Moving to Maine; What do I need to know

[Folly's place]

If we were building from scratch, a Woods coop would be terrific!
Mary

 

[IamRainey]

WOW! Fabulous information. Just what I was hoping to learn! ....tho I'm going to have to go over this stuff multiple times to be sure I'm understanding.

What are the predators I'm likely to have to deal with?

I have a water tap in my present chicken yard. Is that a tougher deal or doable at alll when pipes can freeze?

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

I have a water tap in my present chicken yard. Is that a tougher deal or doable at alll when pipes can freeze?

It probably wouldn't work here. It might be great for April or May through October(maybe November if we're lucky). But after that most things are frozen(but it hypothetically shouldn't cause any problems like burst pipes). That's why in winter we carry buckets of water from the house. The rest of the year we happily use a hose for most of our water needs.

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

What are the predators I'm likely to have to deal with?

It really depends on exactly where you end up(I deal with completely different predators than neighbors half a mile down the road). With our flocks we've only really had a problem with a weasel actually getting our birds. But we have foxes that come through the yard, hawks and eagles constantly flying over and I think we recently acquired a falcon, at night we've had a few problems with owls, etc. Other people have problems with skunks, bears, coyotes, raccoons, badgers, and rats(we have rats but they're yet to go after the birds(knock on wood)).
P.S. This sounds really glum, but to put it into perspective, we free-range and we lose more birds to old age than we do to predators.

 

[Folly's place]

We have all-weather hydrants for livestock waterers, including one at the chicken coop. You can see it, topped with that black rubber bucket. After years of carrying water out there in winter, through snow and over ice, we added the hydrant, and love it!
Four six chickens, probably not worth it. For our flock, yes.
Mary

 

[IamRainey]

P.S. This sounds really glum, but to put it into perspective, we free-range and we lose more birds to old age than we do to predators.

Not really. Here in Los Angeles we have most of the same ones. The weasels, and foxes will be a new challenge, but in Vancouver I dealt with bears. Not with respect to chickens but they were a constant threat to my trash and I spent many a morning cleaning up after they'd tossed the cans up and down the driveway to break them open from all my various locking strategies.

Memories! Not sure these are the happy ones, but they're memories.

So, shall I assume hardware cloth isn't strong enough and do hog wire panels reinforced with hardware cloth?

Also, here in LA I have a bare earth (clay) floor for my run with the hardware cloth dug in 12". Is there a better strategy for a really cold climate?

 

[IamRainey]

We have all-weather hydrants for livestock waterers, including one at the chicken coop. You can see it, topped with that black rubber bucket. After years of carrying water out there in winter, through snow and over ice, we added the hydrant, and love it!
Four six chickens, probably not worth it. For our flock, yes.
Mary

You guys are a fabulous wealth of information! My admiration and gratitude knows no bounds!

I see Home Depot has frost-free hydrants in 2', 4' and 6' options. Am I understanding that the feed that goes to the chicken yard would need to be buried to a depth where freezing is less likely? Would a 6' trench do the deal then?

 

[Folly's place]

You need to check how deep your frost free zone is, and buy accordingly. The hydrants do vary in quality, and for some, replacement parts are available (without digging the whole thing out!). We've had to replace some of the hydrants over time (decades), and they are used all year, daily here. It's possible to rent a trencher and install them yourself, as we did years ago, or hire it done (our plan now).
You will need at least 4', or maybe 6' deep trenches, depending.
Miserable to install, great to use!
Mary

 

[Big Doggie]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I couldn't find a better one.

I live in Southern California. I'm moving to Maine. Two spots about as different as they can possibly be.

So far my biggest challenge has been keeping my chickens cool in 100˚+ weather. I won't know a damned thing about how to protect them from cold. Naturally, before I do ANYthing I want to know I'm taking the specific needs of that climate into consideration when I'm planning to site and to build my new coop.

Of course, besides daunting it's a rather exciting possibility. I'll be able to plan in all the things I didn't know about when I built my present one. I just need to be sure I'm not caught with a whole different kind of things I didn't plan for. So let me know what it's like there, if you please. And thanks in advance!

Coastal Maine is going to be warmer than inland. The ocean can keep temps from being ridiculously cold. Good luck

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

You guys are a fabulous wealth of information! My admiration and gratitude knows no bounds!

I see Home Depot has frost-free hydrants in 2', 4' and 6' options. Am I understanding that the feed that goes to the chicken yard would need to be buried to a depth where freezing is less likely? Would a 6' trench do the deal then?

I might have to check some out for myself... I never realized that those were an option, so it could be interesting to at least try.