New to Chicken
Chirping
Soooo, I'm a homeschooling mom of young adult twins with high functioning autism. When they got their high school diploma, one of them poured herself into Storey's Raising Chickens. I turned it into an extra learning experience and had her learn to take notes from her reading. She persevered for a year and took copious notes on the whole thing. Then this year, I had her learn how to put together a Powerpoint presentation based on the first few chapters, so she could practice her communication skills too. I was so proud of her! The only thing is, I have been so overwhelmed with life (won't bore you with details) that we never actually got a chicken. One morning, completely overwhelmed, I actually prayed, "God if you want us to get her a chicken, make it clear, when, how, what." IDK what I was expecting, maybe some miraculous clearing of my schedule?
What actually happened was that she looked in our backyard one day and said, "There's a strange bird under our lemon tree." When we looked, we realized that it was actually a beautiful chicken! We've no idea where it came from, but research pointed to her being a Silver-Laced Polish. Whenever we went outside, she'd run up the hill to the neighbors brush and we could never get close. I posted in neighborhood forums, knocked on doors and we put up "Found Chicken" signs. No one claimed her, but lots of people wanted her ...several pointed out that if we did not catch her, one of the many coyotes or hawks in our area would. One gal who saw our post, brought over a special pen with a gate, and we were able to catch her (twice actually, but that's another story). She is really quite special, and we are still trying to figure out the best way to take care of her. A friend gave us an old coop, but I feel it's too small (see pic). This friend allowed her hens to free-range her whole backyard, but we don't feel safe doing that because of the aforementioned hawks/coyotes. So, totally unprepared and uneducated, we are trying to figure out how to create a covered area for her on the side of her house (see pic). I was thinking we could put the donated coop in the covered area, so she could still roost in there at night; but during the day, we would like to create a bigger space for her to roam safely. This would also allow us to "sit with her" to hopefully get her more accustomed to us (she currently eats berries from our hands, but is very shy). Also, I will be a lot happier seeing her roam around! I've been reading posts about floor, and it says that dirt is a bad idea, but does that just apply to the coop, or is plain dirt ok for the roaming area? Where we have her now in her pen on the other side of our home, is actually decomposed granite, and we have a layer of pine shavings which we add to when we see her droppings. (i just read today that pine shavings are liver toxic, so I should not have bought that big bag!) Anyways, I would love any advice re.
1. My neighbor suggested that we use poultry netting and anchor it to the house and to the fence in the picture below, using a 2x4 fastened to each surface. he didn't think that hawks could get through and Amazon user seem to say the same, but Storey suggests otherwise. Could there have been an improvement to the product over the years?
2. Is bare dirt ok in the penned "roaming area? I'm thinking we just keep it clean like we would for a dog...just shovel up droppings each day.?
3. What do you suggest for under the actual coop, that we will place in the pen?
BTW: We live in an Orange County suburb, CA and have very clay soil.
4. What do you suggest I place under the coop. My friend suggests pavers to extend the life of the coop. She attached wire mesh to the bottom of the coop that she gave us. but does that hurt the chicken feet when they walk on the wire mesh?
5. Any ideas that would be quick and inexpensive for now, til we have more time to build something more substantial in the summer?
What actually happened was that she looked in our backyard one day and said, "There's a strange bird under our lemon tree." When we looked, we realized that it was actually a beautiful chicken! We've no idea where it came from, but research pointed to her being a Silver-Laced Polish. Whenever we went outside, she'd run up the hill to the neighbors brush and we could never get close. I posted in neighborhood forums, knocked on doors and we put up "Found Chicken" signs. No one claimed her, but lots of people wanted her ...several pointed out that if we did not catch her, one of the many coyotes or hawks in our area would. One gal who saw our post, brought over a special pen with a gate, and we were able to catch her (twice actually, but that's another story). She is really quite special, and we are still trying to figure out the best way to take care of her. A friend gave us an old coop, but I feel it's too small (see pic). This friend allowed her hens to free-range her whole backyard, but we don't feel safe doing that because of the aforementioned hawks/coyotes. So, totally unprepared and uneducated, we are trying to figure out how to create a covered area for her on the side of her house (see pic). I was thinking we could put the donated coop in the covered area, so she could still roost in there at night; but during the day, we would like to create a bigger space for her to roam safely. This would also allow us to "sit with her" to hopefully get her more accustomed to us (she currently eats berries from our hands, but is very shy). Also, I will be a lot happier seeing her roam around! I've been reading posts about floor, and it says that dirt is a bad idea, but does that just apply to the coop, or is plain dirt ok for the roaming area? Where we have her now in her pen on the other side of our home, is actually decomposed granite, and we have a layer of pine shavings which we add to when we see her droppings. (i just read today that pine shavings are liver toxic, so I should not have bought that big bag!) Anyways, I would love any advice re.
1. My neighbor suggested that we use poultry netting and anchor it to the house and to the fence in the picture below, using a 2x4 fastened to each surface. he didn't think that hawks could get through and Amazon user seem to say the same, but Storey suggests otherwise. Could there have been an improvement to the product over the years?
2. Is bare dirt ok in the penned "roaming area? I'm thinking we just keep it clean like we would for a dog...just shovel up droppings each day.?
3. What do you suggest for under the actual coop, that we will place in the pen?
BTW: We live in an Orange County suburb, CA and have very clay soil.
4. What do you suggest I place under the coop. My friend suggests pavers to extend the life of the coop. She attached wire mesh to the bottom of the coop that she gave us. but does that hurt the chicken feet when they walk on the wire mesh?
5. Any ideas that would be quick and inexpensive for now, til we have more time to build something more substantial in the summer?
Hello and welcome to BYC, You found an Awesome poultry Forum to be a part of with many great knowledgeable members who are more then willing to jump in and help you with any questions you may have. 
