predator control

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been a able to get on but the past 2 days I've had to chase an eagle out of my backyard that was about to grab my pekin's and chickens. I am surrounded by farm lands/crops so my area always has eagles and hawks around. I've been pretty lucky to say they...

So far i have had two ducks taken by a fox in my neighborhood. The first was one of my two young muscovies back in November or December, and just yesterday one of my welshies (one of the 2 first ducks i ever got) was taken and she would have been 2 years old on September 5th. I think of my ducks...

Has anyone used an electric wire around their chicken coop? We are building our coop and run now and we have many predators where we live. We live in northern Minnesota, and just recently we have had a 350-400lb black bear come to our front porch twice in search of bird seed. We take all our...

Hi Everyone, I’m wondering if the run we built is secure enough for daytime predator protection. We have only 2’ high, 1/2” wire cloth at the base, with only about 6” of that going into the ground. Above that, we have the stronger, heavier (although larger-holed) nylon deer fence. We have the...

We got a new coop today, it’s an enclosed thing with a fancy looking coop. I was scrolling through here and read that raccoons can open locks and even chew through wires. I might go out and shut them in the coop just to be safe, but I’m wondering if there’s any way to predator- proof the hutch...

Hello everyone... I am really excited to be here and I look forward to all of the experience and knowledge you might be willing to share! My name is Mina and I live on top of a mountain in central PA, about 2100' elevation. We have 250 acres, most of it brush and woodland. We get really cold...

I built a floating island for the waterfowl to be protected from predators. And it has worked like a charm. It is made out of corrugated plastic drain pipe filled with plastic bottles from the recycling center and held together with heavy duty plastic hardware fencing material and zip ties. I’ve...

I had 5 chickens with 2 roosters. We had a steady egg production every day and not only that, It was my first batch of chickens and I treated them as family and I still cannot accept their loss! Today morning when I went to the coop to give them food, all were lying down DEAD! :'( When I...

OH MY GOODNESS! Sooooo .. a friend of mine that raises all sorts of birds, said she had invested in cameras to put out on her coops for security purposes - so obviously my first thought was "no way I can afford that - and technology is not my friend, so too much of a pain to even think about...

I apologize if this is in the wrong thread - if I need to move it please let me know. Here is some background before the questions. Coop is currently being designed and built, so no hens yet. We plan to get 12-15 hens. We have plenty of room, so there will be an outside run possibly 400-500...

Sorry for the bad english. I apparently don't know how to human today. So tomorrow I plan to make my chickens some egg-free pancakes and let them free-range all by themselves. That means I won't be out there. The problem is that there's a lot of big birds flying around my neighborhood and I...

When the leaves fell from the trees out came the hawks. We went from never seeing them to having them take a shot at one of my hens with me standing close enough to touch its wing. Our chickens have a 10 x 10 covered dog kennel with their coop inside (we’ve got a ton of coyotes too). They also...

hey guys!! My 6 little duckies that hatched this summer are outside in a run that my fiancé and I reinforced. They have a hutch inside the run that they go in every night at dark. I have a hunting camera in my yard and I checked the card today and it picked up numerous sightings of cats in my...

Last Sunday, my Silkie never got into the coop. I couldn't find her in the bushes, the barn, anywhere. The next day, my Rosecomb rooster (also champion-bred) was mauled by something. His head had been eaten. The disturbing thing is that this last incident happened IN THE MORNING, after I had...

we are new to raising chickens, this morning when I went to feed/water our ladies I found our 7 month old hen dead. Further inspection I found her bottom (anus) was completely ripped off/gone. Our other 7 hens seemed alright. There is an area of our coop that is blocked off from inside so...

Hi all - I could really use some input: My father and I made this great 8x8 enclosure for the chickens to have extended space but we are running into the classic problem where we left the hardest part for last and now are a bit stuck. I have an A frame coop/run and we want to securely and...

Hello all BYC'ers! Sorry for the length.. just wanted to give a bit of a set up.... Our flock currently free ranges in our backyard, but for a variety of reasons I'd like to provide them with another space so they aren't in the back yard as much messing it all up. We have a somewhat unique set...

Hi BYC!! We are moving our flock to bear country . We have an 8 foot chain link perimeter fence around part of the property. We want to add an electric fence to the perimeter fence. We are worried about our pet dogs, how can we set this up so that nothing gets in from the outside, but if our...

Hi Everyone, I have had some issues with my chickens going missing without a trace. It got me thinking. I would love to hear some of the predators you have encountered and how you prevented them from returning? Thank you

Hi! I was wondering if I could solicit some of your expert opinions - we have 4 ~4 week old (hopefully) hens. We purchased from a local individual who makes them this coop with attached run. My father is going to help me add on to the run as we think due to high level of predators in our area...