The Legbar Thread!

[lonnyandrinda]

Wow great discussion guys- definitely educated me more about Marek's and the vaccines for it!

I am nervous about moving my chickens to the new place next week. It is MUCH more rural- right now we are in a small neighborhood and the worst thing we have are loose dogs and I think I've lost one hen to a hawk but I'm not sure. I have spotted one big black rat snake but no losses to it as far as I know. The new place will have everything under the sun to eat my chickens- coyotes, coons, possums, snakes (from the creek and pond on the property), hawks, owls, and who knows what else. We are planning on buying several hundred feet of electric poultry netting and within that area keeping chickens in tractors. I'm hoping that will be good enough to keep them all safe! We also are purchasing an Australian Shepherd puppy as we plan to have goats by next spring. He is a gorgeous red merle and SO laid back! I have never seen a puppy as calm as this one is. He's already been exposed to ducks, turkeys, chickens, horses, and I think goats. We will pick him up after we close on the house. Need to pick a name for him! We hope next year to get a female Aussie, too.

Finally got the house cleared by the lender and did all our inspections yesterday. Hoping we can talk the sellers into putting a new roof on- otherwise we will need a new roof within the next year or two. Other than that everything looks great and good to go! We drove back and walked behind the creek for the first time today. LOTS of poison ivy. One of the neighbors obviously target practices along the fenceline and has a deer stand overlooking our property- hoping he will be sensible if we ask him to move it. We do have 4 small children after all! We can see 4 wheeler tracks all over the property so we assume someone has cut the fence in several places; that is going to be a pain to track down. There is a deer stand near the creek, too, that I hope is just there from a previous homeowner not a neighborhood hunter.

 

[1muttsfan]

Maybe you and I are using different meanings for the word "resistant". In infectious terms, that means resistant to infection, not resistant to illness and dying. All live virus vaccines work the same way, by causing an infection that leads to decreased sickness and death in a population, not necessarily in an individual - they are more effective if all are vaccinated. This is true of flu, measles, polio, and chicken pox vaccines.

I also do not vaccinate, but only because most of my birds hatch under broodies in small numbers, and it would be difficult and expensive to vaccinate them within the effective time frame.

(I also do not get the flu shot because every time I do I get the flu really bad that winter - the last time I got one I was sick twice

. Just does not seem to work for me.)

 

[HaplessRunner]

Wow great discussion guys- definitely educated me more about Marek's and the vaccines for it!

I am nervous about moving my chickens to the new place next week. It is MUCH more rural- right now we are in a small neighborhood and the worst thing we have are loose dogs and I think I've lost one hen to a hawk but I'm not sure. I have spotted one big black rat snake but no losses to it as far as I know. The new place will have everything under the sun to eat my chickens- coyotes, coons, possums, snakes (from the creek and pond on the property), hawks, owls, and who knows what else. We are planning on buying several hundred feet of electric poultry netting and within that area keeping chickens in tractors. I'm hoping that will be good enough to keep them all safe! We also are purchasing an Australian Shepherd puppy as we plan to have goats by next spring. He is a gorgeous red merle and SO laid back! I have never seen a puppy as calm as this one is. He's already been exposed to ducks, turkeys, chickens, horses, and I think goats. We will pick him up after we close on the house. Need to pick a name for him! We hope next year to get a female Aussie, too.

Finally got the house cleared by the lender and did all our inspections yesterday. Hoping we can talk the sellers into putting a new roof on- otherwise we will need a new roof within the next year or two. Other than that everything looks great and good to go! We drove back and walked behind the creek for the first time today. LOTS of poison ivy. One of the neighbors obviously target practices along the fenceline and has a deer stand overlooking our property- hoping he will be sensible if we ask him to move it. We do have 4 small children after all! We can see 4 wheeler tracks all over the property so we assume someone has cut the fence in several places; that is going to be a pain to track down. There is a deer stand near the creek, too, that I hope is just there from a previous homeowner not a neighborhood hunter.

In addition to the electric poultry netting, I would recommend the Nite Guard red LED flashers. The research indicates that when a predator sees the red flashing light at night, ti believes that it has been seen and goes the other way. While I cannot account for the research or the accuracy of the claims, I can say this. Since using both electric netting and Nite Guard, I have not lost a chicken to a predator since the beginning of June 2012. And my chickens do get locked up at night. We have lots of foxes, coyotes, dogs, feral cats, and hawks. Bears and bobcats are also reported in the area although I have never seen any sign of those. Others I know and trust have.

 

[ChicKat]

Wow great discussion guys- definitely educated me more about Marek's and the vaccines for it!

I am nervous about moving my chickens to the new place next week. It is MUCH more rural- right now we are in a small neighborhood and the worst thing we have are loose dogs and I think I've lost one hen to a hawk but I'm not sure. I have spotted one big black rat snake but no losses to it as far as I know. The new place will have everything under the sun to eat my chickens- coyotes, coons, possums, snakes (from the creek and pond on the property), hawks, owls, and who knows what else. We are planning on buying several hundred feet of electric poultry netting and within that area keeping chickens in tractors. I'm hoping that will be good enough to keep them all safe! We also are purchasing an Australian Shepherd puppy as we plan to have goats by next spring. He is a gorgeous red merle and SO laid back! I have never seen a puppy as calm as this one is. He's already been exposed to ducks, turkeys, chickens, horses, and I think goats. We will pick him up after we close on the house. Need to pick a name for him! We hope next year to get a female Aussie, too.

Finally got the house cleared by the lender and did all our inspections yesterday. Hoping we can talk the sellers into putting a new roof on- otherwise we will need a new roof within the next year or two. Other than that everything looks great and good to go! We drove back and walked behind the creek for the first time today. LOTS of poison ivy. One of the neighbors obviously target practices along the fenceline and has a deer stand overlooking our property- hoping he will be sensible if we ask him to move it. We do have 4 small children after all! We can see 4 wheeler tracks all over the property so we assume someone has cut the fence in several places; that is going to be a pain to track down. There is a deer stand near the creek, too, that I hope is just there from a previous homeowner not a neighborhood hunter.

Congratulations on the progress...sounds like 'now the fun begins'. Hopefully in your state it is illegal to shoot across a fence-line. You MAY want to get in touch with your local Game Warden for a meet and greet and back up should you need it with the hunting neighbor(s) -- Yep, check your fences..and put up some 'no trespassing' signs. Pain to do - but may help. We have trespassers on the West TX place that have an easement through on a road to get to their property and they think that gives them the right to use all our property. We are good friends now with the deputy sheriff...

How will you power your poultry netting - turn on only at night? Solar? I'm kind of looking at some of the same things you are ... when I finally move the chicken show away from this place. --- I have 100ft of Premier 1 -- but I have yet to attach to electric.

Such exciting stuff.....

Puppy sounds really like a net addition to your family.

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks for the Marek's insights folks.... if you have some studies or articles - please post them on that Marek's fact page.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

In addition to the electric poultry netting, I would recommend the Nite Guard red LED flashers. The research indicates that when a predator sees the red flashing light at night, ti believes that it has been seen and goes the other way. While I cannot account for the research or the accuracy of the claims, I can say this. Since using both electric netting and Nite Guard, I have not lost a chicken to a predator since the beginning of June 2012. And my chickens do get locked up at night. We have lots of foxes, coyotes, dogs, feral cats, and hawks. Bears and bobcats are also reported in the area although I have never seen any sign of those. Others I know and trust have.

THANKS for the advice, I will definitely look into it. Glad to hear you have had good results with this set-up.

Congratulations on the progress...sounds like 'now the fun begins'. Hopefully in your state it is illegal to shoot across a fence-line. You MAY want to get in touch with your local Game Warden for a meet and greet and back up should you need it with the hunting neighbor(s) -- Yep, check your fences..and put up some 'no trespassing' signs. Pain to do - but may help. We have trespassers on the West TX place that have an easement through on a road to get to their property and they think that gives them the right to use all our property. We are good friends now with the deputy sheriff...

How will you power your poultry netting - turn on only at night? Solar? I'm kind of looking at some of the same things you are ... when I finally move the chicken show away from this place. --- I have 100ft of Premier 1 -- but I have yet to attach to electric.

Such exciting stuff.....

Puppy sounds really like a net addition to your family.

Thanks, yes Premier 1 is what we are looking at. We will get 3 of the portable electrified fence sections to use together in one big "chicken yard" but the larger energizer, the P10, so we can add up to two more fence sections later if we decide it isn't enough room. They can hook to a battery at first but hope to run a line back to the chicken's area fairly quickly. It can do either power source which is nice. We did look at the solar ones, but wow $$$! Too much for us right now on top of all the other expenses.

 

[ChicKat]

whoops - meant that puppy would be a neat addition -

 

[HaplessRunner]

THANKS for the advice, I will definitely look into it. Glad to hear you have had good results with this set-up.

Thanks, yes Premier 1 is what we are looking at. We will get 3 of the portable electrified fence sections to use together in one big "chicken yard" but the larger energizer, the P10, so we can add up to two more fence sections later if we decide it isn't enough room. They can hook to a battery at first but hope to run a line back to the chicken's area fairly quickly. It can do either power source which is nice. We did look at the solar ones, but wow $$$! Too much for us right now on top of all the other expenses.

I agree. I have a small Gallegher S-17 solar charger. It was not powerful enough and was very expensive but served a purpose. It only produced 0.17 joules which was OK but not for multiple sections of electric poultry netting. I had power and water run to my coop last fall. So this summer, I bought a 3 joule charger and wired it into my electric fencing. It now has pretty tough bite to it!

When you evaluate how big a charger/energizer to get you really need to take into account how much fencing your really have. For example, I have two sections of 164 feet Gallegher electric netting and a 100 foot section of Premier Perma netting. So while that may seem like 428 feet of fencing, you have to remember that there are 10 stainless steel wires running horizontally. Essentially, this fence is really 4,280 feet in length! So I am essentially charging almost a mile of fence. Not a big deal but you must factor that in your calculations for the strength of charger/energizer you will need and your end goal which is to fend off predators.

 

[racinchickins]

Wow great discussion guys- definitely educated me more about Marek's and the vaccines for it!

I am nervous about moving my chickens to the new place next week. It is MUCH more rural- right now we are in a small neighborhood and the worst thing we have are loose dogs and I think I've lost one hen to a hawk but I'm not sure. I have spotted one big black rat snake but no losses to it as far as I know. The new place will have everything under the sun to eat my chickens- coyotes, coons, possums, snakes (from the creek and pond on the property), hawks, owls, and who knows what else. We are planning on buying several hundred feet of electric poultry netting and within that area keeping chickens in tractors. I'm hoping that will be good enough to keep them all safe! We also are purchasing an Australian Shepherd puppy as we plan to have goats by next spring. He is a gorgeous red merle and SO laid back! I have never seen a puppy as calm as this one is. He's already been exposed to ducks, turkeys, chickens, horses, and I think goats. We will pick him up after we close on the house. Need to pick a name for him! We hope next year to get a female Aussie, too.

Finally got the house cleared by the lender and did all our inspections yesterday. Hoping we can talk the sellers into putting a new roof on- otherwise we will need a new roof within the next year or two. Other than that everything looks great and good to go! We drove back and walked behind the creek for the first time today. LOTS of poison ivy. One of the neighbors obviously target practices along the fenceline and has a deer stand overlooking our property- hoping he will be sensible if we ask him to move it. We do have 4 small children after all! We can see 4 wheeler tracks all over the property so we assume someone has cut the fence in several places; that is going to be a pain to track down. There is a deer stand near the creek, too, that I hope is just there from a previous homeowner not a neighborhood hunter.

I think you will love the electric poultry netting. I have it for my two coops, and have had no predator issues. And I live in a place like you describe. I've personally seen coyote, fox, raccoon, opossum, large snakes, stray dogs, and barn cats on our property as well as hawks overhead.(which the electric netting does nothing for btw...) I love it. It is easy to set up and move, and once the chickens get big enough it keeps them well contained.

 

[nicole63021]

Lonnieandrinda, congrats on the Aussie pup! I have 2 and think they are the best breed ever! Will be getting a pup here in a year or so, as I have an older gent coming on 14 years in Nov. Good luck in all your endevours!