NY chicken lover!!!!

[pharmchickrnmom]

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[rancher hicks]

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golf

 

[Child of Noah]

My concern is the chickens pushing the shutters open. Did you way you were going to secure wire of some kind over the windows? That would keep the chickens from pushing them open when they are acting up. I would use hardware cloth so raccoons can't reach in and grab one by the neck. I would also cover the front at night with a tarp or something to keep the wind out while they are trying to sleep.

Currently the house is inside their playpen, we will take the playpen down when they learn about going INSIDE at night, and they will free-range during the day with the chickens. The way I put the hardware cloth in, the shutters can be shut for some wind/weather protection...

or open. Here you can see the 1/2 inch hardware cloth in the window. You can also see the ducklings and you have no idea how excited I am that those little farts willingly went into a structure.

This picture you can (I hope) see how we attached the hardware cloth to the windows. Self-tapping screws and some big fat washers. On the first window, I put the hardware cloth in before putting the house together (so I basically had just a half-wall with a window in it) and I kicked it to test if it would stand an attack. There was no point to going through the effort of putting all of the stuff in, if the first hungry cat that came along could just push it in. I'm sure if my husband had kicked it with all his strength, it would give... but we don't exactly have predators his size in the area.

 

[Breella]

So, I got my incubator set up, now to give it some time to see if everything works right before I put the Silkie eggs in it-- also, I need to run to Walmart to get a thermometer and humidity gauge! Yay!

 

[stonykill]

Currently the house is inside their playpen, we will take the playpen down when they learn about going INSIDE at night, and they will free-range during the day with the chickens. The way I put the hardware cloth in, the shutters can be shut for some wind/weather protection...

or open. Here you can see the 1/2 inch hardware cloth in the window. You can also see the ducklings and you have no idea how excited I am that those little farts willingly went into a structure.

This picture you can (I hope) see how we attached the hardware cloth to the windows. Self-tapping screws and some big fat washers. On the first window, I put the hardware cloth in before putting the house together (so I basically had just a half-wall with a window in it) and I kicked it to test if it would stand an attack. There was no point to going through the effort of putting all of the stuff in, if the first hungry cat that came along could just push it in. I'm sure if my husband had kicked it with all his strength, it would give... but we don't exactly have predators his size in the area.

nuff said. Cute housing yes. Are the birds safe. Nope

 

[Child of Noah]

nuff said. Cute housing yes. Are the birds safe. Nope

Thank you Stony. I appreciate your criticism (honestly). You've been doing this for a decade and have a lot of common sense and experience.
Do you have dogs? I was watching that first video and laughing at the coyotes using a trampoline. Honestly I don't think they would get two bounces in before my dog chased them away.
Here's my chicken coop:

This is the chicken door, it has the regular slide down door, and for added security the ramp flips up (covering the door) and bolts down with the fastener thingy at the top. The exterior of the coop was pre-fabricated, but my husband and I did a lot of work on the inside and some extra stuff on the outside.

 

[stonykill]

Thank you Stony. I appreciate your criticism (honestly). You've been doing this for a decade and have a lot of common sense and experience.
Do you have dogs? I was watching that first video and laughing at the coyotes using a trampoline. Honestly I don't think they would get two bounces in before my dog chased them away.
Here's my chicken coop:

This is the chicken door, it has the regular slide down door, and for added security the ramp flips up (covering the door) and bolts down with the fastener thingy at the top. The exterior of the coop was pre-fabricated, but my husband and I did a lot of work on the inside and some extra stuff on the outside.

your coop looks great.

I no longer have a dog. I had a black lab for 14 years until 1-1/2 years ago. We are not ready to lose another dog honestly. Predators here meet this fate






I'm a good shot

 

[rancher hicks]

nuff said. Cute housing yes. Are the birds safe. Nope

I whole heartily agree. I will however say this. Not all areas have the same predators. Predators must be planned for and dealt with. Stony I see the number of animals you kill and I don't know your area, but I've not see that many in my area in the 7 years we have lived here. Perhaps it's those chickens who are not cooped up at night that are drawing them to you ?

I did have a coon attack the first couple of months of having chicken due to poor advice. I was told predators wouldn't find my chickens for a couple of years. Well it was a couple of months.

This forum has help a great deal. Many folks don't think about predators nor think they need to take anyone's advice. They lose their entire flock and quit. No effort made to protect their chickens.

I advise anyone I meet who is getting chickens or thinking of it to read everything they can. Predator control is more important than a fancy smancy coop. IMO.

That said , I notice you seem to take losing a bird or two in stride, with no effort to prevent individuals from being taken. Or am I wrong?

My point being we should take care to protect ALL our chickens, ducks, or other livestock.

 

[Lynzi777]

Evening All,
Haven't been on much as of late, been doing a lot of work on these crate coops. Finished my rabbit hutch today. Going to start the duck house tomorrow. Went out to Lowes today and splurged on some more plants for the yard. I saw the set up at Lowes that I want to do with the pool for the ducks, only they used the pavers for a fire pit. I plan on placing them around the kiddie pool to make it look like a pond. DH liked the idea of it. Then he went to the local John Deer dealer and splurged on a a new riding mower. We need one bad, we can't keep pushing this mower up and down this acre hill we live on. That'll be arriving Friday or Saturday. Can't wait to test that thing out! We'll be purchasing the front plow for it too for the winter to do plow the driveway, I am not shoveling that thing again!

Stony those videos were crazy! Here I am worried about ventilation and "windows" on these coops and hutches I'm builing, man, the less the screening the better! I think I'll do something similar with the duck coop like I did the grow out pen, and only put a strip of screening at the top and maybe the sides. It's going to be twice the size, so I'm thinking double the screening will be needed.

 

[Child of Noah]

Evening All,
Haven't been on much as of late, been doing a lot of work on these crate coops. Finished my rabbit hutch today. Going to start the duck house tomorrow. Went out to Lowes today and splurged on some more plants for the yard. I saw the set up at Lowes that I want to do with the pool for the ducks, only they used the pavers for a fire pit. I plan on placing them around the kiddie pool to make it look like a pond. DH liked the idea of it. Then he went to the local John Deer dealer and splurged on a a new riding mower. We need one bad, we can't keep pushing this mower up and down this acre hill we live on. That'll be arriving Friday or Saturday. Can't wait to test that thing out! We'll be purchasing the front plow for it too for the winter to do plow the driveway, I am not shoveling that thing again!

Stony those videos were crazy! Here I am worried about ventilation and "windows" on these coops and hutches I'm builing, man, the less the screening the better! I think I'll do something similar with the duck coop like I did the grow out pen, and only put a strip of screening at the top and maybe the sides. It's going to be twice the size, so I'm thinking double the screening will be needed.

I am no pro with ducks, having only had them for a few weeks... but we did something similar with a kiddie pool for our duckling playpen and put a ramp for them to get into it. They refuse to use the ramp. We made them steps and they love that.