Chickens in the city - security questions re: coops

[Superpuffin]

Hi all, first time poster here!

I have long considered having chickens and I hope to move into a new place and put chickens in my backyard. My fear is that even though the backyard will be fenced in (by a very low fence) is that someone will mess with my coop when I'm not home.

I was curious on how others dealt with creating a coop and area that was able to be comfortable for the feathered ones, but provided security from idle hands and paws. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[tiffanyh]

check out the coops, lots of good ideas there. After you get one started, post some pics and we will help you predator proof it.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Good luck on your city venture. It's easy to prevent idle paws and claws from getting into your coop and run (hardwire cloth and secure seams in the coop structure). But short of padlocking the coop and run doors, I don't know about human paws... That problem has crossed my mind too (more in the form of teenage pranksters who notice that there's chickens to be fooled with), but I'm not willing fuss with padlocking just yet...

 

[Dawn419]

We use locks on almost all of our coops because our landlady has older grandson's that will steal you blind if they have a chance to.

We figure that if they will steal flats of vegetable plants from their dad, calves and other livestock from their grandmother then why wouldn't they steal from us. And this is in the country!

When we lived in town, we had a weird neighbor who would open the door on the rabbit hutch to try and help our rabbit escape. Luckily, she never left our yard and we finally put a lock on the door. Skip was working out of town while this was happening.

One night a neighborhood friend, her son and I hid in the yard waiting for the weirdo to show up. When he did, my friend lit off some fire crackers and threw them in his general direction and really "got his goat". Her son hollered from the shadows "next time it'll be a real gun". The weirdo took off running and that was the end of that! Some people...

Dawn

 

[SterlingAcres]

Quote:
OMG

Sadly, that sounds like this neighborhood. I can't wait to move.