You shouldn't have to do anything for them to go into the coop at night.  In over three years, I never have.

Far cheaper fun fact:  Chickens like anything.  Meal worms are expensive - $32 for 5 lbs.   https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/mannapro-flock-party-mealworms-5-lb?solr=1&cm_vc=-10005

Fuck that.

Far cheaper:  Cracked corn, chicken scratch, dry cat and dog food, almost anything.  I can get 150 lbs of cracked corn for $32 at the local feed and seed.  Chickens react exactly the same:  They go nuts.

Not if they were under the chicken pen! That area will be picked clean.

But yeah, chickens are omnivores, and are quite vicious when in carnivore mode.

The other thing they go nuts for:  Old and/or stale bread.  It's funny watching them fight and steal from each other over it.  Until they start getting full, then they settle down.

I feed my chickens a treat at least once per day; more if we have scraps to get rid of.

Well fork me:  Finally, after +3 years, the coyotes have discovered we have chickens!  Lost 3 in the last four days.  

One of them was right outside my wife's office.  She saw the attack, banged on the window to get it's attention, all to no avail.  I was in my shop about 75' away but on the other side of the house.  I heard the ruckus but by the time I got to the scene of the crime, the yote was probably in the next county, gloating.

Crap!

Sounds like it's time for some coyote killing

Don't tell my wife, she would feed them garlic daily. She loves that shit

Her love for garlic is terrible...she would be happy with garlic flavored eggs

Just an update, chickens are doing well and the coop will be outside this week as long as the rain holds off and I can get it in place, my yard is extremely soft right now. Once in place I'll start building the run. For now we will let them free range when we get home from work until dark.

Is a heat lamp in the coop necessary at this point? It's 70 during the day and 45+ at night.

IMO, a heat lamp is never necessary.  ETA:  For adult chickens.  Chicks will need a heat lamp IMO.  We lost four last Jan; a couple days after they hatched, we had a drop to about 25 degrees or so for a day.  All four died.

Compare the time humans have had chickens vs. the dawn of electricity.  Protect them from the wind, they'll take care of the rest.

Plus, there's a lot of downsides to providing artificial heat.

We have had chickens for a year now. Temps have gotten down into single digits (Farenheit) and the chickens were OK. Their body temperature is pretty warm, btw, between 105 and 107 F. They huddle together and are OK with that.
I DO put a tarp over their little coop to help keep snow out and heat in.

There's a plug thingie that you can use to keep their water heater going. I use a Thermocube to heat a doggie dish into which I put the chicken's water dispenser so it doesn't freeze.

Got a shot at one yesterday evening off my front porch/deck.  He was chasing (but did not catch) my chickens in my pole barn field, about 180 degrees from we've been seeing him the last couple of weeks.  Apparent miss.  

As we speak, I have two very experienced coyote hunters down in my lower field deer shooting shack.  They've only been down there about 10 minutes thus far.  No gunshots as yet.

Late to this party. Our broody hen is hatching out her clutch today and tomorrow. I’m seeing 5 right now. We put 16 eggs under her so hoping to have more.  Chickens are easy, the only problem with chickens is everything likes the taste of chicken

Rebuilding up to the 50 birds we had this time last year. Currently sitting at 13 due to a mink.

ETA snapped the best pic I could get:

Didn't get the coyote yet, but I did kill a big skunk yesterday down on my lower field.  No pics because I didn't want to risk getting the scent on my clothes and taking them back to the house.

We haven't seen hide nor hair of the coyote I shot at last week.  I saw him once and my wife saw him 3-4 times, including the one time she saw him killing one of our chickens.  Since the shot:  Nothing.  Knock on wood he stays gone.

Nice!

You can't kill all the predators, but I do try to keep the numbers down.  I've got killing the raccoons down pat.  Working on foxes now.

Here is a pic of the coop, chickens are outside for the first time tonight.

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Well, one chicken didnt come home a few nights ago, thought maybe she just got lost and would come home. Yesterday afternoon a bobcat was spotted on my property. The chickens were put into the coop immediately...well...the ones we could get into the coop.

Despite trying to catch them and bait them into the coop our rooster and one hen would not go in and they both went off on their own. The hen came home about 6:30p. The rooster is nowhere to be found and you can usually hear him as he was very vocal.

I set up some trail cams to try and see if I can catch the bobcat in a pattern. Now we have to keep a close eye on the kids and the chickens will be stuck in the coop till I can build a run.



ETA the bobcat was spotted in the treeline behind the coop which is only 30'-40' from the house.

What do you use to bait them into the coop? My two hens absolutely love meal worm treats! No matter what they're doing or where they are, if I come into the backyard with a tuna can, they'll come a-runnin' to get their treats!

They're kind of stupid that way.

Meal worms, we got them to the coop but even dumping meal worms inside they didnt want to go in.

My mom had a spare dog crate so she brouvht it over until I can build a run. I put a ratchet strap around to keep it tight to the coop and a pvaer onto to weigh it down. Hopefully this works. The chickens seem happy after being in the coop almost all day yesterday. Haven't seen the bobcat today but I'll check the trail cam in the AM.

I kind of miss the rooster. He was always the first on out of the coop and would perch on the edge of the door and crow before going out.

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And we now have two brand new little chicks!  One is yellow (probably a Buff Oprington) and the other is mixed black and yellow.  We were letting three eggs hatch out but only two did; don't know what happened to the third.

No sign of the coyote since I got a shot at it a couple weeks ago.  We also seeing a lot more deer around the place; that's a welcome sight!

We have about 30 right now. We free range in the day and lock up at dusk.

Despite this we still lose one to predators about every other week, even with livestock guard dogs on the premises. Lots of trees and places to hide in my AO, plus very high predator population.

That being said, I think they are great. The rooster drives me crazy some days. The egg output is way, way more than we can eat so we trade eggs for garden produce with a neighbor down the way.

We will get into the negative degree range dyring a bad winter. Usually average in the upper teens low twenties.

Again, compare the time humans have had chickens vs electricity.  That means anywhere where humans have lived for what?  Centuries.

Places like AK, , Canada, Siberia etc. etc. etc.  Are those places warmer or colder than CT?

The biggest problem during the winter (whether TN, CT or AK) is not providing heat for the chickens, it's keeping their water liquid so they can drink.

This will help.

It provides current when temps get below about 36F and shuts off above 42 or so.
I attached it to a heated doggie bowl, and put a chicken waterer in the bowl. Worked like a charm last winter.

It's simple:  without artificial heat, the chickens adapt to the cold.  Just like they have for centuries before artificial heat.

What happens to chickens that have artificial heat - and the powers goes out for a couple hours?  Dead chickens.  With the AH they never needed to adapt, hence, when faced with real cold - DOA.

And then there's a problem with fire in a chicken house caused by a hot bulb or short or whatever.  Not an uncommon occurrence if you follow BYC at all.

Artificial heat for chickens is feelings based, pure and simple.

A little late to this thread but thought I would share my experience.

"Heat lamp."  I live in a much colder climate than most of you folks down south.  Its nothing for us to get sub zero temps for weeks on end.  We don't use a heat lamp.  We use a basic red bulb.  It doesn't make the coop warm but it does keep the frost bite away.

The worst predator I ever dealt with was a bear.  Did a number on our coop and our flock back in 2016~2017.

Second worst is hawk attacks.  Lost a handful to them.

Next was racoons.  Lost a couple to them.  Three got in our run (door was open) and I killed all three with a pistol.  All said and done my ruger 380 LCP was not the right tool for the job.  One hole added to the roof.

Fourth was a weasel.  Viscous little bastard.  Was able to kill it during its first attack only killed on hen.  Blew a pretty good hole in the coop with the shotgun.

Fifth is the unknown disappearance...  You wont always know what happens to the ones that go missing.

Last but non least human error.  This is probably the hardest way to loose them.  We recently had one ran over in our driveway.  Birds were under a truck and the guy started it up and backed up all at the same time one didn't have time to move...  This one bothers me the most out of all our losses because a little common since and thought would have prevented it.  
Hopefully I never go to shoot a predator and wing a chicken, that would upset me too.

Shortly after the last just got ran over we lost two more to unknown cause all in less than a week.  Down to 9 hens and one rooster.   We have revoked their free range rights and are considering hatching a dozen or so.

I'm in the same boat as you. When they go missing due to something on the ground it kills me cause I feel like i could/should have prevented it.

Right now we are only letting them free range when we are home and keep an eye on them. They have a small run and they seem to be ok with it. I think this winter we'll get another half dozen.

Its is far cheaper to buy from the store, or even some 4H kid.

I've got about $1000 into our Chicken project between the coop, run, etc.  I built the Coop, 4x6 with external nest box.  They prefer to lay in the coop area in a corner.  Depends where the boss wants to lay.  Doing it over I should have gone 4x8 with an access door.  Coop is insulated with 1.5in foam and framed with 2x2.  Exterior is cypress siding I scored for cheap of Craigslist.  I sheeted the inside with coroplast, that campaign signs are made from.  Makes it easy to scrub down in the Spring.  The run is a roofed leant on the workshop and 10x20x6 as I used panels from a chainlink dog kennel.  The bottom 2ft of the run has 1/2in hardware cloth wired to it.  This is to keep a raccoon from reaching in at chicken height level.  The exterior of the run I peeled the sod away and put down the same 2ft of hardware cloth to keep predators from digging in.  The eaves are wired in, no gaps anywhere bigger than the chainlink fence.  Should last about forever.  Initially I had an automated door between the coop and run, but it never worked correctly.  Now the coop door is open all the time as the run is considered Ft Knox.

We have 10-15 sized flock most times for our family of 4.  Kids really seem to enjoy them.  We see at least 3/4 of the population in eggs per day, so plenty for us.  I sell the surplus for $3/dzn at work.  That typically covers the bagged feed cost from the farm store.

Heat - All this talk of heat in the winter, frostbite, etc.  Frostbite is from excess moisture.  Rose Combs (like the Dominiques) do better than a big tall floppy Dorking or LegHorn.  If the coop is ventilated well enough this should not be an issue.  I have ventilation at the roof level and the coop door is always open.  Summer time the small coop windows is open too, but I close it for the winter.  There are plans on the internet for a 3 sided but open coop with the open side away from the prevailing wind.  Chickens have these little down comforters on them and do well in the Winter.  Summer heat and humidity is the issue here in mid MO.  They are shaded, but when its really hot I hose down the dirt run in the mornings.

Predators - the Poultry Palace is Ft Knox, but I did lose 5 young Pullets last Spring not sure to what.  Weasel/Mink/Rat is my guess since they were all missing their heads.  I built some Weasel traps, but never caught anything.  Mr Fox is named appropriately - he will learn your patterns.  If I'm out in the shop, or going to be outside in the evenings I will let the chickens out when I come home from work, then go in and make some dinner, then come back out to tackle a project.  2 Fox hit one evening in that 30 mins I was inside and killed 5 of the 12 including our rooster Randy.  I did get 1 Fox, but it was a massacre with feather bombs everywhere.  2 hens showed up the next morning that I thought were gone, hid somewhere.

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Wow JP that is a beautiful setup.

I built my large run out of scrap lumber that's probably as old as I am. Its sturdy enough to be functional, but doesn't look nice and I sure wouldn't call it predator proof. Im mostly depending on the electric lines I run around it at various heights to discourage the varmints from breaking in. That, and trusting my dogs to keep the area patrolled and to zero in on any commotion they hear.

I have a small coop and run that's pre-made that I picked up for a good price on Craigslist. It houses my little batams. I believe a big predator like a dog or coyote could push thru the stapled hardwire cloth, but smaller vermin that's most likely to be a threat to the banties would have a hard time getting in this one. It has an aftermarket frame made of treated lumber buried beneath it to make digging in by a small animal difficult. I also house it near my bedroom window and within a wider fenced yard. My dogs sleep about 20 yards away from the little coop.

Rats or Weasels could get through the chainlink spacing.  I've caught squirrels in the run sneaking feed.  There is 2ft of 1/2in hardware cloth along the bottom perimeter of the chainlink for the exact purpose of keeping a coon from reaching in and grabbing a bird. Racoons are smart enough to open simple latches and to herd the birds into a corner where another coon will reach in and grab them.

The pullets I lost overnight were over about 6wks time.  2 3-4wk old chicks just went missing.  A week later 2 were laying dead headless in the coop, and 2 I found on separate instances in the run the next morning.  I'm guessing that the dead birds in the run were dropped when the predator could not pull them through the chainlink.  I built weasel box traps but never caught anything or lost any birds after.  Right now we have 10 Hens and 6 Pullets that are about 8wks old, no losses so far this Spring??

The windows is just a cheap vinyl slider I got from the Habitat Re-Store that I mounted sideways.  I did put a hardware cloth guard on the outside.  It's high enough that the chickens would really have to jump to get it and have not had any issues with them hitting it.

Ours will return to the coop on their own at dusk, we just go close the door until the its time for them to come out again. Also, we've been keeping hens for about ten years now and in my experience some are like pets and want to be handled, others don't want to be touched, regardless of how much you handle them as chicks. Socialization at a young age certainly helps but don't be surprised if they don't want anything to do with you later on.

@Tbr1806

If you let the birds out about an hour or two before dark to forage they wont stray as far and they go back in at dusk.

The guineas are actually growing on me now. They’re getting smarter. They go to roost at night where I want them to and stay within their yard (after I clipped their wings). I’ll update the guinea thread. And I have since confirmed that one of the guineas wasn’t killed by my dogs, but by the rat snake that spooked them.

Yeah, we have been keeping an eye on them while theyre out and havent had any issues.

I ended up getting 6 silkies for my first chickens. Kinda I’m over my head with building a coop for them in terms of options/style but looking forward to moving them out of my sun room. Just about 4 weeks old and thankfully I don’t have to deal with predators all that much in my area but one of my dags is likely to get a hold of one eventually.

Just found another new chick this afternoon.  She/He must have been hatched the last two days 'cause she/he wasn't there two days ago.  I have 3 more eggs in the natural incubator as we speak.  They should be coming out in the next week or so.

Something got another hen. I followed the feathers and found her. Dense woods near a rotten tree stump. Any ideas?

As fucked up as it soinds I dragged her put and set her remains by the coop. Sitting here with a shotgun in hand and pistol on the hip.

I need to get rid of this predator.

ETA: head is missing and was taken early morning (8am or so) 3-4 hours after sun rise.

A big box trap baited with that chicken would be nice. Or if pets and legalities non a concern, a conibear attached to a bucket with that chicken in the back.