"Teenage" Chickens

Our chickens are now 6 weeks old. They no longer are cute fluffy chicks but they are still really fun to watch. Kent made an enclosure off the back of the chicken coop so they can go in and out during the day while we are at work. We sealed up the enclosure like a maximum security prison! Kent dug the wire 6" into the ground and laid it down in an "L" shape 6" out from the base and then attached it to a green treated wood base and buried it. So is anything starts to dig, they will run into wire. We put a wire roof on it as well to prevent any "swoop downs" by owls or hawks. I used metal wire to sew the seams together and pull everything nice and tight. So far the enclosure has served its purpose. However, we did lose a chicken to a hawk that got in through an open ceiling vent on the coop itself. Kent left it open about 6" during the day since it was going to be hot. When I went out the the chicken coop that evening, the chickens seemed very upset. I saw a chicken laying there with no head and a pile of feathers. I was a little confused as to what had got in there and headed toward the chicken door for the enclosure to see if there were any other dead chickens. I didn't see a dead chicken, but I saw a very angry hawk slamming himself against the chicken wire desperately trying to get out. He got in through the small crack in the vent but was not able to get out. Kent came out and we came to the conclusion there was no way we were going to get him out of there without him hurting us or another chicken so Kent shot him. We were bummed to do it because the hawk was just doing what he naturally does and just got himself in a bad situation. Well, we learned our lesson and we put screens on our vents on the roof. So, we still have 28 healthy happy chickens and get bigger every day.

Our enclosure. Once they are older, we will let them wander the yard when we are home, but obviously we know, there are predators out there wanting to eat the chickens. We will have to get a big goose that will squawk when anything comes close.