So we finally got bank approval for a short sale on that rocky hillside 1.4 acres on which we made an offer.



The grapevines and figs will love getting their roots under those rocks into damp, shady places with their leaves in full sun, but the chickens wow!  Difficult problem to let them free range on a steep hillside, with coyotes, bobcats, hawks, foxes, racoons, snakes, and all kinds of critters around.

I thought about chicken tractors, but down stairs on a hillside?  Nah.............

After much research, I think Electric Poultry Fences might work.  We may need them a bit taller, but I'm sure there are sources.  I'm thinking I can carry the girls in a small cage down the hillside, open a door, let them in to an area covered with Electric Poultry fencing to free range, then get them at night and take them back to their safe coop with zero critter access. 

The safe coop will be in here next to JD's Boat!



The electric fences will also protect the ripe figs and wine grapes from critters.  I was thinking of going to garage sales and buying old, beat up dressers with drawers filled with straw to put in each poultry free range area for nesting.  Finding flat places on that hill is the problem.

What do you think?

Suzi

Congratulations! You'll really be able to expand your horticultual interests there.

Jealous !!!

Congrats.

Ha Tony!  The whole property was neglected and overgrown (house has mold and rot issues) for at least two years!  Want me to dish the dirt?  Story, from a neighbor, is that the couple who owned it got a divorce because the husband refinanced for $250K (unknown to her) over what they had into it, and gambled it all away in one month.  She couldn't make those payments and stopped watering, pruning, and everything!

We got a deal on it, and JD is there now with our inspector trying to figure out exactly what needs fixing.  Me?  I'm worried about the chickens, the fig and wine grape irrigation, solar, stuff like that!

Don't be jealous!  Lots of work ahead!

But granted, this is a slate I look forward to painting with little pockets of herbs, veggies, fruit trees, and my beloved girls!  Color me happy!

Suzi

Congratulations Suzi ! do Not worry , with time it will be your own Kingdom.
Mark

Congrats Suzi! Make sure you fill every niche with a fig tree and grapevine. You'll have to take some before and after pics.

Congratulations, Suzi!  Patience is a virtue  :-)  Sounds like a great plan.  For nesting boxes, I think just using plastic bins work.  You can wash them out and sanitize them, which you can really do with old dresser drawers.  And, I think they look a little neater.  Good luck, and let us know when you move in, how exciting!

Yea!!!!!!!!!!

So happy for you!

Now it begins- blood, sweat, tears, joy, look for successes in small steps.

Good luck

Wow!  Thanks!  Good advice from all of you!  This was a long quest and we got the verbal approval.  Still waiting for final.  Short sales aren't all they are cracked up to be.  I absolutely know the Figs and the Wine Grapes will thrive, but not so sure about the chickens............

Suzi

Congratulation.  Now, you can get more figs to grow at the new place.  

Congratulations Suzi,
                         You will have to share more pic's of your 'Work-in-Progress' . It would be nice to see a 360* view. I so miss the So.Cal desert. 

Hi Suzi. Congratulations on your new place. 

If it were me, I'd be thinking of options for my chickens too. The first thought that came to my mind was how they build houses on steep slopes in eastern KY. Try to imagine this; The front door is at ground level while the back of the house is basically a stilt house with as much as 20' or so down to ground level. I'm sure you could envision something similar for your chickens.

Not necessarily talking free range anymore though. You know, something like an enclosed deck. Maybe with some limited ranging on the upper end. You're definitely right about the predators. Doesn't look like the poor girls would last long out in the open there.

You do have options though. I'm sure a few searches on the matter would give you plenty of ideas. This may not be exactly what you're looking for but it gave me a few ideas:  http://sweetgumminis.com/coop.html

Here's a discussion about a similar issue someone had: http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/541553/ideas-wanted-enclosed-run-on-a-slope

Hope this helps.

Member of backyard chickens.. Ty for your links!  I love my girls!!
Suzi

Congrats Suzi. The place looks wonderful!! Good luck!
I guess no more free range for the hens. I had to keep mine enclosed 2 years ago because of hawks and coyotes. They don't seem to mind. Its was so cold here last nite (2 deg)I had to turn on the heat lamp to keep the coop warm. But it was still so cold  in there this morning I saw one of my hens with a capon!!!!

Congrats, I was looking at getting land out in Riverside county. Its some of the only semi arid land that is reasonably affordable in Southern California. Btw, if you are looking for some great drought tolerant fruits. I have a good collection of great tasting and eating quality Prickly Pears.

wahooooo!

Prickly pears are a good thing for two things.  They have these pads, and you need serious leather gloves and some kind of good knife to get the spikes off, but the pads taste like a cross between asparagus and green beans, and those lovely pears!  They are indeed good fruit.

The Prickly pears are a good barrier against all things evil!
Suz

Hot diggity. Congratulations. Is that fence to keep the chickens in or the coyotes out?

Coyotes out!  BUT, the bob cats can climb........ YIKES!

Suz,

I have a collection of about 30 or so Opuntia sp. I have made more then several selections through out Southern California for excellent tasting prickly pears. Here you can see one of the winter fruiting selections I made recently http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=3935.0
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=2672
I have majority of spineless Yellow, Orange, Red, and Green, Prickly Pears. Ones that have tastes of honey dew melon, watermelon, banana, raspberry. If these interest you, I can share some pads in the future soon. I also eat them for the wonderful tasting vegetable pads. I have one pad that excels so far in my taste test. It has a taste like Asparagus, Green Beans, with lime juice.

Btw, sorry if this is Off Topic and derails from the fig discussion.

Suzi, when we had chickens up in Garner Valley, we had to contend with weasels, coyotes, and moutain lions (not so much bobcats, but had one very shy one).  Many of us opted to use dog kennels out of chain link.  That kept even the most persistent predators out.  Very sturdy, and some folks even wired hardware cloth to the bottom, buried about 6", then filled back in with soil, and then topped with DG (decomposed granite).  Made for a bomb-proof chicken coop.  They come in all different sizes, and you can actually put a smaller roofed coop inside, and have a pretty large "run" for them, if you're not going to be around during the day to keep your eye out for predators who come during the day.  We also had a roof on ours to keep out the hawks and eagles.  We never lost a chicken.  And that's saying a lot for Garner Valley, which is teeming with wildlife.  I had a small coop and used nice plastic bins for their nesting boxes.  I could pull them out, empty out the straw, wash them with soap and water, and rinse in a 1:10 solution of bleach, which kept things very clean and healthy.  Sure miss my chickens.  Be sure to get a few Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas or Araucanas so you get some pretty colored eggs!

FIG FEAST AT SUZI'S IN 2 YEARS!!!!!

BYOB!!!!!

CONGRATS!!!

Your best bet will be to have a coop in a fixed location. Make the coop large enough for your birds to get exercise so you can leave them in there. Hoosierquilts dog pen tip is a good one, but if you have raccoons and/or opossums you'll need to cover the chain link with one inch chicken wire. If you provide food, water, laying boxes, and a roost pole in your coop your birds will be happy. Once they get used to the coop they will lay in the boxes and go back in to roost on their own. You can just open the door and shut it at night. To prevent predation it is best to not establish a pattern on when you let them out. I do this with my birds and haven't lost one in five years.

Congratulations you will make it your home before you know it

I think you are going to need a rock bar!

That's a real big deal conrgatulations!