Examples of how predators get inside a chicken run and coop

As far as a covering for the top you could use the 2x4 fencing with a layer of chicken fencing over that. If you have two by fours to stabilize it that should make it secure enough up top
 
How they get inside? In my case, nothing larger than a mouse ever has. So this is what I did to keep the larger stuff out.

Starts with a tight coop. In my case, a Woods style coop:

View attachment 1157995

Some key features. Note the design incorporates both run and house into one tight structure. Flexible as to ventilation, with two sets of windows that open or close. A Woods coop is essentially a covered run enclosed on three sides. The fourth side, which faces south into the Winter sun, is covered with 1/2" x 1" 16 gauge welded wire. Tough stuff. The rest is 5/8" T111 plywood siding. Only two openings at ground level and those are securely latched. Door is tight. No other way in. This coop is portable, meaning built on two heavy runners. To keep diggers out, there is a 2' wide apron of 1" x 2" welded wire. Shown as installed, before I put the pins in to hold the apron down tight. Within a week or so, grass grew up and covered it and I now mow over it. But still there to keep diggers out. Now and then I see places where it looks like they tried, but never get in.

When varmints show up, and they do, normally, they stand at the opening and stare in:

View attachment 1158008

But no joy. Can't dig in, can't break in and can't reach in, so tough luck to them.

That protects the birds during the day, or during several days in a row if I'm not around to let them out. They have food, water and room to play inside the coop. Then, during the day, they are contained within, and protected by, a 4 wire electric fence.

View attachment 1158009
It may not look effective, but it is. Brutally hot and painful to anything who might want to test it.

This flock is going on 18 months and no losses to date from any predators......and they are around. Foxes, coyotes, possums, skunks, dogs and cats and who knows what else.

It can be done.
With the electric fences did you have it on a lower voltage so that the chickens could learn not to touch then turn it up?
 
With the electric fences did you have it on a lower voltage so that the chickens could learn not to touch then turn it up?

No, you want it to bite. I don't know what voltage Howard uses but my electric netting is over 7,000 volts. Amperage is really low but the voltage will bite. What makes it a lot safer is that it is not a steady current, it pulses. Mine sends a very short electric pulse about 50 times a minute. Since it pulses it enables whatever touches it to turn loose so it doesn't get injured. I've had chickens touch mine with their combs or wattles. They just jump back, squawk, and go about their business.

If something gets tangled up in it so they can't turn loose it can injure or kill. I've had that happen with snapping turtles, a snake, and a coupe of frogs. The snake and frogs died but when I released them the turtles walked away. My chickens have never been injured but they do learn to not touch it.
 
How big is that electric run you have and may I ask about how much $$$ it cost?

The yard area within this fence is now about an 1/4 acre or around 100 feet square.

So to make this fence requires approximately the following materials:

Fence Charger: This is a ParMak 12 volt fencer.......cost was about $125
12 volt battery and box (about $100 combined)
Four Steel posts for the corners. $10
Two bags of donut insulators for the corners: $15
One 1/4 mile roll of 19 gauge aluminum fencing wire: $20
About 1 white step in post every 20 to 25 linear feet......so about 20 of those: $60
4 to 8 wire tensioners: $25

All total, about $350 invested in this fence. Or about 90 cents a linear foot. That compares to poultry netting, which also costs about $1 a linear foot for the netting alone, plus charger and battery and any corner bracing to hold it up.

BUT, double the line runs to 200 feet per leg and the area goes up to nearly a full acre, or 4X the area. (an interesting play on chicken math). Additional cost is only more wire and step in posts. So for another $80 to $100 (about 20 to 25 cents per foot.....now $450), you have a full acre or 4X as much area as before. Cost is now about 50 cents a linear foot, or about half that for just the netting alone, plus the charger to power it.

This type of fence would be easy to expand to even larger areas. Double the run lengths to 400 feet per leg and now you have 3.5 to 4 acres. That is a large chicken yard.
 
I use too large a charger for the fence, but wanted to have ooomph for expansion. So mine tests out at 13,000 volts.

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It does not harm the birds. When mine are training to the wire, I leave the top 2 or 3 off, so mine all try to step over it by stepping on it. They do it every time. That means they get zapped on the bottom of their foot, and you know they got it when you see one launch about 5 feet in the air. The rooster was still complaining about it 10 minutes later.

After the initial training session, the additional wires go up. The birds generally won't get closer than a few feet from it. If by chance they do get out, they can easily hop back in and will do so if pushed or in a panic. I also then use single wires inside the yard for crowd control. Fencing them out of garden areas I don't want them in. Just a single wire mostly works for that.

Varmints almost always try to crawl under it or through it. Most under it. Bottom wire is only 5 inches or so off the deck, so it gets most of them. They could easily jump over, but don't seem to want to try. Perhaps the unknown of what might await them when they come down scares them into giving it up?
 
Just realized.......there are actually two fences. The Woods house is inside an area of about 1/4 acre, surrounded on three sides by a 4' chain link fence. 4th side is our house. All manner of varmints can get past that chain link if they want to. Coons and others routinely do so at night. I'm certain that if that was all I had, I'd loose birds to varmints. For a lot of them, it barely slows them down.

One set of gates from that yard then open up into another yard. The electric fence yard. That is only used during the day. That is the one that has stopped most of the traffic. That fence stays hot all the time. Daytime and nighttime varmints hit that and they head for the exit. Dogs, coyotes, foxes and others that are out and about during the day stay away. They are close......frequently seen with 100 yards or less of the yard.......but never inside it. So birds can be inside that during the day and seem to be safe. Again, no losses to date despite the predator load that is all around.
 
I meant wire fence staples, not regular staples. I'm not sure of the right terminology. The photo of the U shaped staples, that's what we have. We bought both sizes. A video I watched said to put them in at a 45 degree angle, with the angled/chiseled side at the top right. But they also make left handed versions.

It also said don't put them in a pretty line, all lined up vertically, because the wood could split.

We're literally on the fence as to which is best. We're debating screws and washers. But I think that's only suitable for hardware cloth, like what we did on the coop. For the primary fencing material, it's 2" x 4" welded and six feet tall. It's pretty substantial, which is why we chose it as the base material, with 1/2" covering half way up as added protection. But I intend to save up and get more and carry it all the way up to the top. For now, though, it seems pretty urgent that we address the overhead space and get that figured out.

Thanks for all the helpful comments, folks!
 
How do coons, skunks, possums, cats, etc. get past a 4' chain link fence? They crawl under it. Land is mostly level, but not completely so. There will be a dip in there somewhere that leaves a gap of a couple inches or so. That is all it takes. They all find it and go to the same few spots. Our barn cats go under it so fast they hardly slow down.

They can't do that with an electric fence. They touch it, it zaps them hard. They rarely try that twice.

It takes a really strong, tight physical barrier to defeat a varmint. An electric fence is the great equalizer. Just a silly little wire......until they touch it.
 
I mentioned how easy critters can go under a fence I my first post above. There are always different ways to address problems. On a smaller run an easy way to manage this is to use and apron. Lay a piece of wire fencing 18” or so wide on the ground and attach it to the bottom of your fence or coop so nothing can get through that gap. You don’t have to bury it, just weigh it down and the grass will grow through it and hold it down. But I like to take up the turf, put the wire down, and put the turf back on top, say 2” deep. That keeps it out of the way of lawn mowers and weed eaters. The idea is that a critter goes up to the fence, starts to dig, hits the wire, and does not know to back up and dig some more. Especially in rocky ground that’s easier than digging a trench and burying the wire straight down.

A low hot wire will also stop digging predators and can be a lot easier and more cost effective than putting an apron around a big area. A problem with that is that grass and weeds will grow up through the wire or netting and ground it out when it’s wet. You need to keep the grass and weeds down to prevent that. Weed eaters are murder on electric netting, I don’t do hot wire fencing so I’m not sure how well that stands up to weed eaters. Probably depends on what your hot wire is made of.

Another problem I have with my electric netting is that blowing leaves or other materials can pile up against it. You’d get the same thing with a mesh fence and low hot wires. When those leaves or other blowing materials get wet they short it out. Electricity is a great way to provide predator protection from ground-based predators over a larger area but the system can require maintenance.

Snow can cause problems too. A wet snow may short it out if it covers a hot wire. The bottom hot wire on my electric netting is just a few inches off the ground, it doesn’t take much to short it. With electric netting you use the soil as your ground. A coating of dry snow insulates the critter from the ground so the circuit is not completed. Some of that may depend on how the electric fencing is set up but my electric netting does not work if the ground is covered with much snow. I once had a rabbit chew a hole in my electric netting when there was snow on the ground. The fence obviously was not working in snow and I could see the tracks in the snow.

Once a critter is zapped once or twice it generally does not challenge that fence again. I admit there is a certain satisfaction in hearing a dog yelp and seeing it disappear in the distance, knowing it is not hurt but it’s really unlikely to return. Even if the electricity is not working, as in snow or when grass shorts it out, it still provides a lot of deterrence. The problem with that is that new critters are being born and weaned each year. New dogs may show up at any time. But new critters are not an everyday occurrence, an electric fence or netting provide a lot of deterrence even when not working.

Howard, how does your electric fencing work in snow? What have I forgotten about limitations or maintenance?
 

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