Raising Chickens at my weekend retreat

[mhanna]

Trying to get some suggesitions or if it would work to raise chickens at my weekend cabin. I live in a area right now that does not allow chickens but my ranch which is about an hour away from the house has plenty of room.

my thoughts( please add your comments as I really want this to work out and will take any advice)

1. Automatic Feeder and Water
2. Keeping about 4 chickens (just for eggs)
3. My coop for the 4 chickens is going to be about 8*10 (chickens will live in there mon-fri) as I stay at the property on Saturday and Sunday.
4. I already have a 2x4 square inch at 6feet tal fence around my whole property but was going to secure my coop with hardware metal mesh and then hot wire around the coop to keep out racoons and others (not really a problem in my area but just incase)

..i am sure i am missing something so please help me out.

Thanks

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't think it will be real satisfactory. 5 days each week, a lot can go wrong. And they will be laying for those five days so you will be collecting close to 2 dozen eggs when you get there Friday night?

Maybe it will work, but I think it will be rather a mess, when you get their Friday night, tired from the week. And while I have left mine for a couple of days, any longer than that, and I get someone to check on them. In 5 days if the water system breaks, you are going to have dead birds.

You did not post your region, but in the winter can you always get there? And do you always go to the retreat each and every week-end?

I am thinking this is not such a good idea.

MrsK

 

[Red Barn Farms]

I'd want to check on my chickens daily! So much could go wrong!

 

[mhanna]

thanks for rhe feedback...i do have wireless cameras to check on them and i typically am out there every wednesday to pick up mail. in texas so no issues with it being cold. for those who do go a few days what type of issues do you see.
thanks again for the feedback

 

[SouthDakotan]

Trying to get some suggesitions or if it would work to raise chickens at my weekend cabin. I live in a area right now that does not allow chickens but my ranch which is about an hour away from the house has plenty of room.

my thoughts( please add your comments as I really want this to work out and will take any advice)

1. Automatic Feeder and Water
2. Keeping about 4 chickens (just for eggs)
3. My coop for the 4 chickens is going to be about 8*10 (chickens will live in there mon-fri) as I stay at the property on Saturday and Sunday.
4. I already have a 2x4 square inch at 6feet tal fence around my whole property but was going to secure my coop with hardware metal mesh and then hot wire around the coop to keep out racoons and others (not really a problem in my area but just incase)

..i am sure i am missing something so please help me out.

Thanks

Not sure it would work out. Daily checking on hens is critical since predators ALWAYS are trying to find a way in and by weekend, you may well find broken shells and dead hens. Leaving the eggs in the nest all week only invites them more.

If you do it, make sure you BURY your hardware cloth several inches into the ground. My aviary space has a 6 inch skirt that goes down into the ground & fans outward, then a row of brick is buried so that it is even with the ground, just along the ground on the outside of the fence. The skunks and other nocturnal predators have tried digging but gave us (so far). But come winter I expect they will be back with more determination.

What you planning to do this winter though with your laying hens? That would be the real issue. Buying chicks will mean no eggs this summer, but come fall they will begin to lay. Then what? As you aren't using the cabin over winter, what happens with the eggs and the hens?

 

[SouthDakotan]

Texas? Is that were you said you are? That would be hard on birds to be dealing with heat & no cool water. How are you going to provide cold water during the summer months? Will it be an automatic drip water system providing them fresh COLD water from a well? Container water would heat up and not provide needed cooling elements, in a place like Texas. Just something to think about. Up here in S.Dakota we don't have to worry so much about extreme heat, but the farther south you go the more you have to consider that issue in summer months as poultry can die from heat related issues.

 

[mhanna]

SouthDakotan, thanks so much for the reply.

Yes, I do have a Well and have a running water system to that location in addition last weekend I ran electricity to where I plan on building the coop. When writing the first message I put in my busiest schedule but my normal schedule to my retreat is I get there Friday evening around 6 and leave Sunday in addition I am there for a few hours every Wednesday.

I figured with a running drip system and a mister system maybe to keep eveyone cool (it is also under plenty of large shade trees)

I think I am going to have the security under wraps. My plan included hot wire around the enclosure in addition I am going take your idea and hook up the bakchoe and dig out a foot into the ground and sink my wire.

 

[donrae]

I think it could work. Sounds like you've thought things out pretty well, and it's not so far you couldn't go check if the cameras showed anything funky. I personally try to set my animals up so they need as little work from me as possible on a daily basis, and I often go three days without feeding or watering, cause the containers hold that much.

I might be a bit concerned about the eggs sitting out three days in hundred degree weather before you can collect them, although I doubt it will really hurt anything.

Chickens are much more self suffecient than we give them credit for. As long as there's food, water and security, they're good, and seems like you've got that covered.

Good luck!