Having chickens in a really wild area

[Hammerga]

I saw the post below this one and thought someone might have some input for me. I am wanting to have chickens again. I am in a much wilder area now. I have seen where a bobcat, I believe, dug a 5 foot trench next to a neighbors house that was over a foot deep and shredded the black plastic pipe that drains water from the foundation.I assume a wood rat ran into that pipe. While taking care of a neighbors chickens. I saw where a bear carried a 55 gal. barrel with close 50 lbs. of corn in it over 50 feet into the woods and ate its fill. That chicken run is chain link fence and there was no sign the bear tried to get to the chickens. I have seen a bear in the 400 lb range right next to my house. I have seen large mountain lion size tracks in my garden. I have had a coyote come on my porch and kill a pet cat, and hear them often close to my house. The place I want to keep chickens is not near my house and wondering what I need to do to keep the big guys away from my chickens. I wonder if welded wire fencing is strong enough.

 

[rachlore]

I would put up extra protection not just wire fencing. I must admit that i am no where near a construction person but I would say to use the solar nite eyes they sell at www.mypetchicken.com. They have a lot of devices and special fencing there that you can look at. I'm sorry, but i don't know about the welded wire fencing but i hope this somewhat helps.

 

[JackE]

Sounds like you live in a mandatory electric fence/hotwire area. Get a good strong fence charger, and run some wire around the perimeter.
Jack

 

[thasista]

I agree with JackE. I'd do the welded wire with electric around the outside of it. As far as the bobcat and digging, I'd be sure to bury a certain amount of welded wire. If you don't bury it, you might consider leaving several feet surrounding the run then covering that with dirt.

 

[Hammerga]

thank you both for your replies. I had decided to bury some fence to stop the diggers. My concern was what might be able to tear through the welded wire. Electric fence might do it. I have 2 friends here that use electric fence to keep bears out of their bees, with success. I have an electric fence near where I want the chickens and it would be simple to add to it to cover the coop area.

 

[aart]

Hotwire around the run for the bigguns and 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth on the coop for the littluns.
Good Luck!

 

[frigginchi]

Sounds like you need to reinforce your coop, get a rifle and be intimate with your fish and game laws.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...uisanceWildlife.ppt+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.

 

[redsoxs]

I think hardware cloth stretched over something like heavy chain link would go a long way to be very predator resistant but perhaps not proof. While HW cloth is pretty good for most common predators, not sure what one does with bears or mountain lions. Oh, and don't forget the roof! Just thankful the biggest threat I have is from coyotes! Good luck to you!