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Electrified Coop Solved Bear Problem
After a bear ripped his backyard chicken coop apart, Pal Stanley added solar-powered electric fencing to his new coop.
    Since he only keeps 4 to 5 chickens at a time, he started with a small, 4 by 4-ft. Harbor Freight trailer, which pulls easily behind his lawn tractor. He built a 2 by 4-frame coop onto the trailer frame. It’s insulated with foil-faced foam board insulation and has a metal roof.
    He included a door for easy cleaning and built two nesting boxes on the front with easy access with a roof that hinges open. Instead of buying expensive paint for the floor, he installed vinyl squares and covered them with a protective sealer that has made the floor easy to clean.
    As a further precaution to keep out raccoons and small predators, he beefed up the two cross-ventilation windows with expanded metal screwed on the inside walls with big washers.
    Stanley built a 4 by 4-ft. pen out of a wooden frame, with fencing. The pen is secured to the coop with tailgate latches. Stanley wrapped three rows of electric wire around the coop (two around the pen), and connected them to a solar charger. He turns it off when he moves the pen.
    “We have a sow bear with three cubs in the neighborhood this year, and they have not bothered the coop yet,” he says.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Paul Stanley, 26951 112th Ave., Maple Ridge, B.C., Canada V2W 1P8 (ph 604 340-7030; pstanley@shaw.ca).



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2014 - Volume #38, Issue #5