I am 3 years in, and I still don't have it right.

[Louie81]

Hi my name is Louie, and I started learning how to raise chickens at the beginning of the pandemic. I like in an unincorporated part of Indiana and have a little land and figured that if things really went south, that I could live off of chicken meat and eggs. I turned my shed into the coop, and then had someone build an exterior extension, or a run i guess it is called, so that the girls could get some fresh air. Its has had its share of ups and downs, and I think that ultimately I am going to tear the shed and all of it down and maybe order a nice coop from Carolina Coops, but that is besides the point.
The reason I am here, is because the new problem that I have encountered, is that no matter how well I feel i have fortified my defenses against predators, some thing keeps getting in and ****ing up my girls. Today i found the opening of a tunnel, with feathers in it, that I have never noticed before. So what digs tunnels from the outside of an enclosure to the inside, and also eats chickens? I have had issues with raccoons, but i have never known them to dig tunnels, but I am not a subject matter expert on raccoons.
I really hope that someone in can possibly help me, because I have bought and lost so many chickens already, that I feel I am just feeding the local wildlife at this point. Please Help,
Louie

 

[DobieLover]

Hello Louie, and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

Weasels dig tunnels. So do rats.
You need to secure all openings with very well attached 1/2" hardware cloth.

 

[Tonyroo]

You probably have mink and it's relatives in your state. They are diggers and love eating chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

Hi my name is Louie, and I started learning how to raise chickens at the beginning of the pandemic. I like in an unincorporated part of Indiana and have a little land and figured that if things really went south, that I could live off of chicken meat and eggs. I turned my shed into the coop, and then had someone build an exterior extension, or a run i guess it is called, so that the girls could get some fresh air. Its has had its share of ups and downs, and I think that ultimately I am going to tear the shed and all of it down and maybe order a nice coop from Carolina Coops, but that is besides the point.
The reason I am here, is because the new problem that I have encountered, is that no matter how well I feel i have fortified my defenses against predators, some thing keeps getting in and ****ing up my girls. Today i found the opening of a tunnel, with feathers in it, that I have never noticed before. So what digs tunnels from the outside of an enclosure to the inside, and also eats chickens? I have had issues with raccoons, but i have never known them to dig tunnels, but I am not a subject matter expert on raccoons.
I really hope that someone in can possibly help me, because I have bought and lost so many chickens already, that I feel I am just feeding the local wildlife at this point. Please Help,
Louie

Hello Louie81.
Welcome to BYC.

Stoats, weasels and mink. Often a rat digs through first to get at the chicken food rather than the chickens. Weasels and stoats and mink eat rats and are likely to investigate any rat tunnels they find. Once in the run or the coop of course they find chicken dinner which probably tastes better than rat.

I have two suggestions.
1) Do not build large ground based coops with attatched runs. Build or buy a coop that is at least two foot off the ground. This solves at a stroke predators digging into the coop from underneath which is how most digging predators gain entry. You can mesh the underside of the coop with hardware cloth to make it even more secure.

2) Many people build runs attatched to the coop to form one long structure. Many of the prefab coops one can see for sale are constructed like this. What such a design does is it leaves three coop walls directly accessible from the outside without the protect offered by a hardware cloth fence.
The more secure option is best described as a rectangle inside another rectangle but neither touching the other at any point; the outer rectangle being the run fence and the inner being the coop. This design gives two layers of protect at every side, the fence and then the coop itself.

 

[Tonyroo]

The perimeter for the coop and run needs hardware cloth 2 to 3 feet wall under the surface so it prevents them from getting in.

 

[MinnPeeps]

horizontally and vertically. Agree 100% with @Tonyroo.

 

[Kenneth Zweerink]

Welcome to BackYard Chickens. The Best of Luck with your Flock & your Predator Problem. And a Big Hello from Eastern Nebraska.

 

[Fuchsia]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

 

[SilverBirds]

Welcome! Thanks for joining us.

 

[Nomadicus]

Hello and Welcome to BYC. Glad that you have decided to join us at this great poultry lovers community.