North Carolina

[my little peeps]

Well I guess being in Downtown Cary can't even stop a fox that's seeking out chickens. I'm very thankful that my coop & run are like Fort Knox. As I was sitting on my porch this evening I heard a disturbing noise, then saw a fox less than 4 feet away from me, it was making some sort of howling noise that sounded more like it had a fur ball stuck in its throat. I guess tomorrow I will add some more reinforcements to the coop. Scary!!

 

[Lizabelsherrill]

Hey everyone. Sorry I am posting another question yet again, but I guess it is better to ask questions and know what you're doing than just assume something and have something bad happen. Anyway, we have some friends that have some Japanese Ornamental Buff Black Tail Bantam chicks they want to give us. We mostly want big egg laying chickens, but we couldn't say no to three cute little midget chickens! Especially if we have Jersey Giants. We will have giants and little midgets running around the yard

. I find the thought of that hilarious!

Sorry, got a little off track, so back to the point. We are getting two hens and a little rooster from them, but we have never dealt with any kind of bantam breed and was wondering when a good age for them to stay outside all the time would be. Right now my mom and I do not have the time to take care and babysit chicks. We have more time in the fall but right now we leave the house at 7 am and don't get back to the house until around 8 pm. Yeah like right now we have our friends watching our little maran chicks until they get big enough to not need a heat lamp. That is kind of what we want to do the same thing with the Bantams, but this is the first time both my family and theirs have ever messed with a bantam breed.

They hatched about 5 weeks ago and are going through what my friend calls the "dinosaur stage", because they are have fledged, if thats what you call it (the stage where they are getting their feathers in instead of just being fuzzy). Right now they have been spending time outside in their little run and coming in at night to sit under a heat lamp.

So could anyone please help me out with figuring out how long they need to be warmed up at night, or when they could possibly be left out in the day, but come inside at night, but don't need a heat lamp.

Thanks a load!!!

I bought chicks that were 3 weeks old and never used a heat lamp on them. It stayed about 75 in our bathroom and they were fine. I read (somewhere ?) that you reduce the temperature by 5 degrees for each week old they are...at 75 degrees I never saw them shivering or huddled up together like they were cold.

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

Good morning folks

we start the brooding of chicks indoors in an area
large enough to have the heat lamp at one end so they
can choose when they want to get under it and as they
get older we will turn the lamp off during the day.......
how much feathering they have plays a part in it as well
We have a room in the house that we use and since the
room is warm we don't need to heat them as long and
right now with the warm weather we aren't using heat
on chicks once they have their feathers..........

hope everyone has a good day

 

[cknnewbie]

Good morning everybody. Hubby gets paid today. Decided not to make a rent payment this week and instead get some supplies to make that coop with. Or at least that's the game plan. well see how that plays out. Got a really busy busy busy day tomorrow. Yard sale move furniture out. Paint and repair small things to get ready for the move. :-( I sure will miss this place. This was our first home together. 2 years July 31. And we r moving out the same day. It will be okay. Right guys? I haven't gotten any more eggs from the girls. I have even checked under bushes and around all DH crap in the yard but...no eggs. Anywho have a great day!

You're taking the most important "thing" with you - Hubby - so, yes, it will be very okay!

 

[starlingdaly]

Hi guys!
Haven't said much lately, been working a lot but I need everyone's thoughts on this.
I am having to move my chickens away from our house because one of the people we share land with has low immunities from a host of health issues and this week he went to the hospital and came back to tell us he had a bacterial infection from being around chicken poop. So... We need to move the chickens to the land we will be building our house on early and while it is within walking distance of the house we are in now, it is way out of the way and closer to predators.
So this thing needs to be a million more times secure than any other chicken coop we've built to date.

And since we are building completely from scratch, I'm looking for ideas and tips.
What has worked for you and what hasn't? What are things you wish you had done when building your coop?

Thanks! And happy Saturday!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Hi guys!
Haven't said much lately, been working a lot but I need everyone's thoughts on this.
I am having to move my chickens away from our house because one of the people we share land with has low immunities from a host of health issues and this week he went to the hospital and came back to tell us he had a bacterial infection from being around chicken poop. So... We need to move the chickens to the land we will be building our house on early and while it is within walking distance of the house we are in now, it is way out of the way and closer to predators.
So this thing needs to be a million more times secure than any other chicken coop we've built to date.

And since we are building completely from scratch, I'm looking for ideas and tips.
What has worked for you and what hasn't? What are things you wish you had done when building your coop?

Thanks! And happy Saturday!

When we built our last coop, the first night chickens were in it the foxes dug under and had a field day. Hubby dug a trench around the entire building, then buried 2 x 4 woven wire around the whole thing, straight in. He stapled it to the building. BUT! Here's the important part! It's only about a foot underground, but when he cut the wire, he left the four inch prongs on the pieces he was using, then bent them all up at a 45 degree angle. When we put chickens back in, the foxes tested it the first night. We had three places where they tried to dig under, and stabbed their sensitive little feet on prongs that stuck up underground every two inches. And we found one spot where one had grabbed the wire above ground and tried to pull it out. He failed. The foxes have not gotten back in yet.

We also put padlocks on the coop, to deter the two-legged predator.

 

[my little peeps]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a pad lock on their coop hmmm... I like the idea of putting the wire under. I have the coop raised off the ground and key locks on every opening. Can a fox or raccoon rip off a door? I know we have raccoons but I'm in Downtown Cary and maybe I was fooling myself but I guess I never thought I'd see a fox.

 

[atmaclean]

Hi guys!
Haven't said much lately, been working a lot but I need everyone's thoughts on this.
I am having to move my chickens away from our house because one of the people we share land with has low immunities from a host of health issues and this week he went to the hospital and came back to tell us he had a bacterial infection from being around chicken poop. So... We need to move the chickens to the land we will be building our house on early and while it is within walking distance of the house we are in now, it is way out of the way and closer to predators.
So this thing needs to be a million more times secure than any other chicken coop we've built to date.

And since we are building completely from scratch, I'm looking for ideas and tips.
What has worked for you and what hasn't? What are things you wish you had done when building your coop?

Thanks! And happy Saturday!

Hollow has a wonderful method for critters who try to dig under! We didn't bend the spikes up but we did bury the wire down below the ground. I really like the chain link dog kennel panels if you have to do something quickly. They have a door on them and you just have to put a roof over them. We wrap ours with welded 1x2 heavy guage wire. For roofing we looked on Craigslist and found some roofing tin off an old tobacco barn that was perfectly good. My husband used unfinished lumber from a local mill that was very inexpensive as well. As time has gone on, we have removed sections of the chain link dog kennel and he has replaced them with 2x6 boards and the welded 1x2 wire at the top. We found doors for like $10 at an antique place down the road and they are perfect for the coops.

Having said all this, I will also say that we have not lost a guinea or chicken to a predator since we got our Italian Maremma last spring. We have not even had any attempts at digging by any critter around the coops. In fact, we have not seen a coyote, cougar, raccoon, skunk or even a possum on our property since he came - and they were thick in this area. The only thing I worry about are the stupid hawks - I'm not sure if our LGD knows they are a predator yet.... Previously, I had a great pyr and she would chase and bark at hawks if they flew near our property. My chickens and guineas free range during the day and are put up at night. I can't say enough good things about having a livestock guardian dog. Ours is worth his weight in gold!!

It is rainy and cooler here today so I'm thankful for the roof over the coops when I was out cleaning this morning!

 

[jtbass2756]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a pad lock on their coop hmmm... I like the idea of putting the wire under. I have the coop raised off the ground and key locks on every opening. Can a fox or raccoon rip off a door? I know we have raccoons but I'm in Downtown Cary and maybe I was fooling myself but I guess I never thought I'd see a fox.

I know racoons can get thru some locks/closures and can rip off regular chicken wire. I have two doors on the front of my coop because we lifted it and moved it inside of the front wing of our shed. It was originally made to sit on the ground and allow you to put plants on the roof. To access the door already in the coop...my brother in law cut a door in the front horizontal side to correspond with the other one. The inside door only had a small piece of wood to turn, so I put two more latches on the outer door. On the egg access door, I also added two more latches. I haven't seen varmints in our yard or signs of them around the coop...however, I do expect to see more once I start letting them out in our tractor run.....then they will take notice I'm afraid.

 

[starlingdaly]

Wow, thanks everyone for your ideas!
My coop will be just to lock them up at night and to lay eggs in and they will have a run to hang out in on days I don't let them free range.
How big are your coops for how many chickens or other fowl?

There are lots of trees in the immediate area around where the new coop will be built and I imagine the guineas and my peachick will take to the trees at night, but I do want to count them in my square footage just in case.