jenny stark

Again, thank you all for your input! LOTS of things to try...

R RANSOM: That chicken feeder is a riot! But I need a reverse set-up: it won't open with too much weight. Many of the chickens are bigger than the cats... Still, I'm thinking I'd like to make one for the CHICKENS when I start feeding them--to protect the food from rain, iguanas, feral dogs, etc....still a reverse set-up because the dogs/iguanas weigh more than the chickens.

MIRANDA/MICK: The carpeted tube sounds perfect to keep birds out. Easier than "fins" or tunnel. Plan to make/install one this weekend; will let you know the results! THANK YOU!

MIRANDA: Thank you also for food suggestions. Do they eat until the food is gone, or do they get full and come back for more later?

ANOTHER CHICKEN QUESTION: Can chickens be relocated just by packing them up and moving them, or are they territorial like cats who need an organized relocation including confinement over weeks, even months? Googling this doesn't seem to apply to my situation. I'm not worried about them not laying eggs or adjusting to a new coop/cages. I just want to take them from one beach to another, both free range. BUT I don't want them to die from being stressed.

Thank you both, Mick and Miranda, for your suggestions. You're right. For such stupid animals they sure come up with some amazingly clever manoeuvers.

In response:
Miranda--TOP ENTRANCE The birds already hang out on the roof (I think they think it's the outhouse). An opening there would facilitate entry, I'm afraid. Also, this is the tropics--our torrential rains would leak through a roof opening. HINGED DOOR: Tried. CATS are not happy with it. They want a ledge to stand on. I don't want a ledge because the peeps fly in through the lattice if there's something to stand on. FEED CHICKENS: That sounds REALLY GOOD! What would chickens like better than cat kibble? They have access to all sorts of bugs, etc. These feeding stations are all in parks: palm trees, bush, beaches, tourists, ground cover, geckos, BUGS BUGS BUGS.... They like kibble so much they will rush me, peck at my legs (STUPID--like that's going to convince me to feed them?). The guy feeding last summer didn't use a garbage bag, just dumped old/ant-covered/moldy/whatever food on the ground and the chickens became addicted. (He's no longer with us...)

Mick--TUNNEL Interesting concept. I'll get out my graph paper and see what I can do. Will get back to you. FINS "discomfort from hitting wings on fins". Do you think if I hung something hard, like dowels or paint stir sticks, in place of soft mop strings and sail cloth, it might discourage them? Maybe danglies should be HARD? Does noise bug them? Like clatter from sticks knocking together? Maybe I should have pointed out that these are HIGHLY inbred birds who don't even know to crow at dawn. They crow all day AND all night. I'm not sure how delicate their sensibilities are.

CHICKEN QUESTION: Do chickens manipulate with their feet like parrots, sun conures, parakeets? Maybe to hang upside down on the opening of the hole and pull themselves in? Or fly high enough to boost themselves in with their feet?

Actually, I want to make a hole chickens CANNOT fly in. I am a volunteer cat feeder for Friends of Culebra Animals in Culebra, a tiny island off Puerto Rico where the chickens could teach Paul Wheaton a few things about world domination. They invade the feral cat feeding stations, eat the food and terrorize the cats. I need help altering the set-up TO KEEP THE CHICKENS OUT.

The basic feeding station design: a 3'x3' covered box on legs 2 ft off the ground with a hole in the floor big enough for the cats to jump in, worked marvelously in the Virgin Islands where IGUANAS are the villains--as long as the entrance is away from the legs (where iguanas could climb up and inside). Now in Culebra, where FCA wants to establish like feeding stations, I'm finding chickens, not iguanas, run wild -- and enjoy "flying" into the entrance holes. They don't really fly: they sort of flap their wings and levitate up. I have asked everyone for help in keeping them out, including farmers, and the best advice I've gotten is to hang a "curtain" of "danglies" (mop strings or strips of old sails) around the hole. Supposedly, the chickens don't like the feeling of anything touching their wings and therefore won't fly in. HA! They could care less---or maybe I've made the hole big enough that the danglies don't touch them enough.... [I need to mention that ANTS are also a terrible problem: feeding station legs are placed in 5gal buckets of water--"ant moats." Nothing touches the body of the feeding stations (like branches or vines) that ants could climb down. And they're placed in the open, so ants can't drop from overhanging structures or trees. Thus, a ladder/ramp set-up which touches the ground--and would confound the chickens--can't be used, as the ants could climb up there as well.]

HOW SMALL MUST I MAKE THE HOLES TO KEEP OUT THE CHICKENS? (Remember, the cats still need to be able to jump into the hole!) Currently they're 5x10" to 8x12" (different sizes from different builders). Would circular holes be better than rectangular?

I need help really badly. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please? Thank you.