Is my coop good?

[Sebrite_97]

My house is in Coon Central. every nite always find my garbage gotten into, or tracks around my coop

. i wanted to know if my coop is coon proof. I had first wrapped it in some plastic chicken wire ( the rubbery netting kind. ), next I wrapped it in the Wirey metal chicken wire. we've tested it 4 coons by trying to tear it, even bite it! we also buried it about 6 inches down and put a block of wood under it to. Sooooo... i wood like people to tell me how it sounds, coon proof, or coon grocery store!

 

[Quillgirl]

How are the doors secured? Do you have a way to lock the chickens up inside a little house at night? That might make a difference in the safety of your bird.

 

[FenDruadin]

I am just really enjoying envisioning this:

we've tested it 4 coons by trying to tear it, even bite it

Did you really bite it with your teeth??

Sorry. That just tickled my funny bone.

Anyway, to answer your question--it sounds pretty good. But chicken wire is notoriously bad at keeping out predators. Maybe reinforced with the plastic wire it would be okay, but personally I'd go for 1/4" hardware mesh or something equally tough.

It's good that you buried it--that will help. Do you have wire over the top? Coons can and will climb for their meal. Other critters will too.

Probably, your safest bet is to lock them into their building (shed, coop, whatever) each night.

But I leave mine in a secured pen. It is a chain link dog kennel, with hardware mesh wrapped around the bottom three feet (I have ducks, so they roost on the ground). It has wire under and over, and the gate is secured with a combination lock at night (and thank goodness too, or they would have been dog meat a couple nights ago when a big dog jumped all over the gate trying to get it open).​

 

[stethomps]

Its tough to ever be 100% predator proof. Coons will often go for the easy meal; such as your trash, but if an opportunistic feast doesn’t present itself, a coon (or skunk or coyote) will dig and dig. And Coons are smart, I saw one open a jar of peanut butter, so a door w/o a secure latch is a problem. Just make sure you keep them as secure as you can, try to make it tuff on the predator, so they will give up. I can tell you it stinks to come out to a dead flock. Penning them up at night is a good idea. My predator system is 2 parts: 1. An Old English Sheepdog, and 2. A solar power hot wire. This has done the trick for me, & I live in predator alley.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

Since you have coons looking for a meal, you need to take away ALL food sources so they will go look elsewhere.

No pet food, garbage cans, compost, wild bird seed, spilled chicken feed.

Coons WILL chew through chicken wire and plastic.

Make sure you have at least 1/2" hardware cloth on all coop windows and vents. ALWAYS lock the birds up at night in preditor proof coop.

With the shorter day light, I would put hardware cloth on the bottom 2-3 ft of your run as well as on the top OR electric fencing.