Chickens and plans...what could go wrong?
Well in our case most of what has gone wrong is do to our location(Northern Minnesota).
With a fully insulated heated coup we still had some frostbite last year and one death(it was -30F).
Even with a heated water source the ice has to be broken out and new water put out daily when it is below -10F.
Our fence is 8ft high,and over the next week or so I will be adding chain link fence around the outside due to a recent predator problem.We had a wolf dig under the fence a few days ago and it left one body(if you can call a head and feet a body) and three chickens are mia leaving our flock at 8 chickens.
Auto feeding buckets are great for chickens and mice.If you go with a large gravity feed system not only will the chickens have plenty to eat,but expect rodents will as well and plan on dealing with them.Our mouse problem is under control,but not forgotten.Raising the system so the feed tray is off the ground at slightly below the chickens head helped more than anything.
Our chickens have a very large run(80ft by 30ft approximately fully fenced)in the summer,spring,and fall.They also have a smaller area with a gate separating them from the main next to the coup of around 10ft by 20ft.Each night shortly before dark they return to the coup on their own and we go out and shut the door.In the depths of winter they do not leave the coup(4ft by 18ft).
We have not lost any chickens to predatory birds(Bald eagles and such),but others around us have.
Well in our case most of what has gone wrong is do to our location(Northern Minnesota).
With a fully insulated heated coup we still had some frostbite last year and one death(it was -30F).
Even with a heated water source the ice has to be broken out and new water put out daily when it is below -10F.
Our fence is 8ft high,and over the next week or so I will be adding chain link fence around the outside due to a recent predator problem.We had a wolf dig under the fence a few days ago and it left one body(if you can call a head and feet a body) and three chickens are mia leaving our flock at 8 chickens.
Auto feeding buckets are great for chickens and mice.If you go with a large gravity feed system not only will the chickens have plenty to eat,but expect rodents will as well and plan on dealing with them.Our mouse problem is under control,but not forgotten.Raising the system so the feed tray is off the ground at slightly below the chickens head helped more than anything.
Our chickens have a very large run(80ft by 30ft approximately fully fenced)in the summer,spring,and fall.They also have a smaller area with a gate separating them from the main next to the coup of around 10ft by 20ft.Each night shortly before dark they return to the coup on their own and we go out and shut the door.In the depths of winter they do not leave the coup(4ft by 18ft).
We have not lost any chickens to predatory birds(Bald eagles and such),but others around us have.
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