This is picking up on a less pleasant thread elsewhere, that took a more pleasant turn thanks to Featureless--thanks for changing the subject to something a little more fun (to me anyway).featureless wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:41 amOur winters can get coldish, lows in the 30s and sometimes 20 or less (coldish being relative to California!). I'd love to know what you ended up settling on for a coup/run (perhaps another thread?) We're lousy with predators around here--foxes, racoons, coyotes, primarily. I do want sheep for their lawn mowing prowess (haven't decided if I could eat them). Also haven't determined if goats are worth the effort. But then I look at 20 acres of raw land covered in brush below the oaks...cooper wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 11:32 am Yeah, chickens are a better subject. We got rid of ours this year. They were fun, but a lot of damn work in the winter with very little return. Seriously, I think the sheep are easier. I think you're someplace warm, though, so checking on the chickens in winter probably isn't too bad. Every other day we want to get rid of the goats, they're from Hell. And yet they crack me up...
Chickens are fun--we just got rid of them because we're trying to cut back on chores. When we moved to our land a few years ago we sort of went all in: chickens, turkeys, geese, goats, sheep, and llamas. And daughter was going through a horse phase, so we had 2 horses and a donkey. Also, 2 barn cats and our 3 dogs. And we lease the back 70 acres to a guy for grazing cattle. Yeah, it's a zoo. We bit off more than we could chew for a while there.
Keeping chickens safe from predators involves a lot of up front work. But then it's not too bad after that. We built an enclosed coop and yard all in one. We only had like 6 birds at a time so it wasn't huge. So, coop built out of exterior siding (the large boards like plywood with vertical grooves) that we stained. Ventilate it, etc., but make sure every hole is covered with welded wire (I think like quarter inch squares). The real trick was keeping predators from burrowing in. To do this, attach more welded wire all around and bury it. And here's where you outsmart the predators--you don't have to bury it deep, but you need to run it out from the structure about a foot or so. They will always try to dig at the base of the structure. It won't occur to them to back up a foot and try digging more. At least that was our experience. Also, cover the "yard" with chicken wire as well. Threats from above are real.
We had another larger yard around the coop/yard that we could let them out in so they could have a better life. During the summer, we'd actually let them run pretty free outside of that too. They always come back to their roosts at dusk and you can close them up. I think the main danger is during the night. We have a ton of predators around, including a huge pack of coyotes. Chickens stayed safe in this.
Lot of words. I'll see if I can find a picture and/or original plans for the coop/yard.
Daughter aged out of horses, and they are gone--thank God. Got the donkey to keep the horse company when we only had one horse. Donkey was pregnant (we knew that when we got her), so horses are gone but we have 2 donkeys. They are my favorite animals on the farm. By far. We've worked with them a lot and they are super friendly.
Sheep are pretty easy keepers--if you get the right breed. If you have ANY doubts about goats--wait. They are fun, but a pain in the ass sometimes (but they do a nice job on thorny bushes). The sheep, goats and llamas run as a big flock and do a nice job of keeping things eaten down. The goats are pets, the llamas are guardians, but we breed the sheep to sell and/or eat. (There's no money in that--cheaper to find a small farm like us and buy good grass-fed free range lamb for a fraction of the cost.) It's a true hobby--we're just trying to raise healthy robust sheep. It's not a big operation. We're breeding 10 ewes this year. That should yield approximately 20 lambs.