Close shave, thank God our chickens are safe!

[GardenGal]

Crumbs, time to rebuild the tractor! Abirdbrain, you probably don't worry about predators digging under the tractor in the day time, right? Our soil is mostly clay, and it's a challenge for me to dig it.

 

[real_redhead]

Just wondering that myself. My run is PVC pipe covered in Chicken wire. The girls are locked in the coop at night but during the day they can go in and out of the coop into the run. Do I have to woory about predators during the day (besides cats and dogs?) These are my first chickens and I lost one at about 8 weeks it was difficult because I was too blame. There was a small gap at the roof line that allowed poor Copper Top to be pulled out and eaten. The coop is now predator proof but the run leaves me worried. What predators do I need to worry about during the day?

 

[GardenGal]

Sorry you lost Copper Top

You can find out a lot on this site, about predators in your area and how to keep them out. Most predators hunt at dawn and dusk, but don't count on that. That coyote was in our yard about 10:30 am. It would take him longer to get into a run than a tractor though, and I don't know if he would risk that in the day time. If you can afford it, you might upgrade to hardware cloth, it'll be worth it for the peace of mind. Best wishes

 

[Cetawin]

I am sorry for your close call but they are out all hours. A coyote snatched my beautiful cochin, Hera, less than 10' from the front porch about 10:30 in the morning back in May...

For future reference...chicken wire is good for only one thing...keeping chickens in. It is absolutely useless against predators. Replace that stuff with welded wire or hardwire cloth.

I am glad your birds are all safe.

 

[Keltara]

Quote:
You can keep your chickens safely in your tractor. Hardware cloth will keep them safe and to prevent predators from digging underneath (hard soil will not stop them), form an apron around the perimeter of your coop from the hardware cloth. Just attach it to the bottom of the run and let it extend approximately 1 foot out (laying on top of the grass). Any animal will come up to the edge of your run and try to dig. When it encounters the apron, they will not be able to do so, and they don't have the intelligence to back up and begin digging where the apron ends.

Good luck!

 

[spacecowgirl]

Oh, man....this thread makes me wanna go reinforce my run. All I have is chicken wire! Yikes!

Glad your chickies weren't hurt, though.

 

[PulletSurpriseWinner]

You're very fortunate, and your chickens doubly so! Coyotes are awful; it's hard to determine if they or raccoons are worse.

My old friend Jon just sent me an e-mail a back awhile ago saying he'd wiped out all the coyotes raiding his place with a .22 Hornet (think it's a Winchester). It absolutely devastated the coyotes, and as a bonus it's a quiet enough round as not to stir up his nosy neighbors' attention. You, or your husband, might consider shooting the coyotes if you can get ahold of a .22 Hornet.

 

[chickenlover91]

Glad they are safe!

 

[GardenGal]

Keltara, thank you for the great advice. I am reinforcing their run today along the lines of what you suggest, but am still not clear on this: if the tractor has hardware cloth on it then it should be okay for day use? I asked my husband about rebuilding it with 2x4s instead of 2x2s and he said it would be really heavy, and harder than blazes to move around because our ground is so uneven. If that's what it takes though we'll figure something out.

My sincere sympathy for those who have lost beloved chickens. They are so funny and endearing.