New member from MN

[2nd Hand Farm]

Hi, I'm not new to chickens but I'm excited to keep learning and improving my skills. My kids and I live in rural southern Minnesota in the US and we are building a new chicken run/hoop house and I have a lot to learn. We have 15 chickens right now; we lost our best dog last fall and now seem to keep having predator issues, we do still have one dog but he sticks close to me. We've lost a few hens recently and we've seen what we think may be a pine marten, also racoons and fox, we also hear coyotes all the time at night. We have always had good luck free ranging them but lately we have not been able to. The chickns were all taken during the day, outside of the coop. We have quite a few breeds, some of my favs are Americauna, Light and Dark Brauma, Lavender Orpington, Speckled Sussex and Appenzeller Spitzhauben. My kids and I love the chickens, we've had chickens since my kids were young, at least 10 years I'd say. I work from home so I interact with them the most. I heard about BYC on social media.

 

[Appalachickens]

Welcome! That's a nice aassortment of breeds you have!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Have you considered penning in your chickens behind electrified poultry netting? We have a variety of predators around here and I have not lost a single bird to a ground predator in all the time my birds have been penned behind electrified poultry netting.

 

[2nd Hand Farm]

We have fun researching and buying new chicks every few years.

 

[Appalachickens]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
Have you considered penning in your chickens behind electrified poultry netting? We have a variety of predators around here and I have not lost a single bird to a ground predator in all the time my birds have been penned behind electrified poultry netting.

Is it easily moveable? When mine are old enough I'd like to free range, but we have the same predators (excluding pine martens but we probably have weasels and/or minks).

 

[2nd Hand Farm]

That is something we are considering. I found the hoop coop that @Chook-A-Holic posted and we want to do something similar. Is there a way I can purchase the plans? https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/permanent-hoop-coop-guide.47818/

 

[C Siena]

Greetings & Salutations. Welcome.

All of our chickens free range all day every day except for 4-7 days in the winter when the temps are in the teens with wind chill and/or below 0. The coop is secure but they are out all day, under trees.

Sorry about the loss of your dog, it is never easy. Also for the loss of your hens.

Pleased you joined our community. A wonderful place to Learn and have Fun.

 

[C Siena]

That is something we are considering. I found the hoop coop that @Chook-A-Holic posted and we want to do something similar. Is there a way I can purchase the plans? https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/permanent-hoop-coop-guide.47818/

Maybe you can copy the images and with some type of photo editor you can make it a bit more readable. I'll see if I can do anything with one image in PS/photoshop. Ours is an old version, the last on CD but works well for our needs.

 

[Bsmac]

Hello! Welcome to BYC! Sorry about the loss of your dog and chickens... Losing pets is never easy...

 

[N F C]

Hi, sorry for the losses, those are never easy. Once predators find out where they can get an easy meal, they have a tendency to return so @DobieLover's suggestion about the electrified netting is a good one.

Best wishes and thanks for joining us!