Make the time and effort to get your coop under your control and not your local predators’. There are fantastic ideas here to give you ways to save time and money too. I credit mychickencoop.net for all of the photos and brilliant information here. Check out what priceless information they have to share:
“Urban chickens seem to be taking cities by storm — at least in the cities with reasonable codes that allow raising small livestock.
Even folks who have never raised farm animals are coming to realize that a handful of hens can easily be accommodated on a city lot and they provide both eggs and manure (for those urban gardens!). Why wouldn’t you want to jump on this bandwagon? Of course, there is a learning curve. In nearly 20 years of raising chickens, I’ve learned a thing or two — mostly by doing it wrong at first! Learn from my mistakes by implementing the tactics below.
Know Your Predators
My hens live in a very simple small enclosure that protects them from wandering dogs. We’re lucky that wandering dogs are really the biggest threat. Once in awhile a mongoose will take up residence nearby and help himself to eggs, but as long as there are no chicks in the house, the mongoose pretty much leave the hens alone. In another lifetime, though, we battled skunks, raccoons, bobcats, and hawks, and we lost a fair number of chickens.
Even though the girls were caged, some predators were wily enough to burrow under the fence. Concrete blocks and wire are one way to really secure a coop. Or you might try installing one of these solar control lights. If you’ve got flying predators, you’ll want to be sure to add an upper barrier to keep them from flying in.
Keep Their Food Clean and Dry
Don’t be like me and make do by simply tucking feed bags inside the coop. I’ve lost so much chicken food over the years this way! I finally got smart and added a small garbage can to my chicken coop. When I open a new bag of feed it goes directly into the can where it’s protected from the weather. Keeping it contained like this also helps prevent mice and rats from hanging around. (Read how I reduce the amount of feed I need to purchase for my hens)
Discourage Mosquitos
Open water troughs—especially in my tropical climate—breed mosquitos. I kick myself every time I have to dump the chicken’s water to eliminate mosquito larvae. It’s a waste of water, plus it’s one more thing that I really don’t need to be doing. I just need to make one of these. It’s on my list of things to do.
Make it as Easy as Possible
If you’re building a coop and nest boxes, take the time to add an access door that will allow you to gather eggs without actually entering the coop.
Trust me. When you’re in the midst of making a cake and realize you need a couple of eggs you don’t want to have to fight through a flock of hens who think you might have a tasty tidbit or risk stepping in poop. You will thank me later. I also recommend making these simple upgrades to your coop.
Don’t Overdo it
My first chicken coop housed a half dozen hens and had, accordingly, a half dozen laying boxes. Overkill, big time. Even though we eventually added more hens, we could easily have gotten away with just a couple of boxes. Sometimes the girls even like to share a nesting box.
Make it a Slippery Slope
Any level or flat surface in the chicken coop will be seen as a potential roosting place. Flat topped nesting box? They’ll roost on it and poop all over. Feed container in the coop? Ditto. After we built our six laying boxes (see above) we discovered very quickly that they needed a sloped top to prevent one big chicken-poopy mess.
Have Fun with it
Have you ever met a chicken owner who didn’t just love having hens? While I’m never going to go so far as to create a five-star coop like this for my girls, I’m not above adding a bit of pizazz to their digs. And trust me: You’re going to find that hens are entertaining enough that you’ll be spending more time in your coop than you expect, just watching the show.”
Did you grab some ideas to save time and money while keeping your flock safe from mychickencoop.net? You certainly don’t want to come out to your chicken coop in the morning to find it emptied of your loving chickens by some predator during the night.
post curate: http://www.mychickencoop.net/avoid-6-common-mistakes-chicken-coop/
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