Hey everyone! Just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I am not new to chickens as animals, but I am new to raising them for eggs. My dad is a contract grower so I grew up working in those houses. A year ago we decided to start raising chickens so that we could have fresh eggs. I started with 24 eggs in incubators in my classroom. *We were hatching eggs to study the life cycle of a chicken. Turns out all those birds are meat birds so we did the most humane thing we could and butchered them and canned the meat. We then purchased 11 hens and 1 rooster. The first night we didn't prepare well and lost two birds to an owl. After last nights raid by what we think was a bobcat we are down to 8 hens. We now have 1 Aracauna, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Barred Rocks, and 3 Black Australorp. All our hens are laying and have great personalities. I found this site through a search engine and have visited it from time to time but decided today would be a good day to join because I needed help with out predator situation. Although I do not know a whole lot maybe what we have learned through trial and error can help someone.
from Kansas! I'm kind of a busy teacher myself and my summer is almost over! Glad to have you on the forum!
Hi and welcome to BYC! I'm so sorry for the loss of your chicks. It's very nice to meet you. Good luck securing the coop and I hope there are no more losses. I know a lot of people are happy with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. I wished we would of used it for the run. My Hubby used welded wire with a chicken wire skirt along the bottom. We built our coop inside the garage which is very safe from predators when the doors are closed.
& from Alabama. Glad you joined us. So sorry about your losses There's lots of great info on BYC about predator proofing. Good luck with your chickens
