Mushroomchef
Songster
Hi all,
When I had my chickens in Northern California, I allowed my 4 hens to roam free in my backyard. For about 4 months, until a hawk swooped in and ate half of my white crested black polish. I came home from work devastated. Since then, I only let them out when I'm home from work. About 2 hours a day.
Then after moving back to Southern California, I've acquired more hens and a rooster. But because my neighbor feeds feral cats, I can't let my chickens out to roam at all. With the dew from the winter nights, grass has been growing everywhere. I've shoveled patches of grass in the coop for them to eat everyday.
My wife suggested to me to make a pvc pipe fence to let then roam and eat the grass. So in the days of looking into making one, she told me about this group on Facebook. "Buy nothing" in the city you're in, that her friend told her about. After a few days of getting accepted into this group, this posting shows up with two pvc pipe fencing that someone was getting rid of to protect gardens from animals. What a coincidence?! I contacted that person and picked it up the very same day.
Now my chickens get to semi-free range and I have a sense of security from those cats. My kids help me lift one side up while they open the gate for the chickens to go in. The first time, half of the chickens were hesitant to go in. The second time, most of them knew what was going on and went in. I had to go in and catch the rest to put them in. Hopefully they all learn to go in on their own within the next couple of weeks. When they get inside, my kids and I slowly move them to the spot I want them to help "mow the lawn." My kids don't realize that they are actually helping me now the lawn.
Comes to show that one persons trash is another persons treasure. I use it at night to protect my garden beds from raccoons digging it up. My wife calls those pvc pipe fence dual-purpose, not knowing that same term is used for chickens. I explained it to her.
Thank you for reading this long post. Maybe you can find some free stuff from Facebook for your chickens.
When I had my chickens in Northern California, I allowed my 4 hens to roam free in my backyard. For about 4 months, until a hawk swooped in and ate half of my white crested black polish. I came home from work devastated. Since then, I only let them out when I'm home from work. About 2 hours a day.
Then after moving back to Southern California, I've acquired more hens and a rooster. But because my neighbor feeds feral cats, I can't let my chickens out to roam at all. With the dew from the winter nights, grass has been growing everywhere. I've shoveled patches of grass in the coop for them to eat everyday.
My wife suggested to me to make a pvc pipe fence to let then roam and eat the grass. So in the days of looking into making one, she told me about this group on Facebook. "Buy nothing" in the city you're in, that her friend told her about. After a few days of getting accepted into this group, this posting shows up with two pvc pipe fencing that someone was getting rid of to protect gardens from animals. What a coincidence?! I contacted that person and picked it up the very same day.
Now my chickens get to semi-free range and I have a sense of security from those cats. My kids help me lift one side up while they open the gate for the chickens to go in. The first time, half of the chickens were hesitant to go in. The second time, most of them knew what was going on and went in. I had to go in and catch the rest to put them in. Hopefully they all learn to go in on their own within the next couple of weeks. When they get inside, my kids and I slowly move them to the spot I want them to help "mow the lawn." My kids don't realize that they are actually helping me now the lawn.
Comes to show that one persons trash is another persons treasure. I use it at night to protect my garden beds from raccoons digging it up. My wife calls those pvc pipe fence dual-purpose, not knowing that same term is used for chickens. I explained it to her.
Thank you for reading this long post. Maybe you can find some free stuff from Facebook for your chickens.
