BUILDING COOPS & SAFETY

THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC FACT!

IMPORTANT: all chickens need a PH balance in their coop litter or bedding from AGED compost depending on your type of weather conditions of at least 6.5 to 7.0 or more PH balanced poultry litter -  Most commercial litters are neutral 7.0 or below to ACIDIC (pine shavings 5.0 to 6.4) and too acidic of the litter can be bad for your chickens health, You can add high PH hydrated barn lime of 12.0 to your litter to bring up the PH levels

Because all coops are in different climates and regions - no two coops, humidity and situations are ever the same. Chicken owners raise chickens outdoors coops so its important to keep a healthy PH levels, the ammonia levels balanced and wet to dry ratio balance based on your changing weather conditions

So you can see that weather is always changing, so is the health of your coop during different seasons

In some cases, chicken owners think they have "sick" chickens from disease, when the reason is poor unbalanced chicken litter on the floor of the coop.

Chickens that eat bacteria (they ALL do) eat dirt or poop and other germs from the ground can ingest bacteria that remains "dormant." Now when the weather changes outdoors (In Texas we can have 30 to 50 Fahrenheit degree changes in a matter of hours.) Or from dry to wet (or wet to dry!) The "dormant" bacteria that your chicken ate can become "active" and cause illness in chickens. 

Most chickens recover and have strong immune systems to absorb bad bacteria and re-align their gut systems. 

Rodents of all sizes live and breed around coops. Rats and mice leave droppings that cause illnesses in birds. And rats eat feed, damage coops, and even kill small chicks and chickens.

So if you have rodents in and around your coop, it's likely that there are snakes.  Rat snakes are often called chicken snakes because they hang around chicken coops. Their intent is to eat rats and mice, but after they've cleared out the rodents they look around for something else to eat. Bird eggs are often on a rat snake's menu, and poultry eggs are no exception. Young poultry are also of interest. 

AND DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE AND THE CHANGING SEASONS PREDATORS MAY BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN THE FALL AND WINTER  

Here are the top 10 predators to watch for:

Dogs, Foxes, Racoons, Hawks, Owls, Bears, Skunks, Cats, Weasels,Snakes

Most predators will hunt day or night and really are not concerned if you are "watching" your flock from your easy chair with a glass of tea, (really you won't deter some predators at all!) 

A hungry predator can strike in seconds and most of the time the best solution is a large heavy-duty chicken run and not letting your flock free-range outside the safety of the coop and run area.

In this link below we will talk about the above-mentioned predators, and share some tips on how to protect your chickens and coops from break-ins.

Review the helpful tips below and be prepared for a predator to eventually be hunting a chicken dinner.