Homestead mailing list

[Bevanron <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> For those who did not know Bev in her earlier homesteader 
> incarnation, she is the original Homestead Wonder Woman, faster than
>  a speeding pullet and able to leap small geldings in a single bound.
>  Even with her currently broken arm she could likely take you, so 
> behave.

Oh Gene, you flatter me and bring a smile to my face.  I am a far cry
from Wonder Woman these days, even with two working arms.

> Eight-foot fences are expensive and difficult to build. Just the sort
>  of grandiose design we would expect from a Viking queen.

I've had my fence at 8 feet for about 7 years now.  I originally used 8'
wide deer mesh for the entire height, but UV rays took their toll on it
and this year, we replaced it and now have a hodge podge fence of sorts.
 The bottom part of the fence is a combination rabbit wire/4" square
stuff, the middle part of the fence is regular 1" chicken wire hex, and
the top part is a 4 ft wide section of the same deer mesh we originally
used.  I like the mesh so much that I would have replaced it in toto,
but I couldn't afford it this time around and I had to use what I had
onhand.  A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to get in on a sidewalk
sale where a K-mart was closing down, and I picked up a bunch of wire
fencing, like the rabbit wire and chicken wire, for like $1 for a 50 ft
roll.


 Two six-foot
> fences are just right.

Shoot.
The only fencing I have left left for the interior fence is 36" chicken
wire.  I also have some 48" field fencing, but the chickens can go
through that as the holes are too large.


 Why have to clip wings? Use dog-pen wire.

I would need over 300 feet of it, meaning I would have to buy it and buy
more than one roll as I think it comes in 300 ft rolls like field
fencing.  I need a cheaper way out of this mess.  Using what I have
doesn't make the fence tall enough to keep the birds in the moat, but if
I clip wings, they will stay in because they can't fly over.


> Three feet wide is too narrow for an effective moat. Grasshoppers can
>  make the journey across so fast that fat hens won't get them before
>  they are safely inside the garden munching on your goodies.

I have two considerations for making the moat only 3 or 4 feet wide.
First, there is an issue of garden space.  My closet permanent raised
bed is 8 feet inside the 8 ft perimeter fence.  I want to leave enough
room between the interior fence and the bed to be able to push a large
wheelbarrow through and mow if need be.  That dictates that the widest
moat I could entertain would be about 4 feet across.
My second consideration is not what the grasshoppers can do, but what
the hawks, eagles, and owls will do.  I have lost quite a few birds to
hawks and golden eagles.  The hawks are ever present; the eagles come
and go depending on the year.  This year looks to be an 'eagle' year as
I have seen 3 already.  Since the moat is uncovered, I was hoping that
the smaller width would discourage swooping predators.


In deer
> country, the moat at six feet wide is designed to intimidate a deer 
> from making the leap. I suspect Wonder Woman wants the eight-foot 
> fence to stop the deer.

LOL, yup, when we replaced the fencing, I went back to the 8 footer
because I am sticking with what works.


 Two six-footers will do the deed if the width
> is six feet.

Unless I bite the bullet and go buy some 6 foot dog fencing, I think
it's too late for me to do that.



> All that said, the square footage of a successful chicken moat 
> depends on the size of the flock. If the poultry patrol is 
> insufficient in number to keep the weeds gone, the moat becomes 
> ineffective as a clean edge for the garden. It does keep the hens 
> happy. And happy hens are half a homestead made. So if you, like 
> most, would rather experiment with your own design, why just charge 
> on! Don't say I didn't warn you.

In this case, it's less about experimentation than trying to make do
with what I have.  If I go with my original plan of a 3 foot moat around
the garden, that will give me around 980 square feet of moat, not
including the covered 12x8 chain link dog kennel(which will most likely
be used for turkeys and not chickens in the future) and the coop which
will mostly be for roosting and laying eggs.  At present, I have 25 2
month old pullets and 8 hens, a rooster, and maybe 8 or 9 chicks on the
way.  I've got a broody barred rock whose eggs should hatch later this
week if I can keep the snakes out of there.  So basically, counting a
good hatch, I should have 40 birds isolated in about 1000 square feet of
total space, which is 25 square feet per bird...

More thoughts??

Bev

--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W