QUESTION: About Predators...

What is the most common break-in you guys see? From what animal and how do they break-in???

I think racoons are common even in the urban areas, but I have a fox problem, so mine is fox it killed and took 14 hens in 10 days!! We have seen it 3 times but are having problems getting rid of it.

mnferalkitty said:

I think racoons are common even in the urban areas, but I have a fox problem, so mine is fox it killed and took 14 hens in 10 days!! We have seen it 3 times but are having problems getting rid of it.

Click to expand...

I am sorry. That is awful.

How is it getting in?... How does it strike?

It or them comes during the day and picks them off in the yard(they were free ranged) and carries them away sometimes 2xs a day. The poultry are now in a fenced run no more free ranging

A friend of ours lives out on several acres out of town and is having an issue with raccoons. They were pulling the wire away from the wood and getting in, so they reinforced it, but then the dang raccoons dug underneath the walls!

We were supposed to get some chicks from him, but we had to wait until our fence was fixed, so the chicks were old enough to go out in the coop. And then the raccoons came...

Sadly, our own dogs. They have taken out 2 full flocks.

Geez. Good to know though...

We have had a difficult year with preds. Nothing last year, but this year has been much different. First, I live in a subdivision and "free range". By free range, I mean that I have a fully fenced yard (4 foot chain link), but there is no run and they have the whole yard to range. Second, I would say raccoons, but I have not lost any to them. I have trap and/or killed 6 of them in the last 4 weeks. I lost 2 chicks to a cat. It climbed my chicks enclosure, I was letting them partially go out into the yard, but they were double protected, the chain link fence and then another chicken wire fence around their coop. Then I lost 1 chick to the neighbors dog, in the neighbors yard. I took down the extra enclosure, as I thought they were big/smart enough to not leave the chain link area, but they did. They went into the yard of my neighbor behind me and their dog killed one and injured another. The injured made a full recovery.

I have built my coop(s) very secure. I look at it this way, if I am going to put the lives of these birds in my hands, I am going to take it seriously and not take any short cuts. You can see my coop and the ways I have done this by clicking on the link in my signature and going through the process of the build.

Sal

I agree Sal.. If you're gonna take on the responsibility... do it right! My girls are in the Fort Knox of chicken coops. I watched 3 young foxes run across my front yard yesterday. The day before that I was out in the run and the girls alerted me to an adult fox in the backyard. These girls are protected in their environment but also "trapped". If anything got in there the girls have nowhere to go. Therefore Ive made sure NOTHING can get in there.

I have a 6' fence around nearly 2 acres for my birds. They also have a coop and a 27x27 run that's built like ft. Knox. My birds are free on the 2 acre lot all day every day. so far no predator attacks. We did have a baby skunk pass through a couple weeks ago. I just followed it around the yard and gardens and it made its way out. Squeezed right between the 2x4 holes in the wire.