Flock murdered, WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS!!!!!

[Howard E]

You have a real deal chicken house????

That gets my vote.......but I'm not you and I"m not there. I have a real deal horse barn and the only livestock it houses are 3 barn cats. So I understand we all have our preferences and priorities.

 

[casportpony]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[ducks4you]

Yeah, I moved here bc of my horses and how severe winter weather was making it almost impossible to care for them somewhere else. We have lived here for 20 years. The chickens came later.
Hard to say who is more important, the horses, OR the cats and dogs. The chickens are, and have always been, my livestock. I don't name hens.
I also USE my tool shed for farmette maintenance. In October we just bought a Kubota Compact Tractor to better take care of the pastures + a bush hog attachment. The few times we used it we got one swath mowed in 10 minutes that would take a riding mower to do in 30 minutes. DH loves it so much that we plan to buy a fine grass drive over mower. He can do all of the tractor mowing, and I will trim with a push mower and riding mower from now on.
Fixing up the coop will need to be a 1 and done deal.
I STILL need to eke out time to ride and train, and next year I will be a horse owner for 35 years.
I have become an avid gardener, too.
See...priorities.
I removed the heated dog water bowl and stored it. It kept water even when it dipped down last winter to -20 Degrees F. My birds liked drinking from it 365, so I have had it there in the run on top of a cinder block for a few years now.
I have been feeding my chickens outside of the coop bc they "foul" the coop if they eat inside. When I assembled my pre fab coop I took the time to put down a piece of flooring vinyl on the floor and that makes such a difference in cleaning.
My horses are turned out 24/7 from late April to late October, then 12 hours stalled at night (or a little bit less) and turnout during the day.
I spot clean stalls every winter day, and fight weeds all Spring through Summer.
I have been keeping chickens for their eggs/meat.
My dogs/cats/horses are family and we have personal relationships, so much so that they don't take being handled by people that they don't know. When I used to give riding lessons with a previous herd of 5 ANYBODY could handle those horses.
I am pretty sure that the ears of corn I put out for my birds attracted mice, that I started seeing in the coop, and THOSE attracted the weasel, bc I have never had a weasel problem in the past. But I expect to have another one in the future.
What I like about the chain link fencing is that it is sturdy and prevents the coyotes, neighboring dog and coywolves from eating my chickens. No incidents of that at all.
The idea of "free ranging" is absurd to me. Even if the chickens figured that I have a real set of stairs that leads up to my old, wooden barn's loft, the best case scenerio is that they would shit all over my hay and straw. Worst case, raccoons would move in and kill them there, or possoms. We have had to kill both.
SO... it comes back to fix up the current coop and run. If we had lovely weather right now I think I could armour proof it in about 3 weeks, or less.
Just gotta figure out what to do about the gate.
Any ideas?

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks so much @casportpony!
I gather that you are also a horse owner?
I am on vacation in Co right now and I am trying to get ahead solving my coop and run problems before I get back on the everyday work and winter outside chores treadmill.

 

[ducks4you]

I should apologize for the rapid fire of this thread, BUT, this is my one week's worth of a chance to get a handle on fixing my problem. Here is aNOTHER wrinkle.
I studied patandchickens articles and links years ago, and the Reason for leaving the pop door open 24/7/365 was ventilation. I pretty much had the ventilation problem solved. I bed down with Equine Fresh bottom layer under the roosts in the coop, then medium pine shavings (bc their poo sticks to it better than fine pine shavings), also, in the worst cold, I would add some straw on top of everything. My chickens would sometimes nest and lay in the clean shavings Not under the roosts. I would spot clean every few weeks, and strip only after everything was starting to break down into sawdust.
You don't strip out good bedding--waste of money--and you DO use your nose and keep the urine and ammonia down. Anybody who keeps horses knows what I mean.
So, my predator proofing, I think, will involve leaving the door to the ramp OPEN.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, Ducks. I debated on whether to respond here or on the TEG thread. I'll do it here.

That could have been a weasel from the number killed and them going for the head. It would be good to know which member of the weasel family. Some can get through a tiny hole, the size of quarter or less. Mink can get through some surprisingly small holes but not that small. Weasels are generally solitary hunters so it was probably just one that did all that.

One thing that does look strange is where one was pulled partially through the fence. That looks more like something a raccoon would do. Which does bring up the possibility that it was a family of raccoons out hunting together. That is a lot of dead chickens. Could raccoons have gotten inside?

Raccoons and weasels can climb so just putting hardware cloth up a few feet along the sides will not stop them. The protection needs to go all the way up and across the top. That's a lot of hardware cloth, probably 1/2" since you don't know which critter it actually was. And the top needs to be supported for snow load. You also need protection at ground level. I like aprons instead of trying to put heavy things like pavers as something solid gives them something to dig under.

You will need to seal any seams where the hardware cloth overlaps. If that joint is on a piece of flat wood you can screw a furring strip over it. I've used J-Clips to connect small diameter wire like that. You can use hog rings or just regular wire, but the seams need to be sealed.

Gates, doors, windows, and pop doors can be weak points. Look at how your house door is trimmed to keep out drafts. You form a pocket they set in. And you need a locking mechanism that keeps the door snug. A hasp may not close it tight enough. I tried to find a U-tube that shows how to make a latch but every one I find makes it more complicated than it has to be. You might google something like a pioneer shed or barn door latch to get ideas.

As far as Pat's comment on ventilation, instead of leaving the pop door open at night cut a hole in your coop and cover it with hardware cloth. It will serve the same purpose.

It is really hard and expensive to build a run your size that is truly safe from weasels. All they need is a tiny hole and they are in. Like most predators weasels can hunt day or night. But they are most dangerous at night when there is not much activity, humans or dogs, to keep them away. You might want to rethink your strategy of not locking them in a really secure coop at night. That adds another level of security.

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, @Ridgerunner!!
I hope that you appreciate that I didn't post any pictures over at TEG.
The coop has two built in ventilation circles on the nest box side. I Have been leaving the windows mostly open--they can be partially or fully opened or fully closed, also on the next box side 24/7.
I think my plan to NOT get any more chickens until next Spring will give me the time to figure out what to do.
When I tried closing the door to the ramp it was swollen and it took some doing to get it closed. I imagine that I could replace it with door that could be shut with a timer. I could always put a piece of wood in front of it in the very coldest weather. The whole coop could use a new paint job, anyway. (And, there is that stump from the old, dead peach tree that has GOT to come out to be burned!)
I appreciate ANY ideas and REALLY appreciate links to pictures!
Over the years I have engineered my OWN solutions to problems, and many of those solutions were dismissed by others.
For instance, there is a cap off of the roof of my horse's shelter. It had been pouring water for years there--the shelter has a cement floor so it wasn't a pond IN the shelter you see--and it got to the point about 3 years or so that my 3 horses were wading up to their knees and having to walk UP into their shelter. I was convinced one horse would break a leg, so something had to be done, since it is their "playhouse".
I enlisted the help of my 30yo friend, who I have hired to put up hay and other odd jobs since he lives 3 blocks from me, and firstly we took buckets and got all of the water moved. Then, we moved as much mud as possible. I locked the horses in the south pasture, where there is shade, ordered 9 ton of gravel, bought 3500 pounds of sand, in those tubes, and T (friend) and His strapping friend C first filled it in with sand, then C got his fathers tractor and moved the gravel in on top.
It worked. I haven't had any sinking since.
I had a spot where everybody, including the dogs were cutting in and walking from the front of the garage and making a path that wouldn't grow anything. I had 3 oddball 16 in pavers looking for a job, I dug out, weeded, and leveled the ground, laid them down adjacent to each other, and had a great path, that Everybody still uses. It looks like I uncovered an existing walkway.
Same with the fire pit and the twenty-four 16 in square pavers that surround it. Little ME was the one who loaded them at Menard's and UNloaded and placed every darned one of them!
100yo property, which had cement with aggregate showing blocks broken in odd shapes. I have used these for 2 borders of 2 of my beds, and I am not afraid to dig them out and place them down again if stuff grows inbetween that is hard to remove.
Many people would say, impossible and don't bother.
Something in ME, says, "do it."

 

[Nor-Cal Chickens]

Unfortunate situation! I hope it never happens to you or anyone else ever again. At least you got some time to plan and make your run and coop more predator resistant.

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks, @Nor-Cal Chickens !

 

[ducks4you]

@aart, again, Thanks!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-3
Post#21 gives me a great idea of how to construct an adjacent/interior door to the run, which I plan to keep bc I like the 12 x 30 size
My plans give me the opportunity to repaint my coop. I was noticing that the trim needed a new coat. I can get some good quality paint and give the whole building 3 good coats.
Do you think (after painting) I should staple hardware cloth to the bottom of the coop?