Do I need a covered run?

[Scooter1A]

Saw a raccoon just last night. My coop is super secure. And as far as bears are concerned I see a couple every year or so. Opened up my front door and saw a bear 20 ft in front of it last summer. I backed in and he slowly walked away and I shut the door. We basically live on a 100ft x 100ft clearing in the woods that we had done. Got a pair of great horned owls that live in our woods and harris hawks as well as red tail hawks we see all the time.

I feel better knowing I don't have bears in my woods. Holy cow

 

[BuddhaBob]

That poultry netting won’t stop a raccoon, and they do come out during the day. It probably wouldn’t stop a determined fox either. My runs are covered with 2x4” welded wire.

I was talking about bird netting. We've been here 5 years and haven't had coons around during the day. We're home except for 2 days a month when we come to town an hour and a half away to do shopping, etc. Have had cameras up since we've been here and the aerials are my biggest concern 9/10. With the coyotes 8/10, random cat 6/10, bobcat 4/10 and stray dog 3/10, fox 3/10 in that order based on hyper vigilant observations of the land both directly and with cameras as well and conversations with the neighbors who crawl the mountains constantly. But anything could happen. I think we'll just stick with the bird netting. They'll be in their secure coop/keep at night so I'm not too worried about anything at night (bears excepted). And they will be in the run during the daytime and if we're outside we'll free range them a bit with the dogs and a rooster since there won't be netting in those areas. Thanks for the post Love everyone's helpfulness.

 

[Sally PB]

A solid roof over the run keeps out more than predators. It keeps out rain/snow, and of concern right now for me is wild bird droppings which may carry HPAI, aka bird flu.

 

[SamLockwood]

About to finish coop and run. I'm using bird netting over my chain link fence run with a predator apron. My coop is very secure, so I assume that since my birds will be ina coop at night, that the bird netting should suffice since the fence is 4ft tall and besides a bear, I don't believe there are any other daytime predators besides aerial's. And if a bear gets involved I don't think most of us have a coop or run built for that.

What exactly do you mean by "predator apron?" Are you talking about buried wire or chain link to deter digging? If so, that's good.

Chain link is kind of useless as a secure chicken enclosure. Small predators like minks, weasels, & rats can slip right through chain-link, and larger ones like raccoons and raptors can reach through the chain-link, drag a chicken's head or neck through the opening, and then kill it and pull pieces of the carcass off through the wire.

"Nocturnal" for predators is only a preference. It's not like raccoons & minks burst into flame in direct sunlight like vampires, they can and often do hunt during the day: especially when natural prey gets scares in late winter to early spring, or when they have easy prey like captive chickens that can't get away or really defend themselves.

Netting or chicken wire over the top will keep birds out, but not raccoons or opossums. Both barriers are pretty flimsy and even if they're firmly attached to the chain link they'll get through quicker than you think: all a raccoon or opossum needs is a 3" or so opening to squeeze through.

Really, you need 1/2" hardware cloth firmly attached to the chain link with heavy-duty bailing-wire, and more of the same across the top.