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Health & Fitness

Setting up chicken housing

There are many commercial chicken houses on the market, and also many plans available. Some housing is designed more for the enjoyment of chicken owners than for the comfort of chickens.

Some important points in chicken housing.

It must resist predators, including cats, dogs, and raccoons. Raccoons will dig under the sides to enter, and can open simple latches. If a three year old can open it, a raccoon can open it.

It should have solid flooring or wood slats, at least 2" x 2" in size and space about an inch apart. Wire flooring can contribute to foot infections in chickens. Plastic kennel mesh flooring is also acceptable; it has square holes of about 7/8" bordered by wide, flat, plastic edges.

Although named "chicken wire", the hexagonal mesh commonly sold is not suitable since a dog or raccoon can easily break through it. Hardware cloth or 1"x1" metal fencing is more suitable. Some people use 1"x2". Make sure that if you use a spacing wider than 1/2" x 1/2" that the chicken roost is set far enough from the sides of the enclosure that a raccoon cannot reach in and kill your chickens. A minimum of 1 foot is recommended.

Chain link is one popular chicken enclosure method. Portable dog kennels with a home built chicken shed inside work well; just lay a foot of 1"x2" mesh around the perimeter, with the ends secured both outside and just inside the fencing. This "apron" discourages digging by raccoons, which are common in the Bay Area.

All chicken fences should have an "apron" at the bottom to keep out predators. This is the minimum one foot wide piece of fencing described above; the plastic covered kind is less prone to rust. The top of the enclosure should also be covered in order to keep raccoons from climbing in and hawks and owls from flying in. Hawks in this area are persistent; we have had one actually perch on the chicken house, and another that flew down and landed between two biddies who were on yard weeding duty. The biddies were not happy.

Another solution is to purchase a small commercial electric fence kit. There are specific two wire "raccoon fence" kits available. One wire is placed about 4" above the ground, the other about 8" - 10" above ground. Place this around the exterior of the chicken housing. Do not power it when the birds are out in the area; generally they only need to be powered from about one hour before dusk to one hour after dawn.

If your chickens live in portable housing, an alternative to the fence apron is to set the house on one foot by one foot or sixteen inch by sixteen inch paving blocks, with most of the paving block outside the house. Secure the house to the ground, unless it is heavy enough that it cannot be moved by the pushing of a large dog. One can either make one's own paving blocks, or look for a sale on the most inexpensive kind. If you're the artistic sort, you may stain or otherwise treat the paving blocks to give a look that you like.

For those who find expense no object, the Eglu products work well. For the rest of us, home built solutions, or possible a Poultry Pod product within a fenced enclosure are good solutions. The cheaply made coops available at many dealers, the ones with the sheet or roll roofing, tend to not hold up well.

A simple "range shed" inside a fenced enclosure works in this climate. The shed
consists of the gable ends and one roof side of an A-frame. The "floor" consists of 2"x2" boards, with the sides slightly rounded. The floor is frequently built as a removable platform, where the board ends rest in notches so they may be removed for easy cleaning. Ideally, the side roof of the A-frame begins one foot above ground, and the floor sets slightly above that - in order to discourage rats. In winter an old political campaign sign, or a piece of plywood may be used to close off part of the open side to shield from rain and wind. Nest boxes can be placed on the "floor." Under the range shed, you place about 6" of heavy wood chip mulch - do this in such a way that the floor remains one foot above ground. Cleaning consists of raking this over once a week, occasionally adding fresh chips, and wiping any manure from the floor boards. Every three months to one year, you completely replace the wood chip mulch. The wood chips will actually compost the manure in place if you are faithful in raking. Flies and other nuisance insects are not a problem since the composting wood chips harbor fly parasites and predators.










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