***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Sooner]

I have standard chicken wire on most of my pens but it really depends on where you are at & what kind of critters are in your area. That beings said you need to make sure you bury your wired (no matter what you use) down into the ground, you will be surprised how quickly the pen can errode or the chickens will dig a hole to dust right next to the fence.

Now knowing what I know now & were doing it again I would use a different wire on the lower portion of the fence.

 

[NanaKat]

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A picture is worth a thousand words - and your picture is no exception.
On another note, I am intrigued by the idea of cooking radishes. I would never have thought of that.

We grow the daikon radish for cooking. I make killer egg rolls and radish goes gret in Oriental dishes.

 

[bfrancis]

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I've requested a paper copy, but downloaded a copy to my hard drive. Gonna read that between homework assignments tomorrow, that'll make it easy to figure out what I need to do legally first. The rest of it, I'll make do.

I need a 12g anyway, this is just another reason to tack on.

Lots of pretty pictures tonight of your new birds.

You've probably already looked here http://wildlifedepartment.com/ I would suggest going to a hunter's education course too. That is a safe way to learn to hunt, talk about calibers and types of rifles and shotguns, and depending on your age is required by law. Hunting is a rewarding sport, but as someone pointed out hunting on private land is getting harder every year with hunt leases being sold. Fortunately, there are more public hunting lands available. Good luck!

 

[Sharon B]

Thanks sooner - I didn't think of that. Was just planning to use landscape timbers as the bottom frame and use spikes into the ground as extra protection.

I'm in a rural area - and have seen fox, racoon, armidillo, skunk, and possibly a weasel on my deer cam & hear coyotes nearly every night. I do have dogs, so I hope they will keep the critters away.

 

[bfrancis]

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Looks like an EE to me too, does it have fluffy/fuzzy cheeks and beard? We live in the country, predator central. Regular chicken wire wouldn't be enough out here. We use 2" x 4" welded wire on the exteriors, with chicken wire 36" run on the inside. This keeps racoons from reaching in or birds from sticking their heads out. Also cover all our runs with 2" bird netting to keep ours from flying and more importantly aerial attacks from hawks and things. Burying some wire to prevent your chickens from digging out is good, we also add what is called an apron. It is a 2x4 welded wire cut to 18" and laid flat directly on the ground attached to the bottom of your run fence as well as the coop itself. this prevents digging from outside critters wanting in. (They dig down hit wire, back up, dig hit wire again and then leave.) You can use some dirt to cover it to help hold it down. We plant over the top of ours with flowers/grass and the root system holds into place too.

Now having said all that; if you live in town with a fenced in yard...disregard everything I just said....

Good luck!

 

[NanaKat]

NN those are great birds.

Sharon B we used 2 x 4 inch cattle panels for one pen and are using chain link panels for the two other pens. For the babies, you can attach a two foot wide roll of 1 inch wire along the bottom of the pen walls to keep them inside the pen.

Our Jarvis roo was high stepping with his right leg yesterday when I went in to spray down the roost and new sand floor with Oxine. Noticed that one of the roost bars in the coop was knocked down and checked him over. His leg is a little sore in the drumstick area...bruised. Wonder if a sitz bath would be good for him.....

Loving these early chilly mornings...Dew on the grown, chickens clucking, scratching and jumping in the air....having coffee sitting outside. The Minorcas have been laying now for a couple of weeks and sound like old hens sounding off their intentions. Splash and Popeye are happy back with "their people" again and doing great after their surgeries.

The rains have helped to bring out some green in the pastures and around the property...the hens are loving the nibbles and so are the cows.

 

[bfrancis]

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You posted that you live in the country while I was typing, lol! You might think of the Ft Knox approach then!

 

[Sooner]

Sharron, I am rual too & have all the critters you listed & so far the only thing that has gotten in has been opossoms. The main reason I would change to something else on my pen that is nothing but chicken wire is that over time the wire will rust out & then it becomes a problem where something stronger will last longer.

 

[Kassaundra]

We live in town and have a fenced in yard, our run fencing is just to keep the girls (except Yeta the Great Houdini chicken) in, not to keep any preditors out. We lock our girls up every evening and let them out every morning. If we didn't lock the girls up in the coop, even in town in a fenced yard I would not trust chicken wire to hold against a racoon.

 

[Ksane]

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It's the birds in the 2 runs that we spend the most time in-my favorites and my daughter's favorites. And the 1st bird I lost was an unrelated pullet I got from Carl who was in that run. So it's not genetic. He's pretty positive it's a strain of e. coli, then that manifests itself in several different ways. Sort of like getting slammed with coccidia and it affecting other parts of the birds body. Similar and passed in the same way.
Talked to the vet a few minutes ago and am going to pick up some more antibiotic, Vit B and cortisone injections for my daughter's bird and her other favorite who's now today showing signs. He just told me I'm not going to lose them all, that there's a good share of them who are going to get through it fine this time but will be carrier's of this e. coli strain. But any given bird anywhere is a carrier of this strain and many others. I thought I was going to lose them all, I thought I was just going to have to sit here helpless and watch them die. These birds (in these 2 pens anyway) could get sick a few weeks or 5 months later if their immune system gets compromised or they go through a lot of stress. I hope this helps someone somewhere when they read about it. I've read so many old threads that have been helpful about different things.
Can those Shamos fly well? I've looked those birds up quite a few times and absolutely love how they look. Are they friendly/tamable as adults?