Is this wise setup? Or are we setting our selves up?.

[jessbrooks2013]

Our coop is secure: Cool tree house
Our Run: It's OK. It's big and it encloses the coop. I've placed river rocks around the bottom and we've staked the chicken wire down. Although we haven't buried the wire. It's covered on top too.
Their Yard: My question: Every day I let them into the side yard that's about 25 by 15ft wide. It's enclosed only by chicken wire along our fence. There is no over head protection. So the only thing keeping cats out of that yard is our friendly cats. I don't think dogs would jump the fence although they could. We're home a lot and outside majority of the time, but we do leave them out when we're gone


advise?

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, feral cats are usually not a problem for people. With an open top you risk hawks, and chicken wire is easily busted though by dogs and coons any time of day.

That said, for some this kind of set up has worked for some without casualty, while others it hasn't.

 

[LynneP]

It takes only seconds for a raccoon to reach through, grab a chicken by the neck, drag the head through the poultry wire and bite it off. A weasel can squeeze through anything bigger than 1/2".

You have to look at yyour stewardship and figure out if you might need 1/2" welded hardware cloth, and where. We istalled from the beginning, it's a tad expensive, but we have our birds!

 

[Chicabee19]

Can you post pics of the tree house and run?