Chicken found dead near the fence of the coop?

[kidheaven]

We had two silkies as pets contained in a shed with a chicken wire yard. We think a cat got into one of the smaller windows and took down our first beloved chicken - it simply disappeared and left behind a few feathers. Then two days later we found the remainding chicken decapitated with blood all over the chicken wire fence. The chicken was on the INSIDE of the fence. All the coops that I'm looking at have the same type of fencing. Any suggestions on how to make them more secure?

 

[Judy]

Check out our coop and run forum. You will soon read that chicken wire does nothing more than keep chickens in. 1/4" hardware cloth keeps most predators out, unless you have bears. There is also a sticky in this forum, here, that helps identify predators by the type of damage caused. I believe a missing head is often a raccoon, although in a witnessed attack, a coyote did that to one of mine.

Feral cats will occasionaly take a chicken, but pet cats rarely do. Probably a fox or coon was more likely. Fox will definitely leave nothing but feathers.

 

[thomasboyle]

Sorry for your losses. As many others have done, I have my coop protected by 1/2" hardware wire fencing. The smaller openings in the fence make it so predators cannot get in (excepts bears as noted before, who can rip plywood off the coop or your house for that matter!). I also cover the windows with hardware wire. Chicken wire is good to keep chickens in, but dogs, raccoons and other predators can rip through it like tissue paper. Often times a predator can reach in and grab a chicken and kill it while it is still inside the pen.