The Run thread

[rosemarythyme]

The my coop link is not visible in that spot if you’re on a mobile device.

Good to know - I only visit here on a tablet or desktop.

 

[HelenPE]

The my coop link is not visible in that spot if you’re on a mobile device. Maybe the mobile version is more compact to conserve space? If you’re on a phone, you have to go to the user’s profile page, scroll the tabs all the way to the left and go to the last tab on the right - “About”.

I found it and it's awesome! Thank you so much! It looks like you just bent the conduit to the angle you needed. I think this will work for me. Thanks again. I'll post a pic once I have the run complete..

 

[Carson213]

I live in the PNW. My run is wide open...and we have kestrels, red tails, harriers, turkey vultures, great horns...plus weasels, nutria, fox, opossum, raccoon...etc. i have four foot high goat fencing with an automatic coop door to close at night....and hardware mesh tight enough to keep a weasel out. In my lifetime, we’ve never had a predatory bird kill a chicken with an open top run. In my opinion, predators from the air are not a threat vs the ones on land. Opossum, raccoon and especially weasel...will do more damage.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I live in the PNW. My run is wide open...and we have kestrels, red tails, harriers, turkey vultures, great horns...plus weasels, nutria, fox, opossum, raccoon...etc. i have four foot high goat fencing with an automatic coop door to close at night....and hardware mesh tight enough to keep a weasel out. In my lifetime, we’ve never had a predatory bird kill a chicken with an open top run. In my opinion, predators from the air are not a threat vs the ones on land. Opossum, raccoon and especially weasel...will do more damage.

You've been lucky then. My only predator loss thus far has been to a hawk. My neighbor has also called me over to ID a chicken carcass that had been dropped by a eagle - wasn't my chicken, but they had been concerned it was one ours.

 

[Carson213]

I live in the PNW. My run is wide open...and we have kestrels, red tails, harriers, turkey vultures, great horns...plus weasels, nutria, fox, opossum, raccoon...etc. i have four foot high goat fencing with an automatic coop door to close at night....and hardware mesh tight enough to keep a weasel out. In my lifetime, we’ve never had a predatory bird kill a chicken with an open top run. In my opinion, predators from the air are not a threat vs the ones on land. Opossum, raccoon and especially weasel...will do more damage.

however, having outside cats has changed everything. we used to have a trap alongside the coop...hasn’t been necessary with the cats.

 

[HelenPE]

I live in the PNW. My run is wide open...and we have kestrels, red tails, harriers, turkey vultures, great horns...plus weasels, nutria, fox, opossum, raccoon...etc. i have four foot high goat fencing with an automatic coop door to close at night....and hardware mesh tight enough to keep a weasel out. In my lifetime, we’ve never had a predatory bird kill a chicken with an open top run. In my opinion, predators from the air are not a threat vs the ones on land. Opossum, raccoon and especially weasel...will do more damage.

I just lost one of my chickens to a hawk here in Seattle. She was only 11 weeks old. Too big for the hawk to carry off so it just ate her head. I witnessed it on video when I was checking in on the chickens. It was very traumatic.

 

[aart]

It looks like you just bent the conduit to the angle you needed. I think this will work for me. Thanks again. I'll post a pic once I have the run complete..

Yes. It was tricky and I screwed up 2-3 lengths of conduit until I figured it out.
Bend your 'rafters' first, that will determine the width of your run.

 

[HelenPE]

Yes. It was tricky and I screwed up 2-3 lengths of conduit until I figured it out.
Bend your 'rafters' first, that will determine the width of your run.

Thank you so much again!!

 

[Carson213]

You've been lucky then. My only predator loss thus far has been to a hawk. My neighbor has also called me over to ID a chicken carcass that had been dropped by a eagle - wasn't my chicken, but they had been concerned it was one ours.

after reading this it occurred to me that i haven’t actually counted my chickens in quite a while...i should do that first...

 

[Carson213]

after reading this it occurred to me that i haven’t actually counted my chickens in quite a while...i should do that first...

all are accounted for. aside from one cockerel, the rest are all the same with minor variation...and hard to count if they’re not roosted!

I can’t really cover my chicken run...it’s roughly 150x150 ft. What about strategically planting a handful of trees in the run to make it harder for a predatory bird to have much of a flight path? I could plant smaller sized orchard trees that wouldn’t be suitable for a hawk to want to roost in...just trying to think of ideas. In addition, it would provide more shade and the fruit that falls on the ground would be a treat for the chickens. Any thoughts on this? We used to have a pear and apple tree in the run but not for the chickens or protection. I had to take down the original coop because it was 100 years old and the wood was rotten. Then I rebuilt a coop during COVID and the chicken run changed locations...thus why the fruit trees are no longer in the run. While I haven’t had predatory bird issues...I’d rather be preventative. Any ideas on what I can do to make my run more protected without building a roof over it or netting?