# Chickens!!!



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I had a surprise a couple days ago, a new neighbor came by and gave me 8-3week old Araucana chicks as a return for showing him a wild bee hive on my dads property.

For the last couple weeks I've been working off and on at a coop, have plans to get a batch(25) of chicks this spring. About all I have done is a framework up but now I'm going to have to step it up and get it finished, those little buggers are making a mess on the front porch. We made a temporary cage out of rabbit wire but I expect they will outgrow it pretty quick.

When I was a kid we raised chickens for meat and eggs but that was almost 40 years ago, funny how we come full circle on so many things, isn't it?


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

Davarm said:


> I had a surprise a couple days ago, a new neighbor came by and gave me 8-3week old Araucana chicks as a return for showing him a wild bee hive on my dads property.
> 
> For the last couple weeks I've been working off and on at a coop, have plans to get a batch(25) of chicks this spring. About all I have done is a framework up but now I'm going to have to step it up and get it finished, those little buggers are making a mess on the front porch. We made a temporary cage out of rabbit wire but I expect they will outgrow it pretty quick.
> 
> When I was a kid we raised chickens for meat and eggs but that was almost 40 years ago, funny how we come full circle on so many things, isn't it?


Yeah your right, had em when I was a kid and now fifty years later got em again but for a different reason now, just remember EVERYTHING likes to eat chicken.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Make sure you snake-proof their enclosure including the bottom and top because they'll be a tasty treat for the snakes until they're several months old. I thought my three month old Guineas would be too big for those slithering serpents until I found a rat snake curled up under a bit of hay with a big lump in its belly. The darn thing must have unhinged its jaw to swallow the bird.

I pulled the snake out of the chicken coop, shot it with a shotgun, and left the remains (snake and Guinea) for the turkey vultures.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I've got a picture of my coop posted somewhere on this forum... It has protected my birds from all prey.

I hope those chicks work out OK for you, I didn't like the ones we had simply because ours weren't very "people friendly". 

I like hearing stories about your new neighbor, he sounds like the right kind of guy to have around.


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## nightwing (Jul 26, 2014)

Davarm said:


> I had a surprise a couple days ago, a new neighbor came by and gave me 8-3week old Araucana chicks as a return for showing him a wild bee hive on my dads property.
> 
> For the last couple weeks I've been working off and on at a coop, have plans to get a batch(25) of chicks this spring. About all I have done is a framework up but now I'm going to have to step it up and get it finished, those little buggers are making a mess on the front porch. We made a temporary cage out of rabbit wire but I expect they will outgrow it pretty quick.
> 
> When I was a kid we raised chickens for meat and eggs but that was almost 40 years ago, funny how we come full circle on so many things, isn't it?


I do not know why but Araucana seems to do well they are very hardy
and lay throughout the year without seeming to go through a molt.

Get some bantam hens and take their eggs and replace them with the Araucana eggs the breed we had was the kind they fight very small but set a nest like no other chicken I have raised. 
They are like having a commercial incubator, each can set more than a dozen eggs and successfully hatch more on average than an incubator.

Do not try to snake proof too much I think a snake can get into a welded shut iron box if they know there is a bird in it.
I caught a copperhead and was going to save and move it (don't ask)
a new slick nylon barrel he was maybe 1 1/2 foot long MAYBE well that night I went to check and he had climbed up and was on the rim.
On one coup I had a sliding door found a snake had slid under and was
pushing it up and was half way in when I found him.
Rats, mice and snakes the never ending battle, move to an island with no 
snakes or rats if you have one chicken now you have snakes and rats.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

nightwing said:


> Do not try to snake proof too much I think a snake can get into a welded shut iron box if they know there is a bird in it.
> I caught a copperhead and was going to save and move it (don't ask)
> a new slick nylon barrel he was maybe 1 1/2 foot long MAYBE well that night I went to check and he had climbed up and was on the rim.
> On one coup I had a sliding door found a snake had slid under and was
> ...


There are no rats in Alberta (supposedly the only place in the world) and the only snakes we have in the central/north part of the province are harmless (garder snakes). Nature makes up for it with a really long list of predators that we do have. Which leads me to my point, anything can be fenced in or out. Proper half inch hardware cloth will keep out most anything small and sneaky if installed correctly. Doors and opening should either seal tightly or in the case of your sliding door fit inside a "rail" or grove with plenty of overlap.

Instead of saying "Do not try to snake proof too much" I would say that if you actually want a predator "proof" enclosure do it right. For me in my area that includes a couple electric wires to keep out bears, badgers, skunk, raccoons, coyotes, dogs, etc. and a tight wire enclosure (top, bottom, and sides) to keep out anything smaller. If a person has good guardian animals on the job or has different circumstances then all this is unnecessary but it doesn't mean it isn't easily doable.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Now that is my kind of neighbor ... Congrats on both, the new neighbor and the chicks!

Best of luck with them both. :flower:


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## nightwing (Jul 26, 2014)

cowboyhermit said:


> There are no rats in Alberta (supposedly the only place in the world) and the only snakes we have in the central/north part of the province are harmless (garder snakes). Nature makes up for it with a really long list of predators that we do have. Which leads me to my point, anything can be fenced in or out. Proper half inch hardware cloth will keep out most anything small and sneaky if installed correctly. Doors and opening should either seal tightly or in the case of your sliding door fit inside a "rail" or grove with plenty of overlap.
> 
> Instead of saying "Do not try to snake proof too much" I would say that if you actually want a predator "proof" enclosure do it right. For me in my area that includes a couple electric wires to keep out bears, badgers, skunk, raccoons, coyotes, dogs, etc. and a tight wire enclosure (top, bottom, and sides) to keep out anything smaller. If a person has good guardian animals on the job or has different circumstances then all this is unnecessary but it doesn't mean it isn't easily doable.


I had hurricane fence and a bobcat slipped his leg in an pulled out a 
pullet sneaky little devil.
opened the fence to encompass the coup and let the dog handle night 
crawlers.

I had worked on the coup and already had the chickens and was not quite finished well a **** got on a limb fell on the coop and was caught between the fence wall and the metal roof the next day I finished the 
trim and screwed the roof to it and the fence.

our problem is it can get over a 100 for up to a month so I have a couple of fans and we have every snake in North America and live a 1/2 mile from a creek so hogs panthers bobcats ***** foxes coyotes feral cats and dogs opossums mice and rats and red tail hawks and probably friggin bigfoot.
I don't have to go hunting it comes to me as long as I got chickens I even have squirrels
they slip in and eat some of the scratch grains and drink some water I figure when I need 
meat or hides I will have all I want and more.

Considering I loose less than 2% to predation I figure that ain't too bad. considering I have to sleep sometime.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

nightwing said:


> I had hurricane fence and a bobcat slipped his leg in an pulled out a
> pullet sneaky little devil.


If that is anything like chain link fencing it is too big to keep out any smaller predator and not enough on it's own to keep out a determined bear or wolverine with time on it's hands, even dogs can get through the lighter stuff over time. Of course if it isn't also buried or on a solid foundation they can just go under, given enough time.

Heavy 1/2" hardware cloth will do much more ime.


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

There goes that empty nest, eh, Dave.


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## nightwing (Jul 26, 2014)

cowboyhermit said:


> If that is anything like chain link fencing it is too big to keep out any smaller predator and not enough on it's own to keep out a determined bear or wolverine with time on it's hands, even dogs can get through the lighter stuff over time. Of course if it isn't also buried or on a solid foundation they can just go under, given enough time.
> 
> Heavy 1/2" hardware cloth will do much more ime.


we do not have bears or wolverine the pullet was at the wrong place right time was being contrary and setting away from the clutch.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

nightwing said:


> we do not have bears or wolverine the pullet was at the wrong place right time was being contrary and setting away from the clutch.


Yeah but like you mentioned, you have snakes and I am sure weasels and the like as well, that fence won't even make them slow down. Chain link simply does not make a predator proof enclosure on it's own for either small or really large or determined animals.

Of course I'm not saying anybody needs one, just that if that is what you are trying for you aren't going to get it that way.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

LincTex said:


> I've got a picture of my coop posted somewhere on this forum... It has protected my birds from all prey.
> 
> I hope those chicks work out OK for you, I didn't like the ones we had simply because ours weren't very "people friendly".
> 
> I like hearing stories about your new neighbor, he sounds like the right kind of guy to have around.


I'll look up the picture, I've been planning mine for a year or so and think I have all bases covered on it but time will tell, remember what they say - Hind sight is always 20/20!!!

These little critters are certainly not people friendly, being as young as they are, they can still make about as much racket as a bunch of guineas when they see anything move(for now they are just outside of my daughters bedroom window - lol)



*Andi said:


> Now that is my kind of neighbor ... Congrats on both, the new neighbor and the chicks!
> 
> Best of luck with them both.


I can see a good friendship coming down the road and we seem to have a lot in common!



Grimm said:


> There goes that empty nest, eh, Dave.


Yup, there go those quiet evenings! lol


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## azbison (Jul 21, 2014)

Country Living said:


> Make sure you snake-proof their enclosure including the bottom and top because they'll be a tasty treat for the snakes until they're several months old. I thought my three month old Guineas would be too big for those slithering serpents until I found a rat snake curled up under a bit of hay with a big lump in its belly. The darn thing must have unhinged its jaw to swallow the bird.
> 
> I pulled the snake out of the chicken coop, shot it with a shotgun, and left the remains (snake and Guinea) for the turkey vultures.


Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms


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