The Urban Farmer’s Almanac

We are leaving town for a few days over Thanksgiving, and, assuming it would be tricky to line up a chicken-sitter who would come over at 7 am and let them out, and then back at 5 to close the coop door, I am working on some improvements to the chicken coop. As you may remember, we got a little lax on security and it didn’t end well for our last pair of hens. So now we’ve been diligently locking them in the coop every night, but it kind of seems mean to leave them in there for 4 days. It’s a pretty small coop (the size of a big dog house, maybe), and it doesn’t get much light.

So I’m trying to make an enclosed area that gives them outdoor access but also keeps them safe from cougars and racoons.

I also installed a motion-sensing light outside, so hopefully anything sneaking around there at night will get a blast of light in their eyes and get scared off. (I have cooled off from my original “racoon poison” Google searches.)

I also installed a heat lamp in their coop. I have heard different opinions on lamps — they keep them warm (even though they all snuggle together when they sleep), the light encourages them to lay eggs in the winter… I don’t know if it’s necessary or not. Tonight was going to be the first night with it on, but after some online reading, I went out and turned it off. I think I need to switch to a red bulb if nothing else; who can sleep with a big bright light shining in your face? Or maybe I’ll try just setting the timer to run from 4 – 7 at night, or maybe 5 – 7 am? Anybody have any ideas?

It looks tight, but it keeps them safe.

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