skrlis
Songster
- May 27, 2014
- 51
- 3
- 101
I'm new to chickens and bought 6 chicks back in march for laying eggs. With the nice weather I was letting them "free rang" in a pen I was moving around the yard since im in the process of building a large coop for them. they were out all last week and I never had a problem till last night! a weasel got in and killed all my hens 
im going to get more soon but I'd like sugestions on weasel proofing my coop/run. what type of wire should I use? do I sink the wire in? or do a "wire box" around them? i'll be setting traps but id like to make it as safe as possible.
thanks for the suggestions!
im going to get more soon but I'd like sugestions on weasel proofing my coop/run. what type of wire should I use? do I sink the wire in? or do a "wire box" around them? i'll be setting traps but id like to make it as safe as possible.thanks for the suggestions!
and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the loss of your flock, hope you are able to catch the weasel. You've gotten some good suggestions/links above for dealing with them.
Predators are just brutal. You need to use hardware cloth on all exterior areas of the coop and run instead of chicken wire. Chicken wire is flimsy and can be chewed thru. Make sure nothing can dig under. I like to use railroad ties and bury them one tie down and level as nothing will dig this deeply. 
We dig down 10 inches, level a perimeter of cap blocks, cover the space and cap blocks with hardware cloth, put the cement blocks over the cap blocks trapping the hardware cloth between them, and then refill with the dirt. We then add a top row of cap blocks or 12 inch square pavers and put the pen on top of that. This keeps digging creatures out while allowing dust bathing for the chickens. The hardware cloth is far enough down that I can periodically turn the soil with a garden fork to break up the "chicken pavement" and expose grubs for the hens. 
