How to keep chickens safe from cats & hawks?

[Advooser]

Owners of 4 hens, ranging around 20-24 weeks old. We're worried about the safety of our chickens after the quietest and calmest of them started acting very strange, she was running around a lot, hiding in bushes and making a lot of noise. (Not loud sort of pain noises, just a sort of mix between purring and squawking? Difficult to describe.) We put her in the pen to let her calm down thinking she was going to lay her first egg, but she left the coop shortly after going in, and the area we have there for eggs was empty.

My guess is that they've been spooked by a cat which we saw leaving afterwards. We've seen it a few times and although it's never showed any aggression, I'm worried it eventually will. We also once saw a hawk in the area we keep them in, but it flew off after we saw it. This is the only time we've seen a hawk, though.

What would be good methods to keep our chickens safe from cats and hawks? We keep them in a relatively large open area at the side of our house walled off with a chicken wire fence planted within a sort of wall made of brambles and other plants, and there's also some natural barricading with a lot of trees and bushes just beyond. Ideally we want to keep them as free as possible, it's nice to know they've got that comfort, but I'd prefer to consider their safety first.

 

[black_cat]

For hawks, add some cover. Put some tall poles up and hang hawk netting between them, ideally covering most of their space but if not do it in the most open area with the least ground cover. Do you have a secure run attached to your coop? Pics of your setup would help a lot.

 

[Advooser]

Do you have a secure run attached to your coop? Pics of your setup would help a lot.

Their coop is inside a pen which is fenced off with chicken wire, and it has a bit of cover (although it was put there with rain shelter in mind) as well as the coop itself. There isn't a roof over it though. There are a few mature trees around it which cover it to some extent but I'm unsure as to exactly how effective that would be against predatory birds.

Pictured is their pen, the rain shelter cover is behind the tree on the left. We've placed bricks and stones around to sort of hold down the chicken wire and block off anything that tries to squeeze under.

 

[black_cat]

Their coop is inside a pen which is fenced off with chicken wire, and it has a bit of cover (although it was put there with rain shelter in mind) as well as the coop itself. There isn't a roof over it though. There are a few mature trees around it which cover it to some extent but I'm unsure as to exactly how effective that would be against predatory birds.
View attachment 2331620
Pictured is their pen, the rain shelter cover is behind the tree on the left. We've placed bricks and stones around to sort of hold down the chicken wire and block off anything that tries to squeeze under.

Where are you located? Do you close them in their coop every night? A raccoon, fox, dog, coyote, etc could easily bite through that fence or dig under if they didn't just jump or climb over. What I'd recommend is building something like this:

This is a very large, nice one, but you can see that it is fully enclosed with hardware cloth. It doesn't have to be roofed, hawk netting over the tip would suffice. The hardware cloth has small openings so that nothing can squeeze through, and it is quite strong. It can be smaller, but there will be times when you go on vacation and want to keep your birds in for someone to watch them, there's been a predator scare and you need to keep them safe, etc. The coop can attach so they always have access.

 

[Advooser]

Where are you located? Do you close them in their coop every night?

We're in northeast England, and yes, every night when they go to bed we close the coop and open it in the morning.

As for the replacement for the pen, we did discuss this earlier and it's likely the best option, so we'll probably invest in one as soon as possible. For the larger outside area, is there anything that can be put in place to scare predators away?

 

[cmom]

I am rural. My land is mostly open pasture. I have electric wires around my coops and pens, concrete under the gates and good heavy duty netting covering the pens. All due to losses in the past. Years ago I planted the trees in the pens. I also put welded wire up with chicken wire for the fencing. Good luck and have fun...

 

[black_cat]

We're in northeast England, and yes, every night when they go to bed we close the coop and open it in the morning.

As for the replacement for the pen, we did discuss this earlier and it's likely the best option, so we'll probably invest in one as soon as possible. For the larger outside area, is there anything that can be put in place to scare predators away?

Some people get fake owls for hawks, but make sure to get the ones that have the heads that move with the wind and move them around every few days, otherwise they won't fool the hawks. Some hanging CDs and pinwheels also work sometimes. A motion activated light at night will work very well to deter predators.

 

[cmom]

One BYC member put one a tube man next to her coop.

 

[black_cat]

One BYC member put one a tube man next to her coop.
View attachment 2331648

Did it work?

 

[cmom]

Some people get fake owls for hawks, but make sure to get the ones that have the heads that move with the wind and move them around every few days, otherwise they won't fool the hawks. Some hanging CDs and pinwheels also work sometimes. A motion activated light at night will work very well to deter predators.

I found the first picture online. I have had hawks hanging around here. It found a breach in the netting that covers my pens. I had used zip ties to hold the pieces of netting together that had deteriorated and apparently the hawk found it. Now I used hog ring to connect the pieces. They will never come off.

Here are some of the pullets not far from starting to lay.