Coop Security

[jennyf]

I'm totally new at chickens and reading these threads is making me nervous!! We have six five week old chicks getting ready to move into coop (about half built). The coop is a Wichita style coop with pavers buried eight inches deep. Used 1/2 inch hardware cloth with galvanized 3/4 inch staples sandwiched between 2x4's for the pen. The coop walls are 1 inch tongue and groove and the floor is 2x10s. The whole thing is parked inside our yard with a chain link fence (typical suburban setup) and we have a medium sized dog that's outside a good bit of the time during the day. If we shut the chickens up at night (not just in the run but in the coop itself, should we be reasonably safe? I can't tell from some of these "chicken got eaten" posts whether most of the problems come from when predators gain access to a run or whether it's the coop itself that got breached. This is suburban St. Louis--I've never seen a fox, possum, or raccoon but don't doubt they're here! How about during the day? I had intended to given them day access to a long narrow pen (hardware cloth over chain link with a chicken wire top to keep hawks out)--we do have lots of hawks--but the hardware cloth is only buried about eight inches. Other than dogs and cats, are they pretty safe during daylight hours? I know we do have free ranging cats in the neighborhood but the presence of the dog seems to keep them out of the yard. Any thoughts appreciated!

 

[Rod-T]

Sounds like you are covered. .relax

 

[bigoledude]

The coop sounds good. Do you have any protection against a predator digging under your run fencing?

On the coop, make sure every opening is covered with hardware cloth. The members of the weasel family can squeeze through the smallest gap! I tell my boys when they're building a coop to not have a gap you think a mouse could get through.

 

[jennyf]

Yes, buried 8 inch paving stones on end below the block "foundation" that the coop sits on. I tried to glue the below surface ones to the upper ones but they didn't all hold perfectly. They still should be butted up close though.