Category: Coop

Raccoons

On By CarynIn Coop, Wildlife

We’ve known that raccoons live in our woods since shortly after we moved in, thanks to our trail cam. They are one of the reasons that my husband built the chicken coop like Fort Knox. It is more effective to design to keep predators out, than to relocate or kill them. More predators will just move back into the area. I regularly check the perimeter for predator incursion and this week found that the back door had been broken.

Photo description: Split screen door made of two layers of wire mesh and 2×4 wood, with the left joint broken open.

I made a screen door from 2x4s a hardware cloth so during our hot summers I could let a breeze from the cooler woods pass through the coop. It really helps. A regular screen door wouldn’t hold up to raccoons, and neither would poultry wire, which is why, when I decided to leave solid door open at night, I added hardware cloth. The door halves are secured with latches and locks, but the raccoons have been pushing at the bottom right corner of the door until the opposite joint gave way. The chickens are fine, the raccoons still couldn’t get in, but I needed to reinforce the door. I fixed the joint with two new screws, added a new latch on the inside top, replaced a couple of the hinge screws with longer screws, and put a big rock inside at the bottom of the door.

Photo description: Sliding latch installed on the inside of the screen door.
Photo description: Door hinge with upper right screw replaced.

The raccoons have been hanging around the back of the coop. I have a large water dish back there for the neighborhood cats, and I was perplexed when I would clean and fill the dish, and the next morning it would be nearly empty and filthy.

Photo description: Large blue water bowl with about an inch of brown water sitting on a wood table.

I set up our trail cam and obtained a photo confirming raccoon activity.

Photo description: Gray and white night photo with a raccoon in the foreground on the wooden table with the water dish, and a raccoon on the stairs to the back door with the bottom of the door pushed in.

Counting chickens

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop

I know my chickens and I are spoiled. They have a nice big coop and run with an automatic coop door, and I have two video cameras, so I can count chickens without wandering out in the dark.

There are eight chickens in this picture.

The outside camera has a memory card, so I can scroll back through time and watch them disappear one at a time into the coop. I’ve tried counting them using the inside camera, but there is so much jostling and repositioning that it is like playing a cup game. The inside camera can see them on their roost once they are settled, but the angle is terrible for counting.

There are also eight chickens in this picture

Yay for technology when it is working.

Uneasy chickens

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop

We were having high winds when I did my chicken camera check the other day. My hens were keenly aware of the unsettling howling wind noises outside their coop.

Chickens listening to the wind in the dark

There are eight chickens in this picture, although you can only see the shadow of the two that get the prime back corner spot. This is their usual configuration at night, but without the strained intensity.

Spiders in the coop

On By CarynIn Coop, Wildlife
Night picture from coop camera

An industrious spider built a web in front of the coop camera. Although it looks vertical in the picture, the actual web was horizontal, stretched from under the camera to the cable tie end shown in the picture. Unfortunately, when I rotated the camera, the web broke. I generally leave spiders alone in the coop. They provide valuable insect control, especially of the flying type, without toxic chemicals (unless you count the spider bite). The successful arachnids are in the upper part of the coop, since chickens are keen on devouring spiders. Extra protein. A few times a year I do sweep out the old webs that are full of dust to make room for new webs.

Winterizing

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, Garden

We had a freeze coming in so I set about winterizing outside the house in 40 degree rain. It is a little different setting up for cold temperatures in Texas than up north, but there are still things that need doing. (I would take 32 degrees over forty and raining any day, though. Yuck.)

I cleaned and filled all the chicken water (three hanging, one heated) and put away the foot baths. I closed up the extra vents in the coop to prevent drafts (there are still eave vents to allow air circulation). I drained all the water hoses and put winter caps on all the outdoor faucets. I took the batteries out of the automatic waterers and stored them away in the garage. I harvested all the basil and covered the tank garden (which still has non-producing squash vines).

Stock garden before basil harvest

I washed the basil and picked through it for the nice leaves. The remainder went out to the chickens, who appreciated that I threaded it through the chicken wire in the covered run so they could pull leaves off, and did not hang it out in the rain.

Chickens tucking into basil secured to poultry wire
After the freeze, the remaining basil is starting to brown. The squash vines bloomed.