Coop Protection

[findlaychickens]

Hello all. I am new to this whole chicken thing and looking for some pointers. I have 6 happy little ISA Brown pullets continuing to brood in my garage, and I am onto the finishing touches of their home. As far as security measures go, our entire yard is fenced on all sides by a 6 ft wooden fence with no gaps, and our prefab coop aND run is inside that. Do we need to bury wire and such as many do? Or is our tall fence our first defence? We live in a very urban area in northwest ohio, and have never seen any other animals in our yard other than ours beloved dog.

Thank you!

 

[chicklover 1998]

Welcome to BYC I would say that you have enough protection as you have it most of the time the buried wire is only necessary when you have burying animals that can kill your birds.

 

[aart]

Pic of coop/run?

A wire apron(doesn't necessarily have to be buried) around coop/run is a good deterrent against diggers......
.....many things will climb a 6 foot fence easily.

Urban areas can abound in raccoons, possums, skunks..even coyotes and fox in more suburban area.....you might not see them, but I'd bet they are there after dark.

 

[findlaychickens]

This is the only pic I have so sar, working on a roof for the run. Right now everything is held in with heavy grade 8 inch stakes, but we are looking into pounding some 6-8inch landscape edging around it to prevent diggers.

 

[aart]

I assume they are locked in coop at night....and all coop latches are raccoon proof (loop latches with caribineers or padlocks)?
Does the roof open up on that coop?

6" edging might help, but not really too far to dig under.
Here's a graphic showing and anti-dig apron....corner mesh is shown out of scale, but don't neglect the corners.
They dig close to wall, hit mesh move over to try again, rarely back up 18" to dig under apron.
Apron can be buried just an inch or two, or laid flat over sod and grass will grow up thru.

 

[findlaychickens]

I'm actually using dog leash style clasps and loops as locks (I'm a former equestrian so I have more of those laying around than I care to mention

) and they will be in the coop at night.

 

[aart]

I'm actually using dog leash style clasps and loops as locks (I'm a former equestrian so I have more of those laying around than I care to mention

) and they will be in the coop at night.

Those should work ok.....especially if they have very strong springs

 

[findlaychickens]

They're used to holding 1000+ animals, I hope they won't be exposed to that much force! Lol! Thank you for the feedback! Happy to have help on this adventure

 

[findlaychickens]

Our dog is also usually outside at night, he has a doggy door straight to the yard and comes and goes as he pleases, usually when he hears something outside. We have been conditioning him to the coop and the chicks both, and he knows thus far both are not to be touched; we'll continue with this. He usually chases everything out of his play zone, even squirrels! We're hoping he keeps critters out but trying to take every preventative measure we can.

 

[aart]

With the bolt snaps(is what they're called I guess) it's the strength of the spring holding the bolt closed that counts....raccoons are strong and dexterous.
24/7 dog should help a lot.....might need to make coop and run dog proof.
The chicken wire you've got on your run is good for keeping chickens in, but not for keeping much out.
Hopefully you can train pup to leave birds alone.