Predator proofing a chicken coop

[jdinny]

Thanks again for all the posts.

Weve come across " my pet chicken" forum which i feel is a solid site but they refer to chickens as " the girls" so i wanted a more jdinny appraoch less pet more purpose type bird. so I figured someone on NDA has to fit the style. i will check into that site also allen.
I think I have got some ideas as far as predcator proofing it may be less of an issue than I think. again I feel the neighbors dog will be the biggest concern like many of you have mentioned. we sit on 2 acres so they will free range when were around but not when we are gone.

we have a black lab she is dumb as shit she guaranteed will be scared of them... and no she doesn't hunt.....so she wont be an issue.

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allen, i may take you up on that. ill get the coop up maybe check yours out to see if any modifications or add ons are worth it.

 

[Allen]

yes ive read egg production is way down in the winter. will insulate coop ( later date and proll another thread haha) but have heard firts hand from many people in bismarck area they dont heat coop and chickens are fine all winter obvously way less egg production.

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we have Rhode island Reds was thinking austrolops next......if this works haha MrsJdinny and the brood ( 3 kids) talked me into this might find a cheap coop on bisman shortly. haha

You can boost egg production in the winter with a simple heat lamp. It's not the temps as much as it is the hours of light. One thing though is that eggs in the winter will freeze and crack, so around 60% of all my winter eggs go to waste.

 

[espringers]

yep. we can heat our spray foamed shed with very little cost in the winter. keep it just barely above freezing just so the eggs and water don't freeze. egg production is more about food, water and LIGHT. temp, not so much. we have a nice big window. but, you also need to supplement light in the winter time cause the daylight isn't enough to keep them from stopping laying. our door gadget controller has a built in light controller for the interior LED light in the winter. when daylight is short, it turns on the interior light for an extra amount of time. can't remember the exact amount needed. i think it was the cooptroller or some shit like that. probably from murray mcmurray hatcheries.

another deal regarding food. i take a pick-up to the elevator every spring with 8 big garbage cans in the back. fill 4 with barley/wheat, 4 with corn. runs about $80. i generally mix up another can at a time... wheat, corn, sometimes 1 bag of the pre made pellet feed for extra nutrition and protein. that truck load lasts us a full year. we run about 12-15 chickens/ducks on average. they don't need much food in the summer time as they forage all day long. winter months its worse. we never keep more than one or two ducks in the winter. i am not a big fan of the duck eggs anyways. probably won't winter them anymore. they taste too good not to eat. and they make a damn mess out of the coop in the winter cause they throw water EVERYWHERE.

 

[wby257]

My Wife had to have Ducks, by the end of the summer she had her fill of them. I dont know about you guy but when Im out feeding them morning and night and they come running up to you to get fed. A person does get attached some what to them.

I normally have 4 to 8 pigs in the summer to. And there a lot like a dog only smarter. I holler come and eat and they come a running. They shit in the same spot in the pasture. And will not shit in there pen. The pen is 12 x 40 and feed and water them in the pen. When its time to take them to the butcher shop the only good feeling you have is them pork chops will be so good.

Couple of yrs ago I was cleaning out my fish house and had a couple of bags of Kit Kats candy bars in it. So I called the pigs over and fed them all a kit kat. I did that for about a wk. My wife came out one evening and I said watch this. I hollered who wants a kit kat, the pigs were in the pen. They came running out of the pen into the pasture. She just could believe it. The next day there were 4 big bags of kit kats on the counter, she bought them for the pigs.

 

[jdinny]

good to know about the light..... im not a huge fan of heat lamps im a just a little bitch in regards to fires and heat lamps. we have the chicks in the garage now with the Brinsea eco lamp id say gentle warmth to the touch but could leave my hand on it for hours. and the wife made a "wool hen" for warmth too. and they are rarely under the dam thing anymore so plenty warm. cant beleive how active those little things are.

 

[espringers]

not a heat lamp fan myself either. we don't even use them for our chicks anymore. besides the fire hazard from the birds jumping all over it, they aren't the most efficient source of heat or light. our winter heater is one of those stand up radiator style things filled with oil i thing. bout $40. strap it to the wall just to be safe. but, if they do tip, they shut off automatically. we use the same heater for our chicks. they snuggle up under the radiator coil things.

 

[Fritz the Cat]

For predator control, get a couple African Geese. Noisy, but nothing messes with them. Works in a pen. Doesn't work free range because they don't hang with the chickens.

Good choice on the Road Island Reds. Brown colored eggs.

 

[Allen]

Jersey Giants are a really good egg layer as well. Thankfully they are gentle giants. The Chinese Silky chickens are a very gentle/friendly little 5 toe freak (most chickens only have 4), but they lay small eggs. Ameraucana's are also good birds which lay blue eggs.

 

[bigv]

not a heat lamp fan myself either. we don't even use them for our chicks anymore. besides the fire hazard from the birds jumping all over it, they aren't the most efficient source of heat or light. our winter heater is one of those stand up radiator style things filled with oil i thing. bout $40. strap it to the wall just to be safe. but, if they do tip, they shut off automatically. we use the same heater for our chicks. they snuggle up under the radiator coil things.

We don't use a lamp either. Chickens like other birds can stay warm very easy by puffing feathers and trapping heat. They then bunch up and keep each other warm when roosting. Like I said I just turned a 4x8 shack into coop. I put a heated dog bowl in there in winter for water. I also re-insulated it. It was very warm in there even on the coldest days. There is a little plexiglass moon light on ceiling. It often had condensation on it. I wonder if the heated water helped with warmth? I am no chicken expert but just like an outside dog. Feed them up well in winter. We feed regular chicken feed with the clam shells in it and mix it with cracked corn. Also let them roam parts of a day. They didn't lay a lot in winter but did get a few eggs a week. We only have 6 chickens.