Bigtom Turkey
Crowing
I agree we should move on.
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I would be worried about the night time screaming. Can the cat or anything reach in and grab them? Are they in an actual coop that is attached to the run or inside the goat fence?
I'm having a hard time imagining your set up.
I would make sure their sleeping area is secure before the run if money is tight. Most of the bad predators are nocturnal. Plus the hens have no way to escape in the dark.
Even though it's not your land can you cut back some of the brush? Or maybe something distracting like some old CD's or aluminum pie pans that would blow around in the breeze?
Or possibly a motion activated alarm? Something cats would hate.
If you have a harbor freight they have cheap motion driveway alarms. If the cats walk between the sensors it will beep while they are in the sensor area and stop when they leave. You could put them where they cats are sitting. It might make them move elsewhere.
Also, this sounds crazy but I know people in my area that do this. Scent mark the area with human urine. Or if you have a neighbor with a large dog put some dog poop in the area they are hanging out in.
Just brainstorming some ideas.
Our property is bordered by woods. It had been logged out but then brush and small trees grew in. We have bobcats, foxes coyotes and bears. Last year I went is just trimmed it out. The owner doesn't care and it gives predators less places to hide. I have had 2 bobcat attempts on my girls. Once she went after my hen Psycho. Psycho did her freak out thing and ran away. The cat just stood there in shock. Last year it jumped over the stone wall and then 20 chickens freaked out and the cat ran back over the wall.
On the note of helping - is your coop a separate building from the run? You could close the little door (assuming you have a little door) up and it would be safe during the night.
As i mentioned before on this thread, i free range, despite all the same predators you mentioned, and yes i lose about 1 bird out of 40-50 a year (we butcher our birds and have a short turn around for the flock so no more than 12-15 are usually alive and free ranging at any given time). Anyways, the reason why my loses have been so few I attribute to two things.
1. My dog. His scent marking and presence during the day deters all predators forcing them to come back at night.
2. A secure coop that has never been breached.
All the birds from my free range flock taken by a predator occurred in broad daylight either before I got my dog or on days I took him with me to run errands.
If your coop offers great protection at night, focus on making your run difficult enough to cause a predator to lose interest and create the sensation of a threat to the bobcat. If it feels like its risking itself to attack in daylight, it too will wait until the cover of darkness to return and by then the chickens are safe in their coops.
When I moved here the land across from me was completely bare. Now it is all wooded and brush so it's a perfect hiding spot for them.
nothing gets in except golfers & mice