ideas on how to make chicken run safer

[iperk78]

I'm new here. We recently lost han(durning bright day light). Have no idea who did it. But thinking maybe raccoon. Anyways..last year we purchased house that already had a coop and pretty big "play area". My husband wanted to get 2 chicken. Male and female just to learn. Set if we can keep them alive.Anyways we did it. They survived winter. Han started laying eggs. They were family. Every day I would come home from work. First thing was are chickens ok.
So couple weeks ago we lost the chicken do to predator rooster is not going outside anymore
So we have 17 almost 2 week old babies that will be moving in the coop at some point.after cleaning and moving the leaves out.i did find couple gaps under the fance.i read up about chicken wire.apron.but the problem is I would be able to berry that on the inside of the run.nut outside is all trees. So there is no way I would be able get tru the tree roots.we also plan on putting cover on top of the chicken run. Not sure how yet since the people we purchased the house v from build a pretty decent size of chicken run
So what would your recommendations be. Should I berry cement on inside of the run.or cani ad any protection from the inside of chicken run
Thank you

 

[DobieLover]

Can you post pictures of the run?
Is it enclosed in chicken wire or hardware cloth?
You don't have to bury the predator apron. You can secure one edge of the apron to the bottom edge of the room framing, lay it over the top of the ground and pin in down on the far edge with landscape pins. Great with grow through. The apron should be about 18 - 24" wide.

 

[iperk78]

Can you post pictures of the run?
Is it enclosed in chicken wire or hardware cloth?
You don't have to bury the predator apron. You can secure one edge of the apron to the bottom edge of the room framing, lay it over the top of the ground and pin in down on the far edge with landscape pins. Great with grow through. The apron should be about 18 - 24" wide.

 

[iperk78]

Can you post pictures of the run?
Is it enclosed in chicken wire or hardware cloth?
You don't have to bury the predator apron. You can secure one edge of the apron to the bottom edge of the room framing, lay it over the top of the ground and pin in down on the far edge with landscape pins. Great with grow through. The apron should be about 18 - 24" wide.

Yes its enclosed.putting the apron on outside won't be possible in couple areas do too the trees being in the way.we were told that people that builds that place list lots of chickens. I do think its big. And unless we tore it down and rebuild it. Not sure what else can we do

 

[rosemarythyme]

Apron would be the least of the issues - you need to cover that welded wire with smaller opening wire such as hardware cloth to prevent coons from reaching in and grabbing a chicken (plus weasels, snakes and rats can just pass through). The run fence looks fairly low (3-4'?) so anything can just fly, climb or jump over it. Ideally you'd want to extend it taller and then cover it, whether with a roof, netting or wire mesh.

As far as an apron I'd probably try to apron as much as possible and just go around trees that are in the way. I have a large tree right by my run so it was difficult trying to install an apron over the roots but I did what I could without impacting the tree.

 

[iperk78]

Apron would be the least of the issues - you need to cover that welded wire with smaller opening wire such as hardware cloth to prevent coons from reaching in and grabbing a chicken (plus weasels, snakes and rats can just pass through). The run fence looks fairly low (3-4'?) so anything can just fly, climb or jump over it. Ideally you'd want to extend it taller and then cover it, whether with a roof, netting or wire mesh.

As far as an apron I'd probably try to apron as much as possible and just go around trees that are in the way. I have a large tree right by my run so it was difficult trying to install an apron over the roots but I did what I could without impacting the tree.

Apron would be the least of the issues - you need to cover that welded wire with smaller opening wire such as hardware cloth to prevent coons from reaching in and grabbing a chicken (plus weasels, snakes and rats can just pass through). The run fence looks fairly low (3-4'?) so anything can just fly, climb or jump over it. Ideally you'd want to extend it taller and then cover it, whether with a roof, netting or wire mesh.

As far as an apron I'd probably try to apron as much as possible and just go around trees that are in the way. I have a large tree right by my run so it was difficult trying to install an apron over the roots but I did what I could without impacting the tree.

I do agree with what you said. Like I said we leaned a lot. And we have bit time before we have 17 babies moving in coop.i just wish the weather would warm up so we can get v some work done. I grew up on farm and we had all animals living pretty much together. Only thing we had to worry about was rats.fox and wild pigs.we found a snake in coop last week. Scared living crap out of me

 

[The_Patriot5150]

I would recommend getting guinea fowl, maybe 4-5 with the size of your coop, those guys will scare coons away with the sound they make and will peck the eyes out of fox and coon if they get in the coop. I went out one day to my coop in the morning and found a dead fox in there with the eyes gone and the guinea fowl had blood on them, no chickens died, I know you have a rooster but they are more for deterring hawks and telling the hens where food is and keeping them together. I have never lost chickens to predators before because of them. They are the perfect guard dog for the coop!

 

[rosemarythyme]

we found a snake in coop last week. Scared living crap out of me

That's a pretty impressive snake!

 

[iperk78]

I would recommend getting guinea fowl, maybe 4-5 with the size of your coop, those guys will scare coons away with the sound they make and will peck the eyes out of fox and coon if they get in the coop. I went out one day to my coop in the morning and found a dead fox in there with the eyes gone and the guinea fowl had blood on them, no chickens died, I know you have a rooster but they are more for deterring hawks and telling the hens where food is and keeping them together. I have never lost chickens to predators before because of them. They are the perfect guard dog for the coop!

I'm glad we have the coop and big run. But I would have build it completely different. And can't v really afford top take it all down and rebuild. But wanna make sure the babies will be safe in there. So far looks like out of 17(as long they all survive.we did loos 2 within first c week we got them).we have 3 rosters abs 14 hans. Plus the big roster that is in coop

 

[iperk78]

That's a pretty impressive snake!

Yup.i was told its egg snake. Only thing its after is eggs we dip have lots of mice in coop. Not sure what to do about that. I know I can't make it perfect. But wanna have it safe for new chicks to go and play outside. Someone once told me to put in scarecrow in there or go pee there. Originally guess there are sent things that would scare some animals away