Chicks in the Brooder are Three Weeks Old
The March 18th chicks are growing fast and there’s work to be done before they leave the brooder and move into the coop. As long as I’m stuck at home, seemed like a great time to update the chicken coop. There’s always something I’m not satisfied with, and this year I’m going to do something about it.
My biggest pain in the butt is wild birds eating all my chicken feed. They squeeze through the tiniest hole in the chicken pen, and then can’t get out. They fly around inside bouncing off the walls, causing total chaos among the flock.
You probably think this is no big deal, but chicken feed is expensive, and wild birds can easily eat 5 lbs or more every single day. That means I’m buying a $14.99 bag of feed every 8 days or so. Taking that into consideration, it would be a lot cheaper to just buy eggs!
The coop is a 10×10 covered chain link pen, inside an open air barn or shedrow at the back of our property. I had it completely covered with aviary netting, that was somewhat suitable, however, birds and lizards would get caught in it. That’s another problem I want to avoid so I took all of it off. One problem solved, but another was created. I was now committed to finding a favorable solution.
The Solution
I bought 3 50ft rolls of 1/2 inch hardware cloth and have almost finished covering the entire coop. Talk about time consuming, OMG. My fingers are a mess, my nails broken, and my arms look like I’ve been in a battle zone. BUT, there will be no birds getting in my coop this year!
The Girls at Three Weeks Old
TBN Ranch Chicken Keeping Resources 