Had a predator attack and need some advice

[Wesofox]

Hi - I’ve looked at a lot of threads here - thanks for your help. We lost 2 of our chickens on Friday. We think from a raccoon because we found Snow’s body in between two tree trunks 4-5 feet up off the ground. One remains missing but we presume she is gone. We have 1 left and received some advice going forward to use hardware cloth around the perimeter of the yard, install a fully enclosed run with 2x2 metal caging on all sides to protect from raccoons, weasels, hawks and fox. How big of a run if we have 4 chickens? We want to get 3 more now, if possible. Hard to find pullets and hens in IL in the winter. Open to any suggestions. We are so devastated after losing our loves and want to prevent this from ever happening again.

 

[Az OEGB]

Do you free range your birds

 

[Wesofox]

Do you free range your birds

Yes, but clearly that needs to change to free range only if we are able to supervise. We built a heated backyard coop - 6/7 feet x 4.5 feet x 6 feet with 5 suites and a roosting perch. Bottom floor has all the food and water with a ramp to 2nd floor sleeping area. Shavings on both floors.

 

[BDutch]

A good size run for 7 normal sized chickens would be around 28 m2 / 280 sqft.

This is the first thing I would recommend to do.

If you can buy a rooster this winter , and you’re hens get broody in spring you could have chicks with natural breeding.

 

[Az OEGB]

I have had a similar thing except a fox now my mistake was ,I had my chickens totally free range ( coop door stays open 24/7) that wasn’t the mistake as much as I kept my birds totally free range without doing any thing I was loosing a chicken a day finally I set a trap now if I would have cooped them (just until I could caught fox )and set the trap so I wouldn’t be loosing chickens in the meantime I wouldn’t be loosing chickens

My advice would be keep your chickens cooped set a trap hopefully catch predator let chickens out

# 2 get some American game pure jungle fowl/hybrids rooster and 5 hens or so your hens will start going broody in the spring these birds are great free rangers and then cross them to other birds

 

[Wesofox]

Yes, but clearly that needs to change to free range only if we are able to supervise. We built a heated backyard coop - 6/7 feet x 4.5 feet x 6 feet with 5 suites and a roosting perch. Bottom floor has all the food and water with a ramp to 2nd floor sleeping area. Shavings on both floors.

Not sure if this video will load but this was our morning routine to manually let them out and close the little coop door in the evening. Thinking about a guillotine light sensitive door instead of this little pull door.

 

[Trazom]

Were they taken during the day or night? Raccoons are not out during the day unless they are sick/rabid.

 

[Wesofox]

We opened the coop in the am and closed it at night. The raccoon - what we think was a raccoon - got in after it was dark & before we closed it for the night.

 

[BDutch]

I have had a similar thing except a fox now my mistake was ,I had my chickens totally free range ( coop door stays open 24/7) that wasn’t the mistake as much as I kept my birds totally free range without doing any thing I was loosing a chicken a day finally I set a trap now if I would have cooped them (just until I could caught fox )and set the trap so I wouldn’t be loosing chickens in the meantime I wouldn’t be loosing chickens

My advice would be keep your chickens cooped set a trap hopefully catch predator let chickens out

# 2 get some American game pure jungle fowl/hybrids rooster and 5 hens or so your hens will start going broody in the spring these birds are great free rangers and then cross them to other birds

If you trap or kill a predator, there is space for a another predator to come along. Rule of thumb: always keep you’re chickens locked up in a coop safely from sunset till after sunrise.
An automatic pop door is a great help to do so.
If you have a high risk of predators during the day: make a run with hwc or strong netting on top. Free range only if there are people around. And make lots of hiding places in the garden.

The breed to choose is another thing. What kind of chickens do you have now? I would not recommend a mixed flock with game birds.

 

[Az OEGB]

If you trap or kill a predator, there is space for a another predator to come along. Rule of thumb: always keep you’re chickens locked up in a coop safely from sunset till after sunrise.
An automatic pop door is a great help to do so.
If you have a high risk of predators during the day: make a run with hwc or strong netting on top. Free range only if there are people around. And make lots of hiding places in the garden.

The breed to choose is another thing. What kind of chickens do you have now? I would not recommend a mixed flock with game birds.

That is true but but if you want a chicken that can survive predators., preferably pure red jungle fowl/hybrids or game fowl are your best bet. most of the time they will reproduce faster than predators can catch them in my opinion chickens have been going down hill for years they are hatched in hatcheries which I don’t mind but these chicks have no predators gamefowl look and act similar to red jungle fowl which were wild for thousands of years with no human intervention and they survived just my opinion