Do number of chickens affect predators?

[crtrlovr]

is it not possible to cover your run? Mine was covered until the major ice storm in Feb. destroyed it, but I will be re-covering it soon. In the meantime, I took a lot of the downed limbs and made two loose brushpiles in the run for them to hide under. They LOVE them! They'll hang out there either on the ground or up in the limbs just chilling out, especially the smaller youngsters & bantam chicks. Even if you have to make your run somewhat smaller, think about covering it. I know some people just string fishing line back & forth, then tie pie pans or CDs or something shiny to deter the hawks & owls. It's worth a try. Sorry about your losses; hope you don't lose any more.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Our runs are covered with 2 x 4 inch welded wire. We live adjacent to the wildlife management area and have all sorts of predators. Including a few stray eagles. We do have our banties and our old retired flock that freeranges. So far I have seen only one hawk try to get the banties. It swooped down at them and they ran screaming. They were in the goat pasture at the time but other than that we have not had any causalities to hawks. Our banties are mostly white too. When you build your coop make sure you dig down and put your siding into the ground or put fencing down around the coop. My son dug down 2 feet and put ours in the ground so nothing could dig there way in. I have seen holes dug at the doorways of the coop where something tried to dig in but did not succeed.