Some coop questions for a newbie

[chickendude9]

Got 8 chicks.(4 are bantams) and they have a few weeks until they can go outside and we are in the middle of building the coop. My questions are..

• Can you use fishing net as poultry netting for top on yard to protect against hawks and stuff?
• I heard when you clean put the old hay/straw outta the coop you can put it in the chicken yard to cut down on mud and chickens like to scratch in it. Is that true??

Thanks!!

 

[chickendude9]

Anyone??

 

[annav410]

I am a newbie and I am guessing fishing net is similar to bird netting. I think it would work just fine. The only downside I have with bird netting (we currently use in our barn to keep pigeons out (you wouldn't believe the mess they leave! yuck) is sometimes birds can get caught in the material since it is hard to pull very tightly. We have had to rescue a couple starlings that caught their feet in the netting. I am not sure about the other question but I don't see any harm.
Anna

 

[Chicken Happy]

Topped ours with chicken wire....unsure if a fishing net would work. I had a compost pile for their "refuse"....it is now flat and covering the orchard. I gave-up. I clean out the coop, make a mound, and they fling to their hearts content. It is much less muddy though.

 

[Alaskan]

I have used fish net on top of the run for years.......

The cotton net sticks to snow and then collapses whatever it was tied to.

The plastic net doesn't let the snow stick as easily, but over the winter the snow eventually DOES stick to it, but then the plastic breaks, it doesn't pull down your fence.

The cotton net WILL keep your chickens safe, but the plastic net, though it will keep the chickens in (and I never had a chicken get stuck in it, except when I was stupid enough to let some ends reach the ground) it will only deter raptors, NOT stop them.

This spring I am going to finally get rid of all of my netting, put in braces of some sort and put wire over the top.

I get enough snow that at some point the dogs can jump on it, and they go right through the plastic net. Also, this last summer I had a raptor learn that it could dive bomb through and get the chickens.

I also have the worst time with the snow collecting on the net. The net gets broken, or the posts it is on get broken, and I can't figure out how to make the net easy to put away before the snow flies, and even if I could figure that out, then my chickens couldn't go back outside.

Sigh

 

[chickendude9]

Thanks for all the replies we will most likely use some kind of five mesh wire

. As the chicken coop is not on wheels we cant move it around so its gonna stay where we put it. Still trying to figure out ways to cut down on the mud without going crazy with gutters on the coop and such.

 

[Alaskan]

put gravel under where the rain falls from the roof,

or, you can fill the run with sand, and then put some pavers or rocks right under where the rain will drip