Bobcats coyotes owls and hawks, oh my!

[MamaHenSD]

... and it begins. I've had my pullets out in their new Ft Knox hardware cloth enclosed coop only 2 weeks ago and we had our first visitor last night.

These are my first chickens and a dream of mine to have them for about 10 years. We live on a canyon in San Diego, and are well aware of the predators we have around here, but I at least want to try and see if I can keep chickens safely. Fingers crossed.

 

[JanetS]

Wow, Good luck. You will need it. Do you free range your chickens? We just lost a hen to a bobcat last week.
My teenage daughter was out in the backyard with the chickens, in the afternoon, when a bobcat jump over our 6 ft
wood fence and grabbed poor Nugget and was gone in seconds. Our remaining girls will no longer be able to free range. We
are expanding their run so they have more room. The bobcats ( there were 2 this time) came back yesterday but our chickens
were safe in their run.

 

[MamaHenSD]

So sorry about Nugget.

No way will I let them free range. In addition to their coop/run, I just got them a mobile run built with HW cloth and 2 locks on the door. I'm pretty paranoid about keeping them safe. Who knows, these predators are persistent and crafty so it could be a lesson learned for me at some point. And a bobcat got our cat last year (she was indoors but constantly "escaping" to outside).

 

[JanetS]

Thank you. You are doing the right thing by not free ranging. We are still working on expanding their run. It should be done by this weekend I hope. Our chickens are getting cabin fever. I like your idea of a mobile run. Maybe our next project.....

 

[Vamvakas]

Your lucky you live in Cali with the nice weather I want to live there! But not the wild animals..