Chicken run VS predators

[EddieWalker]

We went out to visit my brother in Midlothian Tx. to pick up an HVAC unit and bring it back to AL.

Don't know how close you are to that Miranda Lambert's place. My wife had to exit there and pick up some wine to bring back home.



It sure was cold in Tx. this past weekend..We went to the ATT Stadium Sat. and saw a rodeo there. Like to froze before we got into the stadium


Made the 12 hr trip back yesterday morning

Quite a few friends where at that rodeo and where posting pictures on FB.

The Lowes and Walmart there in Lindale are where I do a lot of shopping. Closer then Tyler and a lot nicer.

My step daughters husband went to school with Miranda and sat next to her in a few classes. She was just another kid in school back then. One of my clients hangs out with her parents and they go to her concerts with them and then party all night afterwards. I've never met her or her parents. Never been to her store either.

 

[kenmac]

For some reason, my wife likes the wine they sell. They have many other items there as well. Different types of seasoning to put on food, steaks, etc,.

sorry, got off topic. Have a good evening

 

[Clint S]

I once lost 15 birds between 2 and 4 on a summer day some right in the yard . Went in after mowing the lawn showered and came out to a massacre I am guessing a fox , but don't know. I keep them fenced in mostly during the day and always locked up at night. They only range when I am out and about. Once I got the permit for nuisance animals I got rid of 10 fox the first summer. I now get a few a year and maybe lose a bird a year and let them out more.

 

[Jstpssng]

I once lost 15 birds between 2 and 4 on a summer day some right in the yard . Went in after mowing the lawn showered and came out to a massacre I am guessing a fox , but don't know. I keep them fenced in mostly during the day and always locked up at night. They only range when I am out and about. Once I got the permit for nuisance animals I got rid of 10 fox the first summer. I now get a few a year and maybe lose a bird a year and let them out more.

That also could have been a domestic dog, or a fox as you said. Two springs ago I came home one afternoon to see a dead chicken lying in the road; I thought that it had been run over. I swung into my field and saw a fox gnawing on another bird; if I'd been driving my Ranger instead of the Sierra, she would have gone under the tires. I lost all but one of my hens that day.

I once lost 37 three week old birds between the time that I left home in the morning and when I got back at night; a weasel or weasels must have gotten in to the henhouse and had a slaughterfest. I don't care how tight your building is, those little buggers can find a way in.

 

[kenmac]

I once lost 15 birds between 2 and 4 on a summer day some right in the yard . Went in after mowing the lawn showered and came out to a massacre I am guessing a fox , but don't know. I keep them fenced in mostly during the day and always locked up at night. They only range when I am out and about. Once I got the permit for nuisance animals I got rid of 10 fox the first summer. I now get a few a year and maybe lose a bird a year and let them out more.

I can't let mine out. There are always hawks circling around looking for a way in their pen from above.

 

[tomplum]

We used to let the girls out on regular basis. If they would stay out where you can see them, but no they like the back fence line underneath a row of fir and cedars. Hence the large run coming. You can buy a lot of #$$#@! eggs for what the fence cost. But the peace of mind is worth it. Especially her wanting meat chickens. I wouldn't do it any other way.

 

[kenmac]

We used to let the girls out on regular basis. If they would stay out where you can see them, but no they like the back fence line underneath a row of fir and cedars. Hence the large run coming. You can buy a lot of #$$#@! eggs for what the fence cost. But the peace of mind is worth it. Especially her wanting meat chickens. I wouldn't do it any other way.

lol... I can buy allot of eggs for what it cost to feed them too. It's just something about them I like.
They hear me coming to collect the eggs. they all run up to the fence to greet me. Not really, they want me to bring them something to eat

 

[RoyKing]

Use typical fence wire on inside of post, then electric on the outside and over the top, hang some plastic strips to the over the top pieces. I used roundup to keep grass down around the fence so the low wires don't short. Falling sticks had to be cleared regularly.

 

[EddieWalker]

lol... I can buy allot of eggs for what it cost to feed them too. It's just something about them I like.
They hear me coming to collect the eggs. they all run up to the fence to greet me. Not really, they want me to bring them something to eat

My wife is selling them for $4 a dozen. Her hair dresser sells a variety of stuff at her shop, along with ten to 12 dozen of our eggs. We give her all our loose feathers that we find from the birds, that she makes into something crafty that she sells, so she sells our eggs in return for the feathers. Then we sell another 6 to 10 dozen eggs a week to friends and at work. This more then pays for feed for chickens, ducks, guineas, goats, horses and our pig, but it also has enough left over for gas or just pocket money. Seems that the variety of colors is what people get the most excited about!!!

 

[GLyford]

Have a hot wire about 6" off the ground around the outside, rated to burn weeds. "Nose sniffing height" as it was explained to me.

I have done the chicken wire on the ground thing to keep rabbits out of the garden, but that doesn't work for chipmunks or woodchucks.

I don't let the hens out, but the wife does on occasion. We have lost 3 or 4 to hawk strikes but she still does it. The first one was in their run, then we put deer netting over it.

The only thing that has actually dug under our coop was rats, and they weren't after the girls. Trapped them and found a different feeder they couldn't get into and haven't seen them again. We have seen fox and coyote in the neighborhood, I've only ever seen one raccoon. Stray dogs used to be much more common 10-15 years ago. Theoretically we could get pine martens or fisher cats, both have been seen a town away but no sign yet around the place. And for that matter, black bear. Closest one has been that I know of for sure was in the school dumpster, but something tore one of our bird feeders bracket and all off a post out front.

Biggest issue now is keeping up with mites.

 

[tomplum]

The weasel thing scares me. Our neighbor had them years back so they must be around. We have some large holes in the same area of the coop. They were there before the chickens. So I put our game camera out above the main hole and I got a pic of a nose which was pointed like a weasel, but maybe it is just a rat. I keep telling myself that but the dang holes can be tennis ball sized. Still, no loss from a weasel. Does DE help w/ your mites or do you need to go bigger ?

 

[Jstpssng]

My wife is selling them for $4 a dozen. Her hair dresser sells a variety of stuff at her shop, along with ten to 12 dozen of our eggs. We give her all our loose feathers that we find from the birds, that she makes into something crafty that she sells, so she sells our eggs in return for the feathers. Then we sell another 6 to 10 dozen eggs a week to friends and at work. This more then pays for feed for chickens, ducks, guineas, goats, horses and our pig, but it also has enough left over for gas or just pocket money. Seems that the variety of colors is what people get the most excited about!!!

View attachment 594928

It looks like she's got some "Easter Eggers" in the mix. They come out pre colored. :Thumbsup:

I knew a woman who would raise them for eggs all summer, then go to Florida for the winter. She gave her hens to a handicapped neighbor.
The next time she talked to him he told her he was getting some ridiculous amount for the eggs, I think she said 5 bucks per egg. Apparently they were some uncommon breed, and in high demand to build up the flock.

She said "To think that I was just eating them!!!" :laughing:

 

[bigtiller]

My wife is selling them for $4 a dozen. Her hair dresser sells a variety of stuff at her shop, along with ten to 12 dozen of our eggs. We give her all our loose feathers that we find from the birds, that she makes into something crafty that she sells, so she sells our eggs in return for the feathers. Then we sell another 6 to 10 dozen eggs a week to friends and at work. This more then pays for feed for chickens, ducks, guineas, goats, horses and our pig, but it also has enough left over for gas or just pocket money. Seems that the variety of colors is what people get the most excited about!!!

That's 16 to 22 dozen a week. Do you have a special method for washing them? That's the part I hated the most as a kid on an acreage. Scraping all the poo off in the sink with warm water was nasty.

 

[ning]

Typically my eggs are visually clean or have minimal "stuff" on them, due to keeping the coop and run clean. Winter time things get messier because the hens come in to the coop with icky feet...

 

[EddieWalker]

My wife is selling them for $4 a dozen. Her hair dresser sells a variety of stuff at her shop, along with ten to 12 dozen of our eggs. We give her all our loose feathers that we find from the birds, that she makes into something crafty that she sells, so she sells our eggs in return for the feathers. Then we sell another 6 to 10 dozen eggs a week to friends and at work. This more then pays for feed for chickens, ducks, guineas, goats, horses and our pig, but it also has enough left over for gas or just pocket money. Seems that the variety of colors is what people get the most excited about!!!

That's 16 to 22 dozen a week. Do you have a special method for washing them? That's the part I hated the most as a kid on an acreage. Scraping all the poo off in the sink with warm water was nasty.

Nothing special, she just washes them in the sink almost every night. I know she did 4 dozen last night. Just wash and leave them on a towel to dry like in the picture.

The challenge right now is to let some of the broody hens sit and hatch a bunch more, or buy some olive eggers and easter eggers online and not waste the time hatching them.

 

[ning]

A key thing is to wash the eggs in water that's warmer than they are; otherwise as the contents contract from the temperature changes they could draw stuff from outside the shell to the inside.

TBH I only wash eggs that I sell; those for family use are only washed if visibly dirty; same for 28 years.

Did you all know it's illegal to sell washed eggs in the UK & EU? That's right. Keep your birds clean and they'll lay clean eggs.

 

[kenmac]

I told my wife we should sell them, but she just continues to give them to people she works with.
I only have 8 hens so I don't get but 7-8 per day. Still enough to sell and pay for some feed
I bought 200# of layer feed today.

On the issue of washing. I read several chicken sites that said not to wash them. Said that the chickens produce some sort of protective film on the egg for protection against bacteria entering the egg shell.

 

[aczlan]

We have had problems with a hawk coming into the coop.
Anyone try "tunnel" entrance where the chickens have to go through a tunnel and around a corner to get in? Would that dissuade a hawk?

Aaron Z

 

[Jstpssng]

I had a crow rookery across the road one year and had problems with them stealing the eggs. I think they may even have killed one of my layers; all that I found was a pile of feathers and my dog-who usually can find them no matter where they go- was confused, he'd go to the pile of feathers, circle around then go back to the feathers again as if to say "which way did she go, which way did she go?", so obviously it was some bird of prey.

 

[kenmac]

We have had problems with a hawk coming into the coop.
Anyone try "tunnel" entrance where the chickens have to go through a tunnel and around a corner to get in? Would that dissuade a hawk?

Aaron Z

they can't get in my pen. It's 25'x25' 8' tall covered with wire. I see them circle above looking though