Hey Marshall

[Jared77]

Just found out my buddy's brother is doing that, raising them all inside. I thought of ya when my buddy told me that. Would give you eggs and meat.

Or the other thought I just had was have you ever thought about raising pigeons instead of chickens? Would be a lot cheaper to build a loft than a coop and the amount of meat you'd get you wouldn't be wasting any since your feeding yourself.

Like I said my buddy's brothers set up made me think of you so I figured I'd mention it to you.

 

[897tgigvib]

Good ideas, great actually! But I have two cats. Not sure how my huge hearted British Shorthair would be with a bird in the house. I think he'd want to play, and if it was just him and a good chicken or rooster it might be ok, but my Abyssinian is a trained gophergitter. I think fur and feathers would be flying even if I made safe places. Birds will have to wait until I can create a good thing for it. They'd be pets, not meat, but the eggs would be appreciated if I ever do get birds.

 

[canesisters]

I wouldn't reccomend indoor coops. I mean, not in the house door anyway. They produce a LOT of dust (I have no idea where it comes from) and the noise can be a bit much if you end up with a couple of chatty kathys. There are several folks on BYC who have bears in the area and have had success with electric fencing around their coops. Some people build a shed that they keep the birds in almost 24/7. Your situation is unique because you need to not only protect your birds - but also not lure anything that will give up on the birds and go after the next best thing (campers!).
Tricky situation, but something will come up to work it out eventually.