Hello All,
I am a new chicken mom...Our 7 week old flock has been in the coop and run for about 2 weeks. I lock them in the incredibly secure coop at night, and let them into the run during the day. The outside run is fairly secure. Hardware cloth 2 feet up. All 2 X 4 construction with chicken wire stapled to posts then 1X2's screwed over top of staples. The roof is fully enclosed...chicken wire and then metal sheet. But, there are a few things that I would have done differently outside (if I had read these predator posts first). There is a 1 inch gap near the door that we cannot seem to fill in. The bottom of the entire run is lined with chicken wire (not hardware cloth) and then filled in with 4 inches of sand.
I am home during the day and my three kids are always outside so I have not worried too much about daytime attacks, but next week I will be taking the kids on vacation for 10 days and leaving my husband (who works all day) home with the chickens.
My question is...How many of you have lost chickens during the day? We live within village limits, in a neighborhood, but our neighborhood lies along the river, forest preserve, so we have coyotes, fox, raccoons and oppossum about.
Hoping you can set my mind at ease. I would hate to lose a chicken because I was stupid.
Thanks.
I am a new chicken mom...Our 7 week old flock has been in the coop and run for about 2 weeks. I lock them in the incredibly secure coop at night, and let them into the run during the day. The outside run is fairly secure. Hardware cloth 2 feet up. All 2 X 4 construction with chicken wire stapled to posts then 1X2's screwed over top of staples. The roof is fully enclosed...chicken wire and then metal sheet. But, there are a few things that I would have done differently outside (if I had read these predator posts first). There is a 1 inch gap near the door that we cannot seem to fill in. The bottom of the entire run is lined with chicken wire (not hardware cloth) and then filled in with 4 inches of sand.
I am home during the day and my three kids are always outside so I have not worried too much about daytime attacks, but next week I will be taking the kids on vacation for 10 days and leaving my husband (who works all day) home with the chickens.
My question is...How many of you have lost chickens during the day? We live within village limits, in a neighborhood, but our neighborhood lies along the river, forest preserve, so we have coyotes, fox, raccoons and oppossum about.
Hoping you can set my mind at ease. I would hate to lose a chicken because I was stupid.
Thanks.