Experiences with predators going through wood walls.

Manhen

Songster
Jul 15, 2019
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I have a large coop under construction in an old barn. The siding could be better, when a predator goes through such a wall, what is the most challenging wall that a common varmint has overcome in your observations/experiences? I am not worried about bears. :)
 
:welcome :frow Did a predator go through a wood wall. Some of my coops are made of wood. I guess it's knock on wood that nothing except rats have chewed through the wood. Problem was solved here. Do you have some pictures you can post?
 
It is pine barn siding, this wall is about 40 years old. There are a few gaps/chinks. About 1/4 inch at the most. I can nail some down, but I wonder about the interior wall. It is 80 years old...
 
It's great to not have bears, I agree on that.
Rats chewed through a corner of my coop, and then inside, through particle board, and killed some nice pullets.
Those little gaps could encourage a critter to chew and enlarge them, and if the wood is weakening, a raccoon could pull it apart.
It's wonderful to have a really nice building to develop! Love it!
Does it have a concrete foundation? That would be nice too. Otherwise, an apron or something to prevent digging.
Mary
 
It's great to not have bears, I agree on that.
Rats chewed through a corner of my coop, and then inside, through particle board, and killed some nice pullets.
Those little gaps could encourage a critter to chew and enlarge them, and if the wood is weakening, a raccoon could pull it apart.
It's wonderful to have a really nice building to develop! Love it!
Does it have a concrete foundation? That would be nice too. Otherwise, an apron or something to prevent digging.
Mary
The concrete is crumbling, but there. It was mixed by hand and it's due for restoration. I have CAR siding for patches, and 1 X 2 inch welded wire fenc, but it is too much wall to be cost effective. The welded wire would make it harder to clean behind it. I can add some oak sills layered on top of the ones there so I can screw down the siding better. The ends of the stall will have predator proof fence with a skirt.
 
We added new siding on top of the old, so have two layers of wood, and it's safer. We used that ugly T-111 siding, which was practical at the time.
That welded wire will discourage raccoons, but not rats.
Cover one wall at a time, if you have to do it piecemeal. Find wood on craigslist, or the Habitat Restore?
Mary
 
I have never had to do it but I think hardware cloth attached to all exterior walls would give a predator the most trouble. Of course electric wire would be another option.
Even the interior wall is exterior, the barn has one row of stalls converted for parking stuff, my sister has one of the support poles for her mantle. :) Hardware cloth is a pretty expensive option. The center row of stalls (there were three) has some siding in it, I intend to use it to cover the holes. My skirting is 1" welded wire fencing, and the coop wall/fence's first foot or so will be 1/2" hardware cloth, with 1X2 welded wire to the roof, which is galvanized steel. The walls are oak frame with CAR siding (tongue and groove 3/4" pine). I will need some hardware cloth or poultry netting to keep the birds off of the foundation edge, and at the top for the same reason. I think I can keep 100 comfortably in the one third pictured above, hopefully I can keep 3 roosters in the mix. Off to put up coop walls...
 

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