Can you evaluate this set-up for bird safety please?

[Nancyleedunn]

Hi,
I just got 4 adult barred rock birds and this coop delivered today, 3 hens and a rooster. I have 7 rescue dogs, so the extra fencing is to keep them away from the coop.I am worried about raccoons, although I have never seen any around here, due to our dogs. But the coop part doesn't have a door that closes, and the window has plain chicken wire on it, as does the run. What do I need to do to make this completely safe? I am a little confused, because the people who made this say that they never have any trouble with this wire, and the people on here say chicken wire is useless at keeping bad things out.

We don't have foxes/coyotes around the coop area at all, also because of the dogs.We do have one big furry dog who stays out at night.
Thanks much, from a chicken beginner,
Nancy from NY

 

[chkn]

Chicken wire is easy to break into. You might want to get some hardware cloth. I can't tell if your inner run there is secure. Better to be safe than sorry. Remember coons have good dexterity. Make sure the chickens aren't nesting where coons can reach through. You might want to reinforce the inner run with field fencing or hardware cloth. Hopefully the dogs will keep varmints away.

 

[chfite]

Dogs can tear through chicken wire as if it were paper. A moment of excitement and disaster can result. Fencing on the outside of the chicken wire would go a long way to prevent entry. The chicken wire can impede a raccoon from reaching through, but a raccoon can tear chicken wire easily enough.

Chris

 

[theoldchick]

I used this fence to reinforce my chicken wire, and note how the end of wire not exposed so sharp teeth can pull it free from the wood.



I used hardware wire on the coop windows




You can bury a fence skirt around the perimeter of the fence. Some people put it outside and some people put it inside the fenced area. You can reinforce with electric wire if needed.

Make sure the pen is covered with wire to keep hawks and critter who can climb out of the hen house. Just remember you don't want uninvited guests to climb over, crawl under, or tear through your chicken area.

 

[chkn]

Nice job there OldChick. BTW, the only other thing I thought of is that the roofline would be easy for a coon to 'drop in'. Make sure the night time inner run and house is bomb proof. You know that coons will pull a chicken through wire if he can reach them? People can go to their hen house in the a.m. and find chickens without legs and wings because a roost was next to a chicken house window, etc.

 

[Nancyleedunn]

Thank you all for your excellent suggestions! We put a fence around the entire coop and run, but a raccoon can climb over that, can't it? And there is no door to close the nighttime coop, where they roost. Should we make one? Also, I am getting that the window with chicken wire should be reinforced with hardware wire?

Thank you again,
Nancy

 

[Dee Dee 2]

Just opened your post re- seven dust. I tried putting tiny little mask on my chickens so they wouldn't breathe the Seven Dust but they kept pulling them off. hahahaha I opened your previous post about security around your coop. WOW ! What a nice coop and run you have. My coop / run has chain link around the outside. I do have critters here that would love a chicken dinner.
I ran a small " electric " rope about 6"-7" high around the outside. You can get special connectors that attach to chain link. Since I use electric rope for my horse pasture I connected to it and I now have 6000 volts running around the pen. Mr Coon, or Ms. Opossum will get a big surprise if they some snooping around. There are some tricks to using electric wire or rope. If you have any heart problems don't even think about it. Sooner or later you will get into it. If you want any further info. let me know I'll be happy to help.

 

[chickencoop789]

I would put some hardware cloth over the top of the run. raccoons will easily climb the fence and hop in. If that isnt an option for you then I would put some electric wire around the base of the fence so no pests can even get close to coming in.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Before jumping into any sort of debate on wire, you absolutely need a door on the coop. Even if a coon breaches the perimeter of the run, if he can't get into the coop, he can't kill a chicken that is in the coop.

 

[centrarchid]

You have seven potential blessings or curses in those dogs. If you can get them to repsect wire and not go after chickens, then setup as it exists except for possibly on backside is better than Fort Knox. If dogs continue to be a threat, then it will be a mistake on your part such as leaving a door open that will cause losses.

Backside of arrangement looks tight. If too tight, a wiley coon will jump or clamber even when really ticked dogs trying to get at it enabling coon to get into pens. Chicken wire as noted will not be a major barrier to a coon. Potential saving grace is dog(s) can then rip though such wire to get at coon if dogs big and motivated enough.