Monday, March 26, 2007

Busy busy busy

Well the chicken coop is finished and their area fenced. We just have to attach the gates and figure out a way to keep the hawks from eating them while they are still small. I think we will put in T posts and drape some mesh fencing stuff across so they will have a place to "dash" under. The yard is long ---50 feet x 25 feet---so if the young chickens are in the far corner they can't make it back to safety before the hawks can get them. We thought about a flight disrupter type thing for the hawks---but couldn't figure out a temporary solution that wouldn't end up being just a perch for them to sit and pick off the birds! So temporary cover will do I think. Anyways---I am glad this is done. Now the birds in the garage need to get just a bit bigger to go out with the others---they seem to be a bit slower growing.

2 comments:

El said...

Hi Monica,

I bought some bird netting (the kind of thing you drape over fruit trees to keep the birds from eating your cherries, etc.) for our coop's chicken run. A red-tailed hawk is now nesting in the woods across our road and we know how much she loves fresh chicken. There are many different sizes. You may have to "sew" some together to cover the 50' width, though. Go look at http://americannettings.com/

Dancingfarmer said...

Thanks El. That's exactly what we are looking for and we also have a couple of hawks nesting very very close to us. I like them---they keep down the voles and mice but I want to keep my chickens to myself. I am not very good at sharing :-)
Monica