FLORIDA!!!!!ALWAYS SUNNY SIDE UP!!!

[getaclue]

jess, sorry for your loss.

 

[BootsMcgee]

I have a question for my central florida peeps (Lake county here at the corners of orange and seminole as well). What predator issues do you have? My coop has been given many monikers such as The Tank, Alcatraz, etc and been thought to be able to withstand category 5 hurricanes. I may have gone a little nuts when I built it but in my defense, I had no clue what I was doing, just a lot of motivation. After all was said and done, a "friend" mentioned that it wouldn't keep predators out. Now, each nesting door is latched and locked with a key padlock and the coop door latches from the inside. The only downfall I see is maybe the floor which is hardware cloth hooked with gigantic staples buried into pressure treated 2x4's. But, I was curious, what are y'all seeing trying to get into your coops? We have coyotes and foxes around here, however the coop is in the backyard behind a 6' privacy fence so I'm not as concerned about them. I've been told raccoon will attack and kill a chicken. Thoughts?

 

[poppycock1974]

I have a question for my central florida peeps (Lake county here at the corners of orange and seminole as well). What predator issues do you have? My coop has been given many monikers such as The Tank, Alcatraz, etc and been thought to be able to withstand category 5 hurricanes. I may have gone a little nuts when I built it but in my defense, I had no clue what I was doing, just a lot of motivation. After all was said and done, a "friend" mentioned that it wouldn't keep predators out. Now, each nesting door is latched and locked with a key padlock and the coop door latches from the inside. The only downfall I see is maybe the floor which is hardware cloth hooked with gigantic staples buried into pressure treated 2x4's. But, I was curious, what are y'all seeing trying to get into your coops? We have coyotes and foxes around here, however the coop is in the backyard behind a 6' privacy fence so I'm not as concerned about them. I've been told raccoon will attack and kill a chicken. Thoughts?

I'm not from there (Jax here) but. Raccoon recently tried to dig under the coop and run but couldn't bc I buried the hardware cloth but then it tried to get in the cleaning door. It did give up but I'm sure it will try again. We have everything locked and buried but I still worry.

 

[Wyandotte Blue]

Raccoons. They will pull a chicken through chain link. While cute, those paws of theirs can get through or undo anything. I am on my cell phone cannot see any pictures and do not know what the cloth is but I bet raccoons can get cloth torn away from anything given enough time.

 

[Red Banks]

Raccoons. They will pull a chicken through chain link. While cute, those paws of theirs can get through or undo anything. I am on my cell phone cannot see any pictures and do not know what the cloth is but I bet raccoons can get cloth torn away from anything given enough time.

Last week there were 4 headless bodies of my 12 week old BCMs in the coop in the morning. I saw the possum leaving. I had 2X4 welded wire on the coop. When they came off the roost and pressed against the wire waiting for me to let them out he pulled their heads off. I put hardware cloth around the bottom. I need to do some more preventative things.

 

[BootsMcgee]

Raccoons. They will pull a chicken through chain link. While cute, those paws of theirs can get through or undo anything. I am on my cell phone cannot see any pictures and do not know what the cloth is but I bet raccoons can get cloth torn away from anything given enough time.

Last week there were 4 headless bodies of my 12 week old BCMs in the coop in the morning. I saw the possum leaving. I had 2X4 welded wire on the coop. When they came off the roost and pressed against the wire waiting for me to let them out he pulled their heads off. I put hardware cloth around the bottom. I need to do some more preventative things.

well!!!! Nuff said...... reckon I'll head to the drawing board and suss a way to get the bottom enclosed with access for me to rake out the poo..... Thank you kindly!

 

[BootsMcgee]

the hardware cloth I have on the bottom of the coop is 1/2" so it's small but why risk it right?

 

[Red Banks]

the hardware cloth I have on the bottom of the coop is 1/2" so it's small but why risk it right?

1/2 hardware cloth should be fine. Do you think anything can get its hand thru it? I had 2"X4" wire that was my problem. If you have that small of HC you should be fine.

 

[Red Banks]

Raccoons. They will pull a chicken through chain link. While cute, those paws of theirs can get through or undo anything. I am on my cell phone cannot see any pictures and do not know what the cloth is but I bet raccoons can get cloth torn away from anything given enough time.

hardware cloth is wire fencing with very small holes, it is great on coops and runs, not like chicken wire which is only good for keeping chickens in

 

[BootsMcgee]

Theres the hardware cloth. The chicks are about 10 weeks old now. I can't imagine anything getting a hand through there but maybe dislodging it. I'm gonna look at blocking in the bottom of the coop and making an access door to be able to rake it once in a while.