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by Pat on 03/23/11
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The Ground Attack
by Pat on 03/22/11
Electric fencing stops most ground animals, but does not always work in dry weather unless care is taken to add a grounding wire, and even that will not phase a rat snake. I have removed (sometimes alive, sometimes real dead) lots of Texas rat snakes from our hen house. While they are beneficial in rodent control, still, I cannot let them loose on the neighboring farms, or allow a six foot chicken killer to counter-attack after release on our own place. With due reflection and apologies, I usually shoot them or whack them real hard with a suitable implement. We use half inch mesh hardware cloth to make our coops, which has been effective so far. They have to be made real tight, because snakes can get through almost any gap.
Skunks and many other mammals will not hang around an area where common moth balls are present in sufficient quantity. We put them in any plastic container such as a soda or water bottle, drilled with holes, to keep them at bay. Replace moth balls once a month. Be sure your chickens cannot eat them, and have plenty of ventilation in order to avoid poisoning the birds you are protecting.
Say good-bye to winter!
by Pat on 03/22/11
Hi! Welcome to Chick-Cafe!
Finally it's time to get all the covers off our chicken coops. We use an old blanket and cover our summer coops for the winter. It works great. Our chickens were fine, even in snowy weather. Well the chicks under 5 weeks stayed in the house, of course, and we have to admit - those free range pullets and big roosters, which insisted on roosting in rows right next to our front porch windows, really gave us a lot of trouble. When it reached as low as 14(F), we insisted that they stay in the old motorcycle room . Fortunately it's not difficult to catch them after they fall asleep - you can easily get 2 or 3 in your arms at one time. Well, it sure was a great outdoor activity on a cold, windy winter night...you bet.
