Greetings From CA

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Mini Meat

Mini Meat

Songster
5 Years
Nov 17, 2014
452
179
166
SF bay area (south bay)
My Coop
My Coop
Hello all.
I have had a mixed breed flock of free range, feed store purchased, layers for years... until recently. My aging dog is no longer able to keep the coons at bay and they broke in to the coop and wiped out all my birds in one night. So I am going to take this bird-less time to reconfigure my chicken systems from the ground up. I have been reading through these threads for quite some time and have come up with a basic game plan which I will outline in another thread. I look forward to getting opinions and advice in fine tuning my plan.
 
Welcome to BYC. One thing that should be written in stone is - Chicken(poultry) wire ONLY keeps chickens in. It does NOTHING to keep predators out. Instead use 1/2" hardware cloth. It costs more, it lasts longer and predators cannot reach through it to snag body parts and bite them off. Please visit the predator and coops threads for additional advice. If you can build a Ft.Knox of a coop and run, it will give you a lot of peace of mind. It has to be able to repel predators from the ground and the sky, diggers and climbers,

We would love to hear/see what you plan to do and offer any advice we can.
 
PS I just realized you free range - that comes with the acceptance of some predator loses. But, a good, sturdy coop can prevent attacks by preds at night.
 
Their night house was a very old shed that I thought was secure. The coons pulled a rotted corner of plywood right off the wall. Those suckers are determined and freakishly strong. I tore the shed down once I realized how rotted it really was. That way I won't be tempted to patch it up and have the same result down the line.
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm sorry about your losses to the coons. It is amazing how they can get into seemingly well built structures. I learned many years ago, that in order to keep coons out, you have to build your coop like Fort Knox, and as drumstick diva said, that means using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire (there are a lot of other predators besides coons that can tear through chicken wire as well, or squeeze through the openings in the mesh). There is a good article on predator proofing at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/07/11-tips-for-predator-proofing-chickens.html. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in building a predator proof coop.
 
Welcome to BYC
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So sorry to hear about your loss! Raccoons are awful little things, aren't they? And way too clever for their own good. Here is an article on them and how to protect your flock: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raccoon-chicken-predators-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-coons
 
Welcome to BYC! So sorry to hear of your loss. It sounds like you are on the right track with starting a re-build from the ground up. Are you going to replace your flock with the same breed of chickens as before or try some new ones?

Nice to have you join us.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I am so sorry about the coon attack. Yes, you need to build your coop like Fort Knox. As if you yourself were going to live in there. These night time critters have a lot of time on their hands to work on things and if they know there is a chicken dinner waiting for them, they will work until they get in. So build, rebuild and over build and nothing will get in.

Good luck and definitely do some reading here on BYC for more help. Welcome to our flock!
 

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