Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[cheeka]

the folks up here in the northern Catskills love the GP's as well, great protectors of flocks, herds... used to be the Aussie Shepherd in the lead of popularity, but in the last few years, that has shifted enormously... Aussie's are great for herding, but the GP are better at defending and protecting. Expensive and super big dogs, but worth every penny and pound of kibble...

 

[Sallysec]

They are sweet dogs...I used to care for one named bear. His invisible fence died like five years before I met him, yet everyday he would walk outside and ignore the fence...he cracked me up. Personally I'm a fan of mastiffs.

 

[Salmonslayer76]

Sounds like I made the right choice of Dog Variety! We just got a Great Pyranees Puppy named Kona. He's 11 weeks old so he's still coyote bait, but not for long. He's already 30 pounds.

 

[cheeka]

I love Mastiff's ~ like super enormous Pugs that drool. I always wanted one.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

I went with the American mastif, three of them. Max chased a bear off last week, he and Lucy. They are super smart, and usually somewhat lazy. I am waiting for the day we have several acres fenced in so I can leave them outside all the time..they can cover some ground and i don't want them terrorizing the neighbor, I'm sure if I didn't have them the coop itself would be under seige.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

So here is another question....my husband and I are throwing around ideas..the bottom of our coop will have a floor...so do we still need to burry hardware cloth? We have debated stapling hardware cloth to the flooring so that there is a layer...for two reasons...well three
1 the coop is next to an old tree with huge roots
2 we live in rockland county....it's really rocky here
3 the first two make us not want to dig at all...
Thoughts? Has anyone had a problem with chewing through the wall or floor?

I haven't buried hardware cloth...who can dig through rocks and clay, not me. However the coop is rough cut poplar and oak, with a floor...regular inspections will turn up critter attempts to invade...chew marks usually. Digging places like cheeka had. This summer I gave the kids ten bucks to fill the outer edge of the broody pen with rock...of course I went around and tamped it in. Typically a critter will search for the easiest spot. If i had thin wood I might wrap and staple hardware cloth around the bottom, but so far don't need to.

 

[Sallysec]

Thanks ACW that's how I felt, it's pretty thick and I'm thinking it should be good. I'm trying to catch a mouse tonight in the house...my cat is way too interested in underneath my oven...

 

[okallthis4eggs]

So here is another question....my husband and I are throwing around ideas..the bottom of our coop will have a floor...so do we still need to burry hardware cloth? We have debated stapling hardware cloth to the flooring so that there is a layer...for two reasons...well three
1 the coop is next to an old tree with huge roots
2 we live in rockland county....it's really rocky here
3 the first two make us not want to dig at all...
Thoughts? Has anyone had a problem with chewing through the wall or floor?

Buried hardware cloth serves one purpose. To stop a predator from digging. No reason to staple it to the floor. If there is any place where you could dig under anything with a shovel and get your arm thru the hole thats where you need to focus with buried hardware cloth

 

[okallthis4eggs]

ACW makes a good point. Heavy rocks make a good perimeter to prevent predators from digging under chicken enclosures. Large flat creek rock are ideal. They must be heavy so the predator can't move them and the wider the better. If you can get them free it is a lot less expensive than fence wire or hardware cloth.

 

[okallthis4eggs]

Even large chunks of concrete piled around the perimeter will work. To dress it up plant Ivy or some kind of plants that will grow over it and cover it up. It will make a nice evergreen border around the perimeter that will harbor lots of insects and keep the predators out. And you know what happens when the insects make a wrong turn.