Your biggest risk from most predators is at night. Most predators are more active a night and they have more uninterrupted time to break through your defenses. But like most everyone else is saying, not all predators read the same book. It’s not at all unusual to have foxes, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons and other “nocturnal” predators hunt during the day light hours. It doesn’t mean they are sick or have rabies or anything like that, it just means they are out hunting or roaming.
Maybe they have hungry babies to feed. Maybe Mama just weaned them and they are looking for a home to call their own. Maybe last night’s hunt didn’t go well. That doesn’t consider that some things like hawks hunt during daylight. For me, my biggest problem has been dogs that can come anytime. A decent sized dog can tear through chicken wire, either breaking it or pulling so hard it untwists. If you look at the chicken wire, it’s made by twisting the wire together, not welding.
Since my biggest danger is at night, I built a predator-proof coop and a predator-resistant run and lock them up securely at night. I used a heavy enough wire that my run will stop most non-climbing critters, but climbing ones could find their way in if they wanted to bad enough, things like bobcats, foxes, and raccoons. I don’t have bears of mountain lions so I don’t have to worry about that.
It’s not that predators come each and every day and night, just that they can come at any time. It’s not that they will rip through that chicken wire every time they do come. There is a difference in what can possibly happen and what absolutely will happen each and every time without fail.
One member of this forum kept his prize-winning chickens in chicken-wire breeding pens for years without any problems. Then a pack of dogs showed up during the daytime while he was gone and wiped out his breeding flock. You may go years without a problem, but there is always a risk.
