Small Predators & the Chickshaw

I'm hoping to find people with experience using the Justin Rhodes chickshaw. It looks like a great idea! He's adamant about not using smaller than 1" mesh for the bottom (although the sides have 1/2" mesh). That's the size that allows the poop to drop through the bottom to be self-cleaning, and anything smaller and it won't.

I'm wondering for folks who are using this specific design, what your experience is with small predators. We have mink in our area. I'm reading that they could fit in through a 1" opening, so that makes me nervous. One thing I'm not clear about is whether mink can get through a 1" opening that is up off the ground by 2 feet (not sure being up off the ground helps at all; just wondering). So I'm hoping to find someone who is using the chickshaw AND has mink predator pressure in their area, as to whether you a) have had trouble or b) have modified the design and how.

If nobody has this combination (chickshaw + minks), I'm curious to hear from folks who have mink pressure in their area, about what you know about a 1" opening. It's so hard to separate experience from theory on the internet...

Thanks

I am down the sound from you. though I don't have mink that I know of I do have raccoons; They worked there way under the edge of my chicken tractor and pulled a hen out. I should have locked them in the end that has 1.5 inch mesh on the bottom and separating it from the other 8 feet of the tractor.  I made it that way so I could shut them in when I want to move the tractor a long distance. It is 12 feet long and 4 wide with adjustable large wheels from a lawn more on the enclosed roost/nest end. It has the advantages of both the chickshaw and the chicken tractor. With tee mink pressure definitely do not make the nest boxes to pull out of the back. make the roof so it opens on the back to reach the nest boxes. The purpose of the larger mesh is to prevent build up on the mesh requiring  frequent cleaning. The problem could be a solution if you have some building skills.
Make a tray with plywood and 2x2 around the edge to slide under the roosting bars instead of having the mesh on the bottom. If you notice Justin was putting a tarp under the chickshaw to catch the droppings. With the tray it would be mink proof and you could pull the tray twice a week and use the fertilizer.
Feel free to contact me on my face book page Qberry Farm if you have questions because I am a ferry ride away.

When I built my wheeled coop,  dubbed the chook wagon by my daughter,  I gave it a solid floor and  made it extra tall/deep to accommodate deep litter.
I did this instead of mesh because of Justin's advice on small mesh size.
I was concerned  that raccoons would reach in through anything as large as 1" mesh and tear my chooks to pieces.
I did consider a double layer of 1" mesh,  spaced apart by six inches but it seemed to complex to be tenable, and it would only stop raccoons,  not mink or rats... unless you electrified them!

More seriously,  the drawer or the tarp could work,  but how about using cardboard?
A  sheet of cardboard , thick paper, or burlap could accumulate chicken poop,  then be snatched out,  replaced and composted.
No need to clean anything.

I don't have a chickshaw, but I do have a story to tell.

When we made our duck house, it was next to a big, sunken concrete "hot tub." We tried using it as a duck pond, but it didn't work. And, when we needed nesting boxes for the ducks, we ended up building over the "hot tub." We used 1/4inch hardware cloth, because that was easier than trying to stick a floor on it. (If you're trying to visualize what in the world I'm talking about, here's the thread about building my duck house). And here's a picture of the hot tub, and an old picture of our nesting boxes on top:



A week ago, I was doing my morning nesting box cleaning and egg collecting, and noticed that there was now a big ol' hole in the bottom of the nesting box. The rats(?) had built a nest under the nesting boxes in that old hottub, and had been stealing pine shavings from the ducks over the past 5 years. And, apparently, been slowely working at the hardware cloth over time, and finally chewed through it and made a big egg-sized hole. There hadn't been a hole before, and now there was one!

We ended up getting wooden boards, sticking them over the hardware cloth, and then concreting in floors. We've had rats chew through our cedar walls to get into the house, and now even chewed through hardware cloth.

Hardware cloth does, apparently, weaken over time, especially when in contact with poop. We had other areas where the hardware cloth had started to fall apart, too.

I share this all as a way to say that, hardware cloth doesn't last forever, and it's important to keep an eye on it. I'm sure it didn't help that there was a literal rats nest under our house--which wouldn't happen under a mobile coop. But, for animals like rats, where there's a will, there's a way. And those rats can easily get through 1 inch hardware cloth, and I would keep an eye on any flooring or wall of a chicken coop to spot deteriorating materials, especially after a few years of use.

I would like to add, we do have weasels throughout western Washington

So this is really timely, as I now have all the materials and am about to build the chickshaw mini me. My plan was to use electrified poultry netting to contain the chooks and exclude the predators as I move it around the pasture.

Does this solve the concern around the 1” mesh, or do folks still think it too risky?

If you can keep the electric netting hot at all times, you should be fine.  Pay careful attention to grounding, and get a tester, and keep a daily eye on it.

Here is a Justin video showing his meat chicken coop,  which has no sides or bottom whatsoever:


I think he relies on his netting and his guard goose to protect them.

Artie Scott wrote:So this is really timely, as I now have all the materials and am about to build the chickshaw mini me. My plan was to use electrified poultry netting to contain the chooks and exclude the predators as I move it around the pasture.

Does this solve the concern around the 1” mesh, or do folks still think it too risky?

Artie, I read that electric fencing doesn't help with mink. Evidently their fur is so thick that they don't feel it...

Deborah Epstein wrote:

Artie Scott wrote:So this is really timely, as I now have all the materials and am about to build the chickshaw mini me. My plan was to use electrified poultry netting to contain the chooks and exclude the predators as I move it around the pasture.

Does this solve the concern around the 1” mesh, or do folks still think it too risky?

Artie, I read that electric fencing doesn't help with mink. Evidently their fur is so thick that they don't feel it...

That could very well be.  I know back when we were using netting for sheep and goats, a few of them learned to push their noses under the not-hot bottom wire, lifting it, and then crawl under.  Apparently they didn’t get enough shock on their backs to bother them much.

Hans Quistorff wrote: With tee mink pressure definitely do not make the nest boxes to pull out of the back. make the roof so it opens on the back to reach the nest boxes. The purpose of the larger mesh is to prevent build up on the mesh requiring  frequent cleaning. The problem could be a solution if you have some building skills.
Make a tray with plywood and 2x2 around the edge to slide under the roosting bars instead of having the mesh on the bottom. If you notice Justin was putting a tarp under the chickshaw to catch the droppings. With the tray it would be mink proof and you could pull the tray twice a week and use the fertilizer.
Feel free to contact me on my face book page Qberry Farm if you have questions because I am a ferry ride away.

Thank you, neighbor! We are currently thinking about making a second layer, lined with 1/2" mesh, that would hinge downward to open to the ground. Then the poop would fall through the 1" openings so the chickens wouldn't be walking on it. Poop would get caught on the next layer down, but then once/week or so we could tip it open and spray it down with a hose (or someone suggested lining it with cardboard, which idea I think I like). We'll consider that vs. tray once we get it built and see the bottom.

I appreciate your pointing out the hole-size problem on the nesting boxes. Those gaps will definitely be big enough to permit predators! We'll see how tight those look like they'll fit to figure out about whether to close that whole deal with an extra "door" lined with 1/2" mesh, or make the back solid and open the roof from the back.

Does anyone have updates on their experiences with the Justin Rhodes Chickshaw design? I have been contemplating this for use with my small flock allowing me to give them greater variation in their range without including garden beds that they would destroy. I've had concern about weasels. We have least weasels here and they have been a problem in the past.  

Weasels have mostly been an issue for us in the spring when we had an open floor stationary coop. At the time I learned from some friends who work with wildlife more (wildlife rehabers) that weasels like areas with cover because they can hide better. I have not heard Justin address the issues of weasels and there are two different species in North Carolina. I wonder if his regularly grazed pastures and the mobility of the coop make it less desirable adding in the electric fencing and a livestock dog and guard goose. Hard to know, but have to think of everything.

I’ve had some kind of predator rip the sides of chicken wire like it was paper mache.  This was inside a larger heavily fenced area, so wasn’t a bear.  Still don’t know, maybe a raccoon.  Chickens gone.  Raccoons often raid in families, so they got them all.  Weasels bend and get thru 2 x 4” welded wire So finally I used both together and that seemed to work better.  Hardware cloth works great, but too expensive.  

Hi there! It's been 3 years since you started this thread and asked the question about the chickshaw, so maybe you've already hit on the answer. But in case you haven't, and to save others the trouble:

THOSE MINK WILL DEFINITELY COME THROUGH THAT EGG DOOR IN THE BACK OF THE CHICKSHAW.

This spring we lost our whole flock to that very issue. You can see our chickshaw mini-me here on our blog, and our beautiful flock of speckled Sussex, taken out by most likely a mink.

We're working on patching that egg door completely. With all respect to Justin Rhodes, I don't know why his plans call for an egg door opening in back when the whole lid of the chickshaw lifts up anyway. If I'd had any experience with chicken raising beforehand and had known, I would have built a different coop or altered the chickshaw plans to dispense with the egg door, which is the chickshaw's serious Achilles heel.