Sunday, October 17, 2010

coyote proofing




So far our chickens have been roaming around during the day. They usually stick together in the same areas. At night they go in their coupe. Have you heard that saying, "go home to roost" or something like that? Anyway, they do. As soon as it starts getting dark, the chickens all find their way back to their coupe and jump up on their roost. That's where they sleep at night. Its funny because their roost literally is like a 4" wide piece of wood. You can use anything like that for a roost. And if the chickens don't have a designated roost, they will hop up into a tree and sleep on the branch. That happened a couple times when their coupe door was closed so they couldn't get in when it was getting dark.
So I have been digging this trench, a square perimeter where we will put up a fence for the chickens. This will be their roaming yard. You have to dig into the ground, then put the fence into the trench so coyotes won't be able to dig under it at night. I know, its a confusing visual. Anyway, this is what I've been doing. And its not easy. Its really hard rocky ground. But then again, I'm Bad-A.