Sponsored Post Protecting your chickens from predators in your backyard!

[R&JChickenshack]

Our girls and boy free range and we have never lost anyone to a predator, other than a stray dog that would not leave that is until he was eating one of our RIR hens, we quickly dispatched him at that point. we lock up our coop at night but it is completely sealed from the outside world when the doors are shut. We used some old roll out camper windows in it and we have chicken wire inside of them. We also sealed the floor so no small critters could get in without a huge fight and desperation. our run when we leave our girls in has tin siding, from an old barn that was donated to the cause , laid sideways and buried halfway in the ground (about 18 inches) and then it is wired to our chicken wire that is secured on the inside to the ground and our steel run frame. we also have a piece buried under our gate so nothing can dig under there. It was a lot of work doing all this but it is like a chicken castle instead of a coop. Hope this helps out.

 

[chickndoglover]

He mentions at the bottom that the alarm wont disturb you or your neighbours.

 

[Chickenaddict]

For us our main predators are hawks, eagles, coyotes, fox, bear. For the airborn predators we have enticed a pair of crows to our yard via eggs, and bird seed. They have taken up residence behind our coop and began building a nest. Last year on thanksgiving day a pair of hawks killed my call duck hen. This year the pair of hawks came back bigger and badder than last year. Since we have made the crows comfortable I now don't have to worry about the hawks. Everytime the hawks get brave and try to make their move the crows come out of their nest and dive bomb the hawks Our run is completely enclosed and our backyard is fenced in so that pretty much keeps the fox and coyotes out. The bear on the other hand I haven't had a problem with yet as there are sooo many wooded areas around here where wild berries grow they don't feel the need to go for the birds, in fact a few years ago a 2 yr old bear was spotted in my yard 2 ft away from the chickens and didn't even bat an eye at them.

 

[donnavee]

JennO11: I am interested in your product though like others it is at the upper end of my price range. But, our chicken coop/run is at the edge of the woods and except during the winter when the leaves are off the trees, the area is pretty shady - only getting bright sunlight for a few hrs per day. We had a auto chicken door using the solar option for a while and finally had to go to the electric option. Do you make one that connects to electricty as well?

 

[gdplum]

Our hens have a 200 x 200 yard...surrounded by chain-link fencing. My greatest concern was for hawks or owls. I stretched heavy nylon cord in a criss-cross method on the whole yard. At the junction of each criss-cross, I hung a fishing swivel with a one foot length of nylon cord attached to a CD disc...the wind blows and causes the disc to rotate and flash. The combination of flashing disc and criss-crossed string has apparently discouraged flying predators to go elsewhere. They cant concentrate on a target (hen) with all the strings and rotating discs in their vision.

 

[yomama]

I too suffer from hawk attacks. We actually have a family of 5 Red Tail Hawks that live nearby. I lost 4 beloved chickens last year, and had had enough. I too decided to string material over their entire free range yard, which is apx 2400sf, not including the run. The fencing around the yard is welded wire (or no climb fencing-squares are about 1 1/2'' x 3') I used galvanized wire, though, across the yard. I made the runs of wire, apx 6 inches apart. It has been a year, and I have not had one death by hawk while my chickens have been in the wire covered area. I also have a 10' x 40' wood frame run. It is covered by the welded wire, on all sides. Then, I ran the smallest hole chicken wire 4 ft up along the sides of the welded wire. The top is covered by the same kind of chicken wire, two layers thick in some places. I also put a skirt of the welded wire fencing around the bottom of the run, having it stick out 24" on the outside, and about 6" on the inside. The skirt is covered by dirt, gravel, and large rocks. The chickens' coop is open to the run, 24/7, so they do not get locked in the coop at night. However, if I felt the need, the coops do have doors that lock on them, so I could do that. So far, knock on wood, the only creature that has been able to break in the run is a mole. But of course, he came from underground, so no real stopping that, unless I were to completely fence under the run, lol! We are also surrounded by raccoons, skunks, opossums, and coyotes. Just last week, neighbor down the street interrupted a coyote with his roo in his mouth, in broad daylight! My chickens get locked up before dark, and I have 4 dogs that patrol the whole yard, I think that helps keep the four legged predators at bay.

 

[colintoncollies]

We have a six foot strong sturdy wire fence all around the chicken yard and the coop sits within its walls. The bottom of the fence has metal pegs every few ft. so nothing and crawl under the fence. We have a yard light and our dog kennel, (we breed rough and smooth collies) is located close to it. The dogs alarm us to any predators. The chicken run has chicken wire covering most of the roof and landscape shade cloth. The chicken run is aprox. 20 ft. x 40 ft. with an additional and separate 8 ft. x 8 ft. run should we need to separate chickens or chicks. The chickens are locked up at night. When they free range in other parts of the yard or pasture I let my house collie out with them. We live on the prairies where coyotes build dens right on our ranch and we have a family of foxes living here as well. Hawks and owls are also a problem.

 

[therisingers]

We are going to build a tractor, chicken house combo system for ours (in the next couple of weeks) out of PVC pipe and chicken wire (and SOME wood of course for the shelter and nest boxes and we have ducks, too).....1 tractor (8'x16') that we can circle around our 16' diameter (6' tall) circular chicken pen that corresponds and connects to 8 openings in our pen (that will have chicken wire "doors" that will lock down when not in use). Tractor is easily movable and when we finish it, I will take pix and post them.....Our neighbor dogs would kill our poultry and so would the hawks and everything else around here. So if we want to HAVE poultry to be able to "range" at all, we will have to pen them yet still let them range. Not as "free" as we'd like but they will have new grass every couple of days....So hopefully it'll work. I'll keep ya'll posted. Sharlene

 

[TMCMURRAY]

We have had chickens, goats, sheep and turkeys for years. We have found that having a few big dogs around is very good when the animals hear the dogs they go the other direction. But even though that seems to be our biggest deterent it isn't our only one. We have two live traps set up at all times not to mention sturdy fencing and if all fails an electric fence with a wire down low for the diggers and about one foot up for the ones who go through the net wire fencing and another strand about 4 foot up for those like coyotes who put there paws on the top wire to jump the fence. All of these are great to have but when one smartie gets through all these defenses a sharp shooting grandma with her trusty 22 takes care of that. LOL.... There will always be an animal or two get into your fortress no matter what so be prepared.

 

[TMCMURRAY]

hello, wonder if magpies would work like the crows. what do u think. i have a few nesting around the barns. Thanks TMCMURRAY