Building the Circus Tent Part 1

The Circus Tent showing the pretty colors of the prototype

This is part 4-1 of a 5 part series on our pastured chicken infrastructure. I started with the Salatin tractor: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@goldenoakfarm/building-the-salatin-pen

Next was the Mobile Coop: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@goldenoakfarm/building-the-pasture-coop

Then the Movable Pen for the coop: https://steemit.com/homesteading/@goldenoakfarm/building-the-mobile-pen

Redtail, the Circus Tent works March 2015

Our predator load is very high here. One of the worst is hawks, particularly redtails. We early on had heard enough about bird netting and how it kills birds, both domestic and wild, to decide not to use it.

But we needed something overhead to keep them out. This was our list:

• Keeps hawks, etc out
• Doesn’t harm chickens trying to get out
• High enough for us to work under
• Easy to move every 4 days

So we studied information about predatory birds. With hawks, they will not go into an area from which they can’t fly out. The redtail’s wingspan is 5’. So if we had something that was less than 5’ apart, it should keep them out.

So we trotted off to our local Acme Surplus (yup, we have one) and bought loads of their cheapest 3/8” rope. This happened to come in blue, green, red, and yellow, hence the Circus Tent.

We needed to anchor it somehow at the fence perimeter. Tying and untying dozens of ropes every 4 days wasn’t happening. But if we had something to tie it to….

So we got 160’ of ½” PVC pipe and some couplers and tied the ropes to that. The other ends of the ropes were tied to a heavy duty wire ring. To move it you just pulled the ring of ropes over the fence and dragged it where you needed it.

We needed them high enough to walk under, so we had a huge step-in base made and put an 8’ pipe with 2 T arms on its top into the base.

Tom Ricardi with my son (in ball cap) and a barn owl

This worked great! It was vetted by our local Raptor Rehab person, Tom Ricardi, http://www.masslive.com/mywideworld/index.ssf/2011/08/the_massachusetts_birds_of_prey_rehab_facility_offering_a_second_chance_at_flight_for_natures_most_m.html
who said, “I wish everyone would use these!”

We’ve used it for over 10 years, both as a mobile top and as a stationary one over the layer pen. We’ve had 1 loss, to a Cooper’s hawk, at the layer pen in March 2017.

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Juvenile Cooper’s that got in March 2017

Adult Cooper’s have a 3’ wingspan, and for some reason are attracted to the layers’ pen. The one that got in was a juvenile on migration, much smaller than an adult. So we closed the gap at the layer pen to 18” – 22”.

More ropes at 3.5’ after redtail hawk got in August 2014

We’ve had 1 bird get into the Mobile pen after a bad windstorm. One rope had blown out of position and created a 6’ gap on one side. We were just coming home and saw it go in and were able to rescue the bird. She was not badly injured. That day we closed the gap to 3.5’ by adding more ropes and marking where they should be on the poles.

New pasture pen with bigger circus tent in pasture, stationary layer pen in back June 2016

In 2016 we enlarged the mobile pen to 50’ on a side. This took a whole lot more rope to cover, keeping the 3.5’ spacing. For a portable system, this seems to be the upper limit.

Phoenix Rising Farm in eastern Maine 2009

Wayne Seidl, breeder of a flock of 60 Chanteclers:

“We just couldn't figure out how to protect from aerial attacks. We read all the posts about netting and fencing, and how it came down in the winter from snow load, etc. We were rather discouraged.

Then we saw your post about the Chicken circus pix on the group pix page.

We put one up shortly after losing a chicken to a hawk that swooped down and right into the coop! Since the "circus tent" has been put up, we've had hawks and bald eagles circle overhead, but none have tried to get in. Even if they do eventually figure it out, their trying to negotiate the strings will give our chickens the time they need to make a run for the coop. We've had no losses since.

We used a 20 foot cedar pole a neighbor cut for us, and white nylon string. The fence posts to which the other ends of the strings are attached are about 10 feet apart. The Cooper's Hawks and bald eagles around here don't much care for the circus tent setup ...a very good thing. It was a Cooper's that got our poor hen originally.

I was thinking about attaching more strings in between the originals this spring, with the other ends half way between posts tied to the fence...when I have time. For now, I'm grateful that it's working.

The area we're covering is just about a half acre. We have a one acre pasture divided into two equal parts, perimeter fenced, with a fence running down the center, ending in the center of the back of the coop. There is a door on each side of the coop so we let the chickens out on one side or the other....and yes, we will have to install a second pole or move that one if we're going to use both sides as we intend. For right then, it was enough to try to protect the birds from being carried off or attacked, and so far it has worked.”

So moving on to how to build a circus tent… Look for Part 2 of Building the Circus Tent.