Day 9

Interesting development the other day.  A friend called me and told me one of her chickens was killed by a bobcat.  She had two new chickens in a metal carrier she was introducing to the flock. They had been there about a week.

She spent several hours chasing it off after the initial kill but apparently it wasn't deterred enough to stay hone long.

The carrier probably had 2" wire and while it was enough to keep the bobcat out it allow it to reach in and grab one of the chickens at start eating it through the cage.

We began to build a makeshift enclosure for her ducks when the bobcat came back looking for the chicken.

A coop/enclosure can really be as simple or elaborate as you want.  For makeshift one below we used part of the fence as the back wall.  We used leftover wood, mesh, and hardware to start building the enclosure shown below.  The open side was later secured with hardware cloth.  We made a removable plywood roof for the top.  This "emergency coop" took about an hour or two to build.

Per my coop/chickens below is the normal sight I was talking about.  The chickens lineup by the door when they see me and ready to get out.  They also as I've mentioned wander back into the run at sunset and tuck themselves into the coop for the night.

The Ameracuna has been acting a little funny.  They're allegedly a quiet breed but it has been squawking a lot.  It then opens its mouth like it wants to squawk and sometimes nothing comes out.  Of course you read online that it might be gapeworms but its rare.  Other Ameracuna owners have reported it is normal.  Who knows. I've checked the coop for any signs of abnormal poop/worms and nothing.  So I'll have to wait and see.

I ended up adding mulch to the run to cover up the mesh on the floor and saved me from trying to rake up waste.  The rake was getting caught on the mesh.  This way I can churn the mulch and with enough depth it will turn to compost.  This was advice from a friend who keeps chickens as well.

I also added some additional pine shavings to the coop.  It didn't look like the chickens littered in the coop too badly.  A little surprising because I read that chickens do most of their business at night in their coop.

Lastly I screwed a 2x3 into place sideways and then screwed some branches to it.  The coop has a perch in it but I wanted to add something outside that simulated being in a tree.  We'll see if they use it.  The first few days they were sleeping on top of the coop and on the ground but quickly took to the coop.

They're still shy.  They will come right up to me and sort of follow me around the yard but will quickly flee if they feel like I'm getting close enough to touch them.