 weeks last summer to figure out how to put themselves to bed and yet our 6 new chicks have put themselves to bed on day 2. I will say the 6 new chicks are sleeping in a ground level rabbit hutch where as the BA's had to walk up the ramp and into the coop so it wasn't as noticeable. When it's time for the chicks to move into the coop with the older girls, I'll be curious if the chicks simply follow the older girls up the ramp or whether it will take them three weeks to figure it out.

 

[nordicacres]

Finally! A day with no rain forecasted! Rain again tomorrow and Friday, ugh. AI is hitting too close to home. Brown County is just a few miles down the road . . .

 

[scandiafowl]

One of my almost three week old chicks jumped/flew out of the brooder this morning. It took my poor 80 year mother almost two hours to catch him.
It's time to live outside.

What is hardware cloth?

 

[scandiafowl]

One more question, how many of your are using a covered enclosure? Our neighbors use dog kennel
fencing, no cover.

The coop and the area I want to fence in face the front of the house. We have many large trees. Am a free-ranger at heart and would like them to have as much space as possible.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

One of my almost three week old chicks jumped/flew out of the brooder this morning. It took my poor 80 year mother almost two hours to catch him.
It's time to live outside.

What is hardware cloth?

That's horrible! I had a bit of a chicken chase myself this morning. Definitely not fun. I just about left her out, but I knew the hawks were around. She's lucky I like her : )

 

[cottonlouie]

Third time around with chickens.....The first two times we had them for the summer, they ran free on our 40 acres, we butchered and consumed. This time, we have layers. The hens are laying just fine in the nest boxes, and I hope the chicks do, too. We've never lost a chicken to a predator. Is winter a time that we will more likely lose a chicken to a predator? Or have we just been really lucky?

 

[scandiafowl]

@cottonlouie are you rural or urban?