obeloinkment
Chirping
Hi everyone,
My name is Eric and I've just joined up after my wife (Valk) has been raving about all the great advice and information she's found here. We have a small flock of 12 birds (1 Cochin, 1 Buff Orp, 2 Barred Rock, 2 Golden Laced Wyandots, 6 Americaunas) divided into 2 groups (the Americaunas are 13 weeks, the rest 16 weeks)
While I grew up with chickens, Mom & Pop always dealt with the problems/coop/predators while I just gathered eggs and got bit by roosters. We've had a lot of fun building a coop and run and dealing with the issues that budding chicken farmers have in rural Colorado.
We live in a secluded canyon which is relatively free of people but we have observed Black Bears, Coyotes, Mountain Lions, Bobcat, Fox, Skunk, Racoon, Weasels and Lynx in our area. Our coop looks a lot like a prison camp, but hey, it keeps the critters out and the ladies in. 1/2" welded mesh is buried a foot and a half deep and L'd outwards. 3" into the ground along the fence we've buried carpet tack strip, nails up. It has already thwarted several digging attempts with bloody results (exxxxxxxcellent) The coop doors and any seam in the plywood also has tack strip to discourage bears from ripping off the plywood. (A mature black bear will tear plywood sheeting off a building like it is paper maché) and we've got a humming electric fence to install for the fall when the bears get particularly brazen.
To top it all off, there's Anabelle, a 13 year old Pit Bull. She has little bears painted on her doghouse for each one she's physically run off (no joke, you oughta see the spectacular sight) and she has taken the new job of guarding the chickens quite seriously.
Anyway, there you have it, a novel of blah blah blahs. Can't wait to jump in with some of you and have some fun!
Cheers!
-Eric
My name is Eric and I've just joined up after my wife (Valk) has been raving about all the great advice and information she's found here. We have a small flock of 12 birds (1 Cochin, 1 Buff Orp, 2 Barred Rock, 2 Golden Laced Wyandots, 6 Americaunas) divided into 2 groups (the Americaunas are 13 weeks, the rest 16 weeks)
While I grew up with chickens, Mom & Pop always dealt with the problems/coop/predators while I just gathered eggs and got bit by roosters. We've had a lot of fun building a coop and run and dealing with the issues that budding chicken farmers have in rural Colorado.
We live in a secluded canyon which is relatively free of people but we have observed Black Bears, Coyotes, Mountain Lions, Bobcat, Fox, Skunk, Racoon, Weasels and Lynx in our area. Our coop looks a lot like a prison camp, but hey, it keeps the critters out and the ladies in. 1/2" welded mesh is buried a foot and a half deep and L'd outwards. 3" into the ground along the fence we've buried carpet tack strip, nails up. It has already thwarted several digging attempts with bloody results (exxxxxxxcellent) The coop doors and any seam in the plywood also has tack strip to discourage bears from ripping off the plywood. (A mature black bear will tear plywood sheeting off a building like it is paper maché) and we've got a humming electric fence to install for the fall when the bears get particularly brazen.
To top it all off, there's Anabelle, a 13 year old Pit Bull. She has little bears painted on her doghouse for each one she's physically run off (no joke, you oughta see the spectacular sight) and she has taken the new job of guarding the chickens quite seriously.
Anyway, there you have it, a novel of blah blah blahs. Can't wait to jump in with some of you and have some fun!
Cheers!
-Eric
