- Jan 2, 2009
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Hello Everyone!
I'm currently trying to design my chicken house for this spring. My eyeballs hurt and my head is spinning - just when I think I have things worked out, I foresee another problem or question. I live in western Wisconsin where the weather ranges from Arctic cold and snow to Death Valley dry and hot, and everything in between. I'm planning on meat birds (probably Cornish cross or something commercial) and purebred pullets for my laying flock. My idea is to divide a 10x10 foot single house with a fixed wall (allowing for no more than a dozen birds on either side). I'd raise pullets on one side and meat birds on the other. The meat bird side could be further divided in half with a removeable barrier, for isolation or when I simultaneosly get replacement pullets and meat birds. When only one flock is in residence, pop holes in the fixed wall would give them the entire run of the house. I want to have four quadrants of range corresponding with four pop holes on the exterior of the house, so that I can funnel the birds onto one patch of range at a time. The difficulty I'm having is the fence.
We have foxes, coyotes, neighbor's rowdy hunting dogs, bears(!), etc. etc. I'd like to do the electric netting, but it does not work in winter (This is straight from Premier fence. They said it won't hold up in snow, and also the snow provides too much insulation and ground). A fixed perimeter fence all the way around, broken into quadrants (with gates allowing ME to get in and out) seems like it might be too expensive, and I really would like the the option of zapping predators during other seasons. I thought about doing a fixedperimeter fence on the laying side only, and just doing electric netting on the meat side. But how to close the gap between the two? I can't put the netting on the fixed fence or it would short out.
All of this agonizing is because of my belief that I'm not supposed to let the chickens be on any one piece of ground too long (built up disease/ pathogens in the soil, dirt yards and the corresponding dust or mud and dirty eggs, etc.). What do you think? Can some of you with fixed runs tell me how you manage? I don't think the tractor idea works for us because the chickens have to over winter (definitely need insulation) and I'm also afraid of predation in a tractor-type situation.
Please help, or once again we will be grilling frozen chicken breasts from the grocery store for the 4th of July!
I'm currently trying to design my chicken house for this spring. My eyeballs hurt and my head is spinning - just when I think I have things worked out, I foresee another problem or question. I live in western Wisconsin where the weather ranges from Arctic cold and snow to Death Valley dry and hot, and everything in between. I'm planning on meat birds (probably Cornish cross or something commercial) and purebred pullets for my laying flock. My idea is to divide a 10x10 foot single house with a fixed wall (allowing for no more than a dozen birds on either side). I'd raise pullets on one side and meat birds on the other. The meat bird side could be further divided in half with a removeable barrier, for isolation or when I simultaneosly get replacement pullets and meat birds. When only one flock is in residence, pop holes in the fixed wall would give them the entire run of the house. I want to have four quadrants of range corresponding with four pop holes on the exterior of the house, so that I can funnel the birds onto one patch of range at a time. The difficulty I'm having is the fence.
We have foxes, coyotes, neighbor's rowdy hunting dogs, bears(!), etc. etc. I'd like to do the electric netting, but it does not work in winter (This is straight from Premier fence. They said it won't hold up in snow, and also the snow provides too much insulation and ground). A fixed perimeter fence all the way around, broken into quadrants (with gates allowing ME to get in and out) seems like it might be too expensive, and I really would like the the option of zapping predators during other seasons. I thought about doing a fixedperimeter fence on the laying side only, and just doing electric netting on the meat side. But how to close the gap between the two? I can't put the netting on the fixed fence or it would short out.
All of this agonizing is because of my belief that I'm not supposed to let the chickens be on any one piece of ground too long (built up disease/ pathogens in the soil, dirt yards and the corresponding dust or mud and dirty eggs, etc.). What do you think? Can some of you with fixed runs tell me how you manage? I don't think the tractor idea works for us because the chickens have to over winter (definitely need insulation) and I'm also afraid of predation in a tractor-type situation.
Please help, or once again we will be grilling frozen chicken breasts from the grocery store for the 4th of July!
