Greetings from the Buckeye State...

[Ewe Mama]

Hello!

We are a family of 7 (5 homeschooled children) living on 3.5 acres in northeastern Ohio. We moved here several years ago when our children were quite young. I spent the last few years up to my eyeballs in toddlers, diapers, teaching children to read, trying to keep house, and so on. In general, just trying to live.

When we first moved here, we tried to do too much at once. We got a goat, a couple sheep, then a couple more sheep, chickens, and ducks. I have learned that I am quite good at hatching out ducks and chickens, but we stink at keeping them alive and safe from predators, mainly raccoons. We have designed and built more coops than I can count and raccoons have killed all but one chicken over the years.

My husband is currently in remission after a battle with the dreaded C, but he lacks strength. I am trying to get the house and animals straightened around on my own, with some help from the kids, of course.

I am seeking advice on the proper tools, equipment, and techniques, needed to improve pasture land for grazing, growing and harvesting hay on a small scale, and many other things. I would like to have a chicken moat at some point, and extensive earth bag fencing, but those are projects that are dreams at this point.

I look forward to getting to know you and listening to your advice and insight.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Welcome, from Texas. Sounds like you've got your hands full! You've come to a great place for advice.

 

[Britesea]

Welcome to our craziness! It's such a heartbreak when you lose animals to predators after all the work and expense of getting them set up. It sounds like you still have some sheep and a goat? Do you milk the goat or is she/he mainly for pasture control?
Back Yard Chickens has some threads on building good strong coops. What I was told was: if a 5 year old child cannot break in, it's probably strong enough.

 

[Denim Deb]

I've been lucky in that I haven't really had a problem w/chicken predators.

If you want to improve your ground for hay, make sure you don't have weeds now. One of the best ways to get rid of them is to keep it mowed so what's here won't develop seeds. Also, get a soil test done so you know if you need to add anything to the soil.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Hi. First things first. Welcome to SS. I can relate to everything except the big C, but DH had a heart attack, so I'm also pretty much a solo job, except with help from kids.
So, I believe my current coop is about the 6th I've ever had and if I had back every chicken taken from me by a coon or possum then I'd have a huge project indeed.
Please allow me to give you one piece of advice before you even think about trying poultry again. Coon makes a very good meal and really you have lost enough to them and might want to reclaim your expenses. I suggest you trap and kill them. I"m totally not joking. A lot of my friends freak out when they find out I eat coon, but my children love it and my nieces and nephews have come to think its very good as well and want me to call them whenever I prepare it.
They eat your livestock and will also help themselves to your fruit trees and garden. If you kill them, you won't have to worry about those things, plus if you learn to eat them, you have killed 2 birds with one stone.

 

[Ewe Mama]

Welcome, from Texas. Sounds like you've got your hands full! You've come to a great place for advice.

Thank you for the welcome! It took me forever to find some time to get back over and respond, but I have enjoyed the information I have gleaned already from such a knowledgeable group of people.

 

[Ewe Mama]

I've been lucky in that I haven't really had a problem w/chicken predators.

If you want to improve your ground for hay, make sure you don't have weeds now. One of the best ways to get rid of them is to keep it mowed so what's here won't develop seeds. Also, get a soil test done so you know if you need to add anything to the soil.

Thank you, Denim Deb! I will be sure to mow the back pastures regularly. I am looking into getting a scythe, but for now will have to try to get the job done with the old lawn mower. Thank heavens the kids think it's fun to push a lawn mower back and forth a few times. That makes the job go a bit faster.

 

[Ewe Mama]

Welcome to our craziness! It's such a heartbreak when you lose animals to predators after all the work and expense of getting them set up. It sounds like you still have some sheep and a goat? Do you milk the goat or is she/he mainly for pasture control?
Back Yard Chickens has some threads on building good strong coops. What I was told was: if a 5 year old child cannot break in, it's probably strong enough.

Thank you for the welcome! We currently have six sheep and nine chickens (eight chicks, along with our elderly survivor from the original flock.) we sold our goats last year when dh was going through chemo because I couldn't manage everything on my own. If I can get the fencing and pastures back to where they need to be, I would like to get a dairy goat again. The kids are getting to be old enough to help out more, so I would like to add in a garden and orchard over the next year.

We actually ended up buying one of the Snap-lock chicken coops, which was anything but frugal. My eldest daughter was willing to do extra chores to help pay for it. She wanted the peace of mind of knowing that nothing was going to be able to get in and kill her little fluffy butts this time. It is a very nice coop and I think it will prove to be worth it in the long run.

 

[Ewe Mama]

Hi. First things first. Welcome to SS. I can relate to everything except the big C, but DH had a heart attack, so I'm also pretty much a solo job, except with help from kids.
So, I believe my current coop is about the 6th I've ever had and if I had back every chicken taken from me by a coon or possum then I'd have a huge project indeed.
Please allow me to give you one piece of advice before you even think about trying poultry again. Coon makes a very good meal and really you have lost enough to them and might want to reclaim your expenses. I suggest you trap and kill them. I"m totally not joking. A lot of my friends freak out when they find out I eat coon, but my children love it and my nieces and nephews have come to think its very good as well and want me to call them whenever I prepare it.
They eat your livestock and will also help themselves to your fruit trees and garden. If you kill them, you won't have to worry about those things, plus if you learn to eat them, you have killed 2 birds with one stone.

Thank you for the warm welcome, Rhonda_bruce! I hope your husband is making a good recovery following his heart attack. That must have been a terrifying experience for you all.

Thank you for the raccoon advice. I did actually trap and drown several in our pond during the first time around with chickens. I never considered eating them as I always felt awful about killing them and just tossed their carcasses out into the woods. Other than helping to pluck feathers after dh culled the roosters out of our flock, I never handled any part of the processing of meat. I will have to contemplate and study the subject. I am very squeamish, but I am learning to put my big girl pants on and doing what needs to be done.

 

[Denim Deb]

Ewe Mama, same here. It doesn't bother me to clean fish since I grew up doing it. But I wasn't sure I would be able to handle doing anything else. I almost passed out in college when I had to operate on a rat!

Then, a mini at the farm where I have my horses died when the owner was away. He had been sick and one possibility was rabies. I was the only one there and had to assist the vet in removing the brain so it could be sent for testing. I was able to do it w/no problem. I am now able to process chickens.

I may do rabbits one day, but I'd have to go w/NZ whites. I've had pet rabbits most of my life and my least favorite ones are solid white. (My most favorite are those that look wild.) For many people, fish and chickens can be easier. There's not the fur factor.