OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[OHfarmerswife]

I'm in Milford,east of Cincinnati. I have 15 7 week old pullets. 1 EE, 1 Australorp, 1 lite Brahma, 1 Buff Brahma, 1 white Plymouth Rock, 1 RIR, 1 Production Red, 1 New Hampshire, 2 Silver laced Wyandottes, 2 Golden Comets, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Speckled Sussex. Love the advice and info on BYC.

Hi Downtoearth. Just up the road from you in Troy. Sounds like you have a nice variety

 

[cabinchicky]

Just curious if anybody made it to the Chillicothe or Caesar Creek swaps this weekend ?  Had family in from out of state and did not get to either.

I didnt get anywhere but work this week. Don't think going to any swaps are a good idea I would be too tempted. Eggs in my brooder and two broody hens in one coop. I am going to have to find a replacement rooster for my LF Cochin Stumpy. He isn't able to breed although he is trying. Hope S&C can come through before winter sets in later this year.

 

[mlm Mike]

I'm in Milford,east of Cincinnati. I have 15 7 week old pullets. 1 EE, 1 Australorp, 1 lite Brahma, 1 Buff Brahma, 1 white Plymouth Rock, 1 RIR, 1 Production Red, 1 New Hampshire, 2 Silver laced Wyandottes, 2 Golden Comets, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Speckled Sussex. Love the advice and info on BYC.

Sounds like you have a lovely variety.

 

[mamatink7]

Anyone out there know of common predators? We r in the country. No raccoons, coyotes (dogs pretty much keep them away). Hawks, snakes, mice, moles...? I've got a mole thumper to get rid of rodents and moles, what else? (Found predator forum but not Ohio specific)

 

[morgan85]

Anyone in here live in geauga county Ohio or near there? I have a broody hen I am looking to get just a few fertile hatching eggs for her. Thanks

 

[henny1129]

Anyone out there know of common predators? We r in the country. No raccoons, coyotes (dogs pretty much keep them away). Hawks, snakes, mice, moles...? I've got a mole thumper to get rid of rodents and moles, what else? (Found predator forum but not Ohio specific)

I don't know much about predators but one of our neighbors had an opossum break in and eat some of their chickens. I've also heard skunks can sometimes be a predator..... And hawks as well. Hope this helps!
henny1129

Anyone in here live in geauga county Ohio or near there? I have a broody hen I am looking to get just a few fertile hatching eggs for her. Thanks

Good luck with your search! We live in Wood County, so not super close to you. Plus we don't have any fertile eggs so we can't exactly help with your search. I think it would really cool to let one of our hens hatch a egg someday though! . Good luck again!
henny1129

 

[Laurel Meadows]

Anyone out there know of common predators? We r in the country. No raccoons, coyotes (dogs pretty much keep them away). Hawks, snakes, mice, moles...? I've got a mole thumper to get rid of rodents and moles, what else? (Found predator forum but not Ohio specific)

Unfortunately, chicken is on the menu for lots of critters in Ohio. We have a network of fox dens on our property and lots of hawks as well as owls, coyote, raccoons, stray dogs, skunks. Lots of snakes too. With all the predators roaming around, we've built all our coops and runs like Ft Knox. Everyone we know around us without the extra protection loses a lot of birds each year. My neighbor lost 14 chickens in one day alone last summer. We all have dogs too but predators are stealthy and can strike very quickly. Don't underestimate raccoons- they are everywhere and can get in places you never thought they would fit.

 

[mamatink7]

Unfortunately, chicken is on the menu for lots of critters in Ohio. We have a network of fox dens on our property and lots of hawks as well as owls, coyote, raccoons, stray dogs, skunks. Lots of snakes too. With all the predators roaming around, we've built all our coops and runs like Ft Knox. Everyone we know around us without the extra protection loses a lot of birds each year. My neighbor lost 14 chickens in one day alone last summer. We all have dogs too but predators are stealthy and can strike very quickly. Don't underestimate raccoons- they are everywhere and can get in places you never thought they would fit.

thank you much. Any ideas for prevention of attack?

 

[Laurel Meadows]

thank you much. Any ideas for prevention of attack?

Glad I could help! We do a few things that seem to be working (knock on wood!). Coops are all up off the ground so things can't dig in. We have locks (or snaps on latches) on the doors, hardware cloth (very strong 1/4" welded wire) over the windows and ventilation openings. We close 50-something chickens in every night- no open chicken doors at night. We made the chicken doors so they can't be opened by predators.
The pens fences are about 6' tall and they have welded 2x4" welded wire over chicken wire. We do that because fox, raccoons and dogs can chew through chicken wire by itself. And a coon can pull a chicken or parts of them right through the welded wire by itself. We just had something try to chew a hole in our layer flock pen last week but it didn't get in.
Then we have buried welded wire around the outer perimeter of the pens- it lays flat under the sod and goes out about 2 feet from the base of the fence to keep diggers from getting in the run areas.
Tops of the pens are covered in chicken wire to keep Hawks and owls out. I've stood in my run and had a hawk try to fly in at high speed. It bounced right off!
The smaller coops/tractors we use hardware cloth on the runs but it's really expensive so that's why we don't use it on the big pens!
We also have roosters in all of our coops except for the chicks grow out area. They alert all the birds within earshot to danger.

It sounds like a lot to do but we just did things in phases. The most pricey part was the welded wire fence and hardware cloth, but we bought that when we got the 10% off coupons from tsc and tried to repurpose things and use free materials when we could. One of our coops is an old homemade teardrop camper lol.

 

[findlaychickens]

Any ideas for a cheap roof for a run enclosure? Have a nice coop built and a temporary pvc run, but would like to have something a little more permanent. Build is done just need a cheap roof!