Chicken wire

[Sylviaanne]

I have this Safety 1st model. It was on sale at target when I went shopping.
http://safety1st.djgusa.com/en/djgusa/high-def-digital-monitor
It works pretty well but occasionally the baby/sending unit needs the power cycled to keep the receiving unit from getting static.
The coops average about 400 ft. from my solid brick house and I can hear a mosquito in the coop with it.

Mink attacked again last night. The baby monitor alerted me but it was in the process of killing the 5th chicken before I got there. I tried to stomp it but it ran out the door. I'm going to reset the traps now.
A big coon can grab the food from a hav-a-hart and back out without being caught and a mink or weasel can squeeze out after it trips.
Conibears are best for mink and weasels and duke type dog proof leg traps work best for coons.

Good gravy! I sure hope it isn't a mink or weasel but I haven't heard of them in our part of the state. Doesn't mean they aren't there though.

Yeah, that baby monitor, I couldn't believe that they would make one with that much range. I wondered who lived in a house big enough that they would need a 1000 ft range. LOL I know that if I can get this one, it should be powerful enough with that kind of range to send through anything that is probably less than 150 ft away.

 

[centrarchid]

Look into your overall design. Predators will be inclined to challenge only certain parts and proximity of birds at those times can be important. Concentrate use of expensive hardware cloth / welded wire on surfaces most likely to be challenged by raccoon. The cheaper / lighter material can be used elsewhere. Also consider use of hotwire around perimeter. Properly used hotwire can make even chicken wire "impregnable" to most predators.

Also think about defenses as layers. Try to keep sleeping birds well away from perimeter of pen. If practical, then make so birds are roosting up so as to increase time you have to detect problem before all birds are lost.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Front of my coop. There is a window behind the door.

Back of my coop with pallets laying where we are planning on building an addition on to it.

East side of coop. West side looks the same except the fence is fastened to both corners and it is blocked so the chickens can't get under the building or out of the yard. There are small vents up beneath the roof on both ends.

I've been working out there so it looks slightly better now than it did that day. LOL I have a fan in the window sill that blew in for the summer but now that it is turning cool heading for cold, I turned the fan around to blow out the window to help remove the humidity that will build for so many chickens in an enclosed space. At night we herd the chickens in and close the door and block up the chicken door. I have plans to cut a bigger opening and putting a hinged door with a ramp that will fasten to the wall when the chickens are inside. When we get the addition built, I plan on having a large door facing the east.
This is their new nesting boxes. I had those on top but have since removed them, the chickens make too big a mess out of them.

This is their roosting stand but since I took this picture I took an 8 ft 2x4 and put across the roof on top of the studs and put shorter 2x4s from the back wall to the 8ft making more room for them to roost. Problem is that the first ones up there don't move down so more can get up there. No one wants to sit on the 2 lower bars of the roost stand. BTW: I have put 2x4s across the stand over the bars. They have a good place to sit if everyone didn't want to sit in the rafters.


The chain link fence is to keep them penned up until they lay their eggs. I keep them penned up until about noon. By that time most of them have laid their eggs. I plan on putting 2 layers of chicken wire around the bottom of the chain link. We had a much more narrow run and had chicken wire over the top of it and it seemed too much trouble for predators but now the run is much more wide and longer. I would have to put supports to hold the chicken wire up now. I am thinking of taking fishing line and stringing it from one side of the pen to the other and then stringing it in a woven pattern the other direction. No bird would be able to get in without getting caught in the line and hopefully any raccoon or other climbing predator would get frustrated with getting tangled in the line and leave. It shouldn't matter because right now, I don't think a predator could get into my coop.

Anyone see any glaring flaws? Thanks.

 

[centrarchid]

Perimeter dog pen is my first concern. Gaps around door and where panels come together. No roof. Opening between run area and actual coop / chicken house would not stop even a opossum. Once a predator gets into coop there will be lots of low hanging fruit / low roosting hens and very easy access to hens higher up.

Make use of hen flying ability to make so they do some in places that a mammal must jump, especially around entrance to coop and access to roost. Raccoons and opossums are not good jumpers. Knock out lower rungs to roost and see if they can all get up. My Dominiques could go up at least four feet without trouble.

 

[Sylviaanne]

I have some silkies, how do I protect them? They are not out in the coop, they are too little and too young yet.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good gravy! I sure hope it isn't a mink or weasel but I haven't heard of them in our part of the state. Doesn't mean they aren't there though.

...

Weasel and mink are more likely where you live than in St. Louis and they are here.