(Project Started! on page 2!) Ideal Placement for new backyard coop

[FlaRocky]

Please post photos of the build from start to finish. Would love to see it.

Maye

Ride the Glide......Got Gait.....I Do.....

 

[RoussoHomestead]

I can certainly do that.


Should I post it here or start a new thread?

 

[FlaRocky]

I would post it here. Just add to the title. ("Project started" photos and info added as we build.)

That way people can read how it all started from ideals to the finish.

Maye

Ride the Glide......Got Gait....I Do.....

 

[FlaRocky]

OK, Have you started yet???umbup:

Maye

Ride the Glide......Got Gait....I Do.....

 

[RoussoHomestead]

Yes.. yes.. yes

We tore off the roof, which was comprised of plywood topped with tar paper "shingles" as well as took down the support beams and hardware to reuse for the higher roof later on.




I don't think this patch of dirt has seen the sun in 30 years.



My husband has started the structure, which is tall enough (even at the lowest points) to stand comfortably. He'll finish framing the door, putting the roof beams up and then leveling and fitting in a floor (which we have decided will be linoleum-covered plywood).



This part is definitely my husband's territory, but our babies have been hopping on top of their food dishes and peering out.. so we're going to be putting a "hurry-up" on this project for sure

 

[FlaRocky]

That is going to be one awsome coop!!!!! Keep us posted... Talk about predator proof....umbup:umbup:umbup:

Maye

Ride the Glide......Got Gait....I Do.....

 

[RoussoHomestead]

Talk about predator proof..

Yeah, no kidding. I'm most concerned about my own dogs... they brought me half a ferret last year.

 

[makemineirish]

Yeah, no kidding. I'm most concerned about my own dogs... they brought me half a ferret last year.

I have this concern myself and have done quite a bit of reading on the subject. I am planning on chickens, but the dogs LIVE here and have to be chicken-friendly. If a choice has to be made, it will not be the dogs that I re-home, no matter how much sweat equity and money I have invested in the coop. My dogs are well trained, but squawking, flapping, feather-buts are pretty exciting toys.

A lot of people mention tying the body or head of the chicken/duck that your dog killed to their collar until it rots, terrifying the dog of the repercussions of his actions. I think that this is probably effective. However, it is highly problematic for me for several reasons. It requires the dog to KILL something first. I would prefer to forestall that event ever occurring. There is also no way in hell that a dog wearing a putrid carcass is sleeping ANYWHERE in the house. If I leave the rank dog outside all night, he/she will bark incessantly at things that go bump in the night. This is all fine and dandy if you live in the country, but I don't. Aside from the lack of common courtesy extended to the neighbors, I do not care to wake up to an officer pounding on my door as a result of the public nuisance in my backyard.


I found some suggestions in a magazine that are worth mentioning.
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/6/6-4/training_dogs_around_poultry.html
Most of the suggestions were fairly repetitious of information printed elsewhere....not that "leave it" is not a valuable command, just that it is mentioned in virtually EVERY article. However, the scented rag was a bit novel. I have done this before to acclimate feral animals to my scent, throwing my sweaty tee in their bedding...but did not think to expand on the technique. Mine are crated in the bedroom at night, so adding a chicken-scented rag to their sleep area is easy enough. It certainly can't hurt.

I also found a few references on BYC regarding a training video called "Instinct to In-Sync".
http://canterlc.com/StopChickenKillerDogs/site/pages/home/
I paid $30 to instantly stream it on my laptop. They email you an access code to their library. The boyfriend and I laughed at making the dogs "emotionally submit" to the chickens...but it was an interesting and simplistic training technique not suggested elsewhere in my reading. I do not want to get into too much detail as I have no wish to deny the trainer his livelihood. However, the basic concept is that chickens are a novel new toy and controlling the manner, conditions, and frequency of exposure appropriately...gradually eliminates the novelty/stimuli and changes the perception to that of individuals (rather than toys).

I know that I made that sound new-agey and ridiculous. I did not mean to. I thought that the suggestions had merit as it employed some of the same techniques that I utilize in introducing rescue dogs to my "pack". My scariest one yet was an 8.5lb Chihuahua that I was terrified my dogs would see as prey or just damage through clumsiness. I am one of those people that thinks anything under 30lb has more in common with a guinea pig than a dog...while I LIKE guinea pigs. It was very cute watching her play with everyone: a 35lb Bassett mix (kitty-killer), 45lb Pitt mix (squeaky decimator), 105lb Boerboel (rambunctions wrecking-ball) to the 195lb Mastiff/Dane mix (clumsy-squasher).

I cannot review these techniques yet as I am at the beginning of my research/training. While I have yet to acquire chickens, I am implementing the techniques and suggestions espoused in the article and video with my kitty-eating dog. I have a kitty-eater. I have a cat. The The two big guys won't care about chickens, but the Pit mix drools over pigeons at the park. We'll see what happens. I am sorry that I do not have a success story to share...yet

, but thought that you might appreciate me having already combed through the threads for what I considered to be more helpful resources.

Here is a photo of group play with the prey-sized rescue. The Basset-mix kitty eater is on the bed with the rescue while the Mastiff/Dane mix is standing next to the bed. ALL the dogs were exceedingly gentle while we looked for a home, but I do not have a photo fitting all FIVE into one frame.




Here we are working on "emotional submission" to the cat (who was surprisingly cool about the whole thing):

 

[RoussoHomestead]

Thank you for the link to the article - I found it to be a very pragmatic approach to an undoubtedly common problem.

I don't think tying a dead chicken to my dog's collar would be an option. They sleep in our bedroom at night LOL - and I could just imagine the collective gagging that would occur.

My dogs don't have access to the yard unless I let them out, and even then they don't have access to the sideyard unless the gate is open... and then the hardware cloth would be our last line of defense. I'm really hoping to keep them separated for the most part, but maybe let the dogs sniff around the coop so they maybe get less interesting over time?

Eventually the chickens are going to be free-ranging in the main yard and one of my kids is going to inadvertently let the dogs out - and hopefully either my husband or myself will be paying attention because there's no doubt in my mind what would happen in that scenario. I will give the techniques a try because any hesitation on the part of the dog might mean the difference between a scared chicken and a dead one.

 

[makemineirish]

Thank you for the link to the article - I found it to be a very pragmatic approach to an undoubtedly common problem.

I don't think tying a dead chicken to my dog's collar would be an option. They sleep in our bedroom at night LOL - and I could just imagine the collective gagging that would occur.

My dogs don't have access to the yard unless I let them out, and even then they don't have access to the sideyard unless the gate is open... and then the hardware cloth would be our last line of defense. I'm really hoping to keep them separated for the most part, but maybe let the dogs sniff around the coop so they maybe get less interesting over time?

Eventually the chickens are going to be free-ranging in the main yard and one of my kids is going to inadvertently let the dogs out - and hopefully either my husband or myself will be paying attention because there's no doubt in my mind what would happen in that scenario. I will give the techniques a try because any hesitation on the part of the dog might mean the difference between a scared chicken and a dead one.

Agreed. I am not entertaining a utopia in which the dogs wander nonchalantly among the poultry. The chicken run will be fenced to keep the dogs out and the dogs will not be outside unsupervised. However, I would like to get them as bored with the chickens as possible in preparation for the inevitable. Someday, somehow...Murphy's Law will get me. I would rather that end with a sigh of relief than a free-for-all cage match between the species.