Foxes and chicken wire??

[4acresNachick]

Hi. My husband and I are new to raising chickens and our neighbor told us he lost 5 chickens to foxes before he built runs for his birds to live in. (They used to free range them) We were planning on letting our chickens roam our yard during the day and put them in their run/coop at night. It's a large run 20ft long by 15 feet wide plus the coop when done will be plenty of space for the chickens so my question is will foxes be likely to bother the birds during the day while they are lose? and is chicken wire strong enough to keep the fox out if it wants in at night? what other precautions should I take?

 

[woodmort]

Yes, they will bother them during the day--I've lost a couple when foxes ambushed them while they were free ranging. And, No, the chicken wire will not be strong enough to prevent a determined (fox, coon, coyote, dog, mink, weasel, fisher, possum, bobcat)--pick anyone or all--from getting to your birds. About all chicken wire is good for is keeping chickens in place, it doesn't deter predators. You best bet is to close up the birds in some sort of structure at night or at least keep them behind a heavy gauge hardware cloth.

 

[taprock]

If you read any DNR or wildlife material about fox predation it tells you that the fencing needs to be buried up to 2 foot deep to keep them from digging under. Since my chickens are locked in the coop at night I am going to only make mine 6 inches deep. A friend of mine just lost 3 chickens and 2 guineas to a fox during the day. They will be out more in the next months looking for food to take home to their little ones.

 

[4acresNachick]

thanks so much. We need all the advice we can get. We are planning on burying the wire. we were going to go 1 foot but we have enough wire to go 2ft and I will take the advice about closing them in the building at night. There will be plenty of room for them to be comfortable for the night. Again thanks!