Help me construct FT Knox!!!

[DebB11]

I need to know the MUSTS in building a house/run for my chickens. Even though I haven't seen a fox, coyote, racoon etc... in our neighborhood before I am sure they are around. I do know we have a hawk that hangs out in our tree's though.

This is my first experience with chickens so I am new to it all.

Can anyone give me your BEST advice for keeping out the predators? I know nothing is 100% predator proof but I wanna try my best.

Deb

 

[harvster]

Except for the human kind, you can absolutely build a predator proof coop. But your post is lacking in details. How many chickens, what type of area, what kind of coop, is there a budget?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
Hardware cloth. And lots of it. Remember that chicken wire is not intended to keep predators out, it's meant to keep chickens confined.

The funny thing about predators is that many are noctournal, so you're not likely to see them. You will see EVIDENCE of them after you get chickens though! We have found scat, footprints on the top of the corrugated plastic run, attempts to dig under the run, etc. The only time we saw the raccoons, opossum and skunk were when we live trapped them. We have tons of coyotes, bears and bobcats around here but they have never gotten any of our chicken (knock wood) at night because the coop is secure.

You can see pictures of our coop on my "My Pictures" page and may notice that we beefed up the sides of the run from chicken wire to hardware cloth. That was due to an unanticipated ground-predator: a hawk. He actually reached in through the chicken wire and managed to kill a young chicken by pulling her towards the chicken wire with his talons. Since we reinforced w/ hardware cloth, we have had no other predator loss when the chickens are locked up. HOWEVER, we have lost some to hawks. Given that we free-range, there is really not too much you can do to avoid birds of prey. You can provide your chickens with areas to duck under, but the truth is: they are simply much more vunerable than confined chickens and that's a risk you take when you free-range.

Good luck and enjoy your chickens!

 

[DebB11]

I have 6 chicks we just bought this past Monday. We are planning on house with walk in run in the wooded area of our back yard and a portable run in the grassy area of our yard.

The coop/run WILL have a roof and the portable run will have covering (hardware cloth?)

Budget is not quite set.....

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Speaking of budget...CSNStores has UNBELIEVABLE prices on hardware cloth. Beats any price I've ever seen. It's worth looking into if you're in the planning stages of a new coop or run.

 

[DebB11]

sorry what is CSN?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
Sorry, it's CSNStores.com it's an internet company. Here's the link: http://www.csnstores.com/asp/keywor...oth&command=dosearch&matchtype=&keywordvalue=

 

[casuarius]

The best thing and most affordable thing to do would be to run electric fence wire around the bottom and top peremeter of the pen, this will prevent anything from digging or climbing over. I went to this yrs ago, and never lose anything anymore, I even find the occassional possum fried to my fence :-D

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Look up at the top of this page ...see where it says coop designs? Start there. Lots of great ideas.

Like was stated before...hardware cloth is essential...especially around the base of everything.
The next most important detail is ventilation. Plan for more than you think they need.

 

[dewey]

Local feed stores might have better pricing on hardware cloth, considering shipping fees. Lowes or home depot can order it in usually at reduced rate if you're not in a hurry for it.

Mine also has a wired bottom to keep out diggers. Did the same thing for my rabbit barn. It also has wire on the entire floor and also wire lining the inside of the plywood walls just for anything that might eventually chew through wood. Not really needed here but just in case. Oh, and locked doors. I failed to lock it and a human predator took access.