Has anyone built a predator proof coop

[freebirder]

Quote:
Mix Hydrogen Peroxide with water in spray bottle to clean up for poop stains.

Dust with a DE PY mix to dry up and keep buggers & smell down along with wood chips. Hung up Zip lock bags filled with water to drive flies crazy.

Have not changed out my flooring for months but do add wood chips to it a few times a week and have large aviary for them to run in all day.

 

[chickensioux]

This is my coop and the fenced area the chickens, ducks, turkeys run in. The fenced area has an electric wire along the top. This seems to keep coons, etc out at night. I have not had anything dig under at night and even if they did, everyone is locked up tight. The fenced area is about 60'x70' and the turkey keeps the hawks away during the day.
The coop has a port hole on the side that has a door that is closed and locked at night and the front door latches as well. The windows are only open a 1/2 inch and the roof is vented with screen.
So far we have only lost a hen to a hawk and that was before the turkey came on the scene.
I have not lost any poultry to predators in over a year and we are surrounded by woods and have cats, hawks, dogs, coyotes, coons, possum and bobcat in the area.
I think if something was very determined during the day, I might have a loss but at night the coop is very strong.

 

[LynneP]

Wwe built our coop in our barn and added a strong run. So far, so good

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693

 

[highcountrychickens]

Quote:
I honestly believe ours is close... After all of these posts, I still havent' sorted out how to add pics (I'll get there for this post

) Ours has to be not only coyote and fox proof... (as well as wolf proof - we found their tracks in front of it this winter) It also has to be Buffalo proof (it seems to work - we recently had a Bison destroy a greenhouse but the coop and run were left unscathed)

We have a concrete slab (easy to clean) with 4x4 posts and crossbeams bolted down 2x3 heavy gauge wire on all sides and the top. The wire doesn't go all the way down, so we have skirted the whole thing (including the gates) with 2x6 panels. Because a bison could clip through all of that like butter, we have two lines of electric fence strung around the whole thing. It's pretty burly. (shade cloth makes it look a little nicer) Each of the gates have locks, but we just clip them closed - if a predator develops opposable thumbs, we'll adapt

Truth is that we might not have been this careful, but the thing started as a dog run made years ago for a pro trainer... we had a lot to work with.

edit: we don't have predatory snakes here (too cold) so don't have to protect against them

 

[highcountrychickens]

Quote:
Power washer... Haz Mat suit ... rubber gloves ... gas mask

 

[Pine Acres Peeps]

Mine is not predator proof, however I do have soilders on guard 24/7. My guineas are the best early warning you can have. I have them free range and they roost right by my chicken pens. Since I have had them they have beat up a dog and a cat. I have seen no snakes, opossums, raccoons, no nothing for over 2 years, I live in the woods to. Knock on wood.

 

[bigkford]

I live in the (what people call country), but anyway we had problems with weasel, coon, opossums, go figure, a bobcat. Our wildlife people told us it was an owl yelling for her young when we played the tape for her on the howling. Then she got the shock of her life when we showed her pictures of footprints and pictures of the young playing in the field next door. all of a sudden she said she never heard of it. Go Figure. But anyway we dug out the bottom of our pen and coop and put in 12in. solid top block and topped them off with 6x6 solid block.We dd from corner to corner with all of it. In side the coop we put 1" pvc pipe at a 45 degree angle because a weasel can go in but can not get out. We have actually gotten more rats from it then anything else. I have no lost a bird since. Also we moved my chicken coop away from my barn by 15 ft. It has really made a difference.

 

[2468Chickensrgr8]

I am not going to tell you because it will just bring me bad luck....hee hee hee!

 

[joanie_maine]

I coated all my inside and outside pens with chicken wire and left no spaces bigger than an inch. All this took forever since i don't have a man to help!

We have mink here that can get in through small holes

 

[GopherBoyFarms]

I would say ours is predator proof. I really dont see any way something could get into it in the evenings once the flock is all tucked in. Our coop is built better then our house!

Now during the day it's a different story since the flock comes out at 7am and is out in the yard all day till they head in for the night around 8:30pm....but in over a yr we have only lost one chicken to a predator, and that was to a hawk.

here is our coop:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7562-Coop_building



~Tiff~