Dead Chicken / hole bottom of coop

[Trinnmariee]

So this morning I went to feed my girls and one was missing. My chickens were all free ranging once (for an entire year) until I came home from vacation and all 6 of my girls were gone and we even had someone check on them twice daily well I bought 4 new chickens…. And now two are gone One got eaten by a chicken hawk and last night, something dug a hole under the chicken coop and took my baby! I need something to stop my babies from getting eaten! We’ve put out a game camera when my 6 girls got eaten and we found a fox, but he never came back for months because we even set out food for him just to come back, never did. We even just recently moved their coop. We move it around for this reason and for fresh grass since these chicken hawks here are so bad! We’re going to set the camera out again because I’m sick of whatever the heck is eating my chickens, but does anyone have any advice to getting the predators away? I don’t even know how to stop an animal from digging under the coop unless I burry the bottom of their coop to where it’s stationary. What digs holes under coops in Louisiana?

 

[Matejka]

Hmmmm
Raccoons possums dogs rats
As long as coop is movable so.ething will dig
Either put coop in 1 spot then put hardware cloth (not chicken wire) around bottom. Make sure hardware cloth lays flat on ground 18 inches then up sides of coop 18 inches-securely fastened.
Or moveable coop-cover entire bottom with hardware cloth. That would be extremely hard on chicken feet.
A picture of your coop run would help everyone with ideas.
My coop sits on 12 inch flat pavers. The run is separate and I have a very unconventional way of attaching coop run together. A metal culvert.

 

[Trinnmariee]

Hmmmm
Raccoons possums dogs rats
As long as coop is movable so.ething will dig
Either put coop in 1 spot then put hardware cloth (not chicken wire) around bottom. Make sure hardware cloth lays flat on ground 18 inches then up sides of coop 18 inches-securely fastened.
Or moveable coop-cover entire bottom with hardware cloth. That would be extremely hard on chicken feet.
A picture of your coop run would help everyone with ideas.
My coop sits on 12 inch flat pavers. The run is separate and I have a very unconventional way of attaching coop run together. A metal culvert.View attachment 3087525

I love this idea!!! Thank you for the picture also and the advice!! We’re going to fix it today!

 

[Sunshine_Amy]

So sorry to hear about your losses. Hugs to you.

The most reliable system, as far as my copious research goes (I'm new), seems to be to put a sturdy floor on your coop. Make sure it's solid without weak points or gaps, and then raise the whole coop off the ground to make it hard for rats to chew through. If rats can chew or tunnel through (and they can tunnel very deeply) you will always be vulnerable not just to the rat, but to the dreaded weasel that will use their pathway in. Weasels will kill a whole flock in one go, it's their instinct to kill anything moving, and there are lots of horror stories about them here on BYC. They can fit through a gap the size of a quarter, and if they're anything like mice, they can probably flatten themselves and fit through wider and narrower gaps. ½ x ½ " hardware cloth is the standard for securing vent openings, but don't use it on the coop floor, as it's hard on chickens' feet, and won't last forever on the ground anyway. If you have a coop with a dirt floor and don't want to change that set up, use an apron around it, and take measures to keep rats out.

For runs, people like a hardware cloth apron, like Matejka referenced. Aprons that cover the bottom of the fence and jut straight out from it are more effective than digging it and burying it straight down, because they stop predators at the point where they try to dig. They can also be replaced more easily when they eventually rust out from the ground contact. One recommendation I read was that it's better to size it to go bigger, 18"-24" out from the sides, saying predator should be fully standing on it in order to be fully foiled, but my sense is that 1 foot out from the run works well , you just need to be sure it's well tacked down with lawn staples, not curling up and obvious to nose their way under. If grass is allowed to grow up through it, that will further secure it and also quickly obscure it.

Good luck!

 

[Trinnmariee]

So sorry to hear about your losses. Hugs to you.

The most reliable system, as far as my copious research goes (I'm new), seems to be to put a sturdy floor on your coop. Make sure it's solid without weak points or gaps, and then raise the whole coop off the ground to make it hard for rats to chew through. If rats can chew or tunnel through (and they can tunnel very deeply) you will always be vulnerable not just to the rat, but to the dreaded weasel that will use their pathway in. Weasels will kill a whole flock in one go, it's their instinct to kill anything moving, and there are lots of horror stories about them here on BYC. They can fit through a gap the size of a quarter, and if they're anything like mice, they can probably flatten themselves and fit through wider and narrower gaps. ½ x ½ " hardware cloth is the standard for securing vent openings, but don't use it on the coop floor, as it's hard on chickens' feet, and won't last forever on the ground anyway. If you have a coop with a dirt floor and don't want to change that set up, use an apron around it, and take measures to keep rats out.

For runs, people like a hardware cloth apron, like Matejka referenced. Aprons that cover the bottom of the fence and jut straight out from it are more effective than digging it and burying it straight down, because they stop predators at the point where they try to dig. They can also be replaced more easily when they eventually rust out from the ground contact. One recommendation I read was that it's better to size it to go bigger, 18"-24" out from the sides, saying predator should be fully standing on it in order to be fully foiled, but my sense is that 1 foot out from the run works well , you just need to be sure it's well tacked down with lawn staples, not curling up and obvious to nose their way under. If grass is allowed to grow up through it, that will further secure it and also quickly obscure it.

Good luck!

Aww, thank you! I can't stand losing my chickens. It really breaks my heart.

Thank you for all the advice, I greatly appreciate it. I was actually just thinking and telling my husband to build them a floor in their coop almost like a shed or mini house. I hate to see them get eaten by predators.

 

[ashcons]

Most people deter diggers by burying a skirt of hardware cloth around the run perimeter. Diggers will hit it and don't have the intellectual processing power to back up until they're past the skirt. 4' hardware cloth should give you plenty of protection.

That way your chooks don't have to walk on it.

Other than that, they need overhead protection also. Same deal with hardware cloth being enough to deter everything except bears and probably some determined, large dogs.