chicken coops

[Icouldeatababydeer]

building a chicken coop, how high should the fence be to keep them in? Is 4 feet high enough? Also do you geed them every day ot can I give them lots of food every couple of days?

[zero]

if you don't want a high fence you can trim the flight feathers, you can get a 30lb feeder and let them go at it until its empty. our new fence is 5ft but with a roof type a-frame. if they have lots of feed or area to scratch they shouldn't want to fly to greener grasses.

our chickens were truly free range until last week and they only went through 1 25kg bag of layer feed in 3 months, we have 11 chickens.

(4 went broody and now we have 7 chicks as of yesterday and counting)

[fishmonger]

Why do chicken coops have 2 doors?
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Because if they had 4 doors, they'd be a chicken SEDAN...

OVER AND OUT...

[Icouldeatababydeer]

Haha. Nice

[josey]

Originally Posted by zero

if you don't want a high fence you can trim the flight feathers

That's not nice!

Also, you might want to think about a fenced roof anyways. I would be worried about flying predators around where we are at least.

[FreeLantz]

Originally Posted by josey

That's not nice!

Good grief. What about hoof trimming horses and de-horning cattle? What are your thoughts on castration?

[Tox]

We raised our own chickens for years (giant white Cornish). We raised them in a coup until they had enough feathers to keep them warm outside. We build panels similar to job site fencing. About 8 feet long and 6 feet high, no top. Moved the panels every few days to a fresh patch of grass. Always had feeders with food too. Also need some sort of cover for them to get shade. We built PVC carts covered in tarp that is easily moved with the pen. Never had much of a problem with predators. We did 5 to 6 hundred chickens a year this way.

[josey]

Originally Posted by FreeLantz

Good grief. What about hoof trimming horses and de-horning cattle? What are your thoughts on castration?

Lol I figured I would get a response like that :-)

[kingrat]

yes 4 feet is enough and for food it depends if you get giant cornish your supposed to limit their food or theyll eat non stop then develop leg problems and other problems are they for eating or laying

[doetracks]

Originally Posted by josey

That's not nice!

Also, you might want to think about a fenced roof anyways. I would be worried about flying predators around where we are at least.

^^ this

Might be tough if you have a HUGE coop. I lost a few birds in the Yukon to flying predators.

One of which was.. a raven.

[josey]

Ever seen a chicken moat? I think that's a neat idea and it would help with covering the coop as it is not one big open area.