Fort Friggin Knox???

[Aunt Angus]

Hi.

I am FINALLY moving to rural Nevada County in California. We got all kinds of nasty predators out there: coyote, fox, bobcat, hawks, owls, mountain lion, bears.... oh my!

I hear different things from different neighbors, but I figure I'd better be safe and do what I can to keep all them nasty things out. Here's what we are planning:

• 8x10 shed turned coop on cement pad
• Wire dog kennel with 1/4" hardware cloth all around and a solid roof
• Electric wire 6" from the ground and another wire a couple of feet above that - around the entire run AND coop
• A 2 ft hardware cloth apron around the coop for now (will bury one straight down when we relocate it); the hc will be buried a couple of inches down and staked
• There will be no door outside of the run (I will walk into the run to access the coop)

I know there is no such thing as totally predator-proof, but am I on the right track? Anything I am overlooking? Anything else I can do???

ETA: Electric wire will be 5,000 volts at least. Too much? Not enough?

 

[perkolator]

Sounds like a fortress!

I don’t know anything about electric fencing but I know a lot of people who barely have any fencing bordering their property when living out in areas like yours - so if you don’t already have one, perhaps just having a regular (2nd) fence somewhere around your yard/property/chicken section might help keep out many animals from even getting near the coop - esp if it’s got the electric wire running across the top of it.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Sounds like a fortress!

I don’t know anything about electric fencing but I know a lot of people who barely have any fencing bordering their property when living out in areas like yours - so if you don’t already have one, perhaps just having a regular (2nd) fence somewhere around your yard/property/chicken section might help keep out many animals from even getting near the coop - esp if it’s got the electric wire running across the top of it.

That's the plan, but it's going to be a bit before that happens, unfortunately. I'll see what I can do...

 

[DogAndCat36]

Hi.

I am FINALLY moving to rural Nevada County in California. We got all kinds of nasty predators out there: coyote, fox, bobcat, hawks, owls, mountain lion, bears.... oh my!

I hear different things from different neighbors, but I figure I'd better be safe and do what I can to keep all them nasty things out. Here's what we are planning:

• 8x10 shed turned coop on cement pad
• Wire dog kennel with 1/4" hardware cloth all around and a solid roof
• Electric wire 6" from the ground and another wire a couple of feet above that - around the entire run AND coop
• A 2 ft hardware cloth apron around the coop for now (will bury one straight down when we relocate it); the hc will be buried a couple of inches down and staked
• There will be no door outside of the run (I will walk into the run to access the coop)

I know there is no such thing as totally predator-proof, but am I on the right track? Anything I am overlooking? Anything else I can do???

ETA: Electric wire will be 5,000 volts at least. Too much? Not enough?

Holly! I'm getting a vibe of Chicken Run except mixed with Watership Down's other evil burrow but the chicken purposely shut the door on Godzilla and the gates held. For more security get heat detecting lasers and place them around the coop.

For real though, nice plan, maybe handle with the electric fencing though. What can scare a bear might kill a curious chicken. What can only scare a chicken might only tickle a bear.
Also is the enterance a gate, door, glass, wood, racoon tiny hand proof?

 

[Aunt Angus]

Holly! I'm getting a vibe of Chicken Run except mixed with Watership Down's other evil burrow but the chicken purposely shut the door on Godzilla and the gates held. For more security get heat detecting lasers and place them around the coop.

For real though, nice plan, maybe handle with the electric fencing though. What can scare a bear might kill a curious chicken. What can only scare a chicken might only tickle a bear.
Also is the enterance a gate, door, glass, wood, racoon tiny hand proof?

Watership Down is one of my FAVE books ever!!!!!

But our door is the kennel door, so it'll be wire and hardware cloth. We are building a wooden "jamb" of sorts, but we always lock it with a combination tumbler lock. And I haven't told any raccoons the combination.

 

[Ridgerunner]

ETA: Electric wire will be 5,000 volts at least. Too much? Not enough?

Where are you getting the equipment? Premiere1? Call then and chat about how to set it up right. That includes where to put the wires, how to attach them, and how to ground the system.

And sized right. Basically the right charger and the right wire. There are not a lot of options there.

My experience is with electric netting, not electric wire. They are set up differently. My voltage tester only goes to 7,000 volts, the netting is hotter than that. When the chickens touch it with a bare spot while grounded they jump back, squawk, and then go about their business. Their feathers insulate them so the only bare spots they have are feet, comb, wattles, and beak. With my netting they learn to not peck around it.

Electric fencing is different. The hot wire will be on the outside where they cannot touch it. Your chickens cannot get shocked with that set-up. Even if they did it would not injure or harm them, but it would get their attention. You want the hot wire on the outside where the predators are.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Where are you getting the equipment? Premiere1? Call then and chat about how to set it up right. That includes where to put the wires, how to attach them, and how to ground the system.

And sized right. Basically the right charger and the right wire. There are not a lot of options there.

My experience is with electric netting, not electric wire. They are set up differently. My voltage tester only goes to 7,000 volts, the netting is hotter than that. When the chickens touch it with a bare spot while grounded they jump back, squawk, and then go about their business. Their feathers insulate them so the only bare spots they have are feet, comb, wattles, and beak. With my netting they learn to not peck around it.

Electric fencing is different. The hot wire will be on the outside where they cannot touch it. Your chickens cannot get shocked with that set-up. Even if they did it would not injure or harm them, but it would get their attention. You want the hot wire on the outside where the predators are.

Exactly! Wire around the coop/run. This is great info. I am thinking now about getting netting, too. I am a lil nervous about it, being new to living in the foothills. I've lived in ag area, but open and flat. At the new property, it's quite wooded.

I think a lot of this anxiety results from talking to one of the neighbors yesterday. I told him I was bringing chickens, and he says, "Oh the coyotes are gonna love you!" Thanks, neighbor, for making me feel like a bad guy for bringing my girls to chicken hell!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don't you love neighbors like that? I had one that said he couldn't understand why the coyotes hadn't gotten my chickens yet. I could hear three different coyotes (maybe packs, maybe individuals) every night, to the northeast, southeast, and southwest. I free ranged three years without them being a problem, but I did secure them at night. But when people started abandoning dogs in the country and I had to shoot some for killing my chickens I got the electric netting. Never had any problems with any ground-based predator after that. Electricity does work.

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

Another thing you can do to keep digging animals at bay... dig a ditch around the base of the coop, just above harware cloth skirting, and burry razor wire. This way its some extra detterent for something digging in. They get shocked for going to the fence directly, and injure paws trying to dig.
Also, those poor dogs... and poor chickens.
some jerk took my neighbors expensive service dog and dumped it in a rural area hours away. (Has footage of the dog being stollen)Her dog was only found because a farmer shot and killed it 8 months later running on his property, and called the number on the tags. My neighbor nearly lost it, he was a vetran and had to be hospitalized for what i assume was mental health reasons after that.
Im glad you set up better protection for your chickens so you dont have to kill anymore dogs just trying to survive in the wild they dont belong in...
Maybe you should report to authorities about dogs being abandoned? Terrible situation.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Never had any problems with any ground-based predator after that. Electricity does work.

I can't even begin to tell you how much relief this reply brings. I have yet to move the chickens up here (they are still @ my mom's house in the valley). But yesterday, after we finally got the last of our crap moved, I pulled up to find a fox in my driveway! So there must be a den close. I will probably put electric wire around the coop/run and make a perimeter of electric fencing.

I called a few places around here that have chickens on their property. Most say that they lose a few birds every year to foxes. One place had a disaster with coyotes, but one - like you - hadn't lost any to a predator since installing electric.

We are also going to clear out the CRAZY overgrowth in the woods next to our house. I love fresh blackberries. I hate blackberry bushes!