Pottercat- A run can be very helpful when you need to leave. The few times we had issues with wild predators was when we were away for a few days. If you have a run you can let the chickens out a bit when you are gone with a bit more protection than just letting the pop door open and hoping for the best. It is also good for chicks and young birds that haven't learned what to be on the lookout for, broodies and sick birds are also are easy targets that benefit from a run.
Some things I found that always helped with predators was to have a lot of activity around the area the chickens roam. Our dog would be encouraged to walk the area, and my hubby would often "mark" the territory. Make sure there are plenty of places for them to get cover during the day. Places to hide under and hop/fly up. We also made sure we always had a rooster and a spare. Roosters were often the first and sometimes only loss to day time predators. We always let our girls out a bit later in the morning to avoid early morning predators also, we also fed the girls in the coop right before dusk and locked them up at the same time. Not only did they eat less after foraging all day, but then there wouldn't be feed sitting in the coop all the time to encourage other critters.
Our property is a mix of open pasture and wooded areas, and butt up next to a nature preserve. We have coyotes, foxes, hawks, turkey vultures, raccoons, and stray cats that we have seen. Other than a couple untrained dogs, and a car, our losses have been to raccoons. They like to come out right before dusk and hide in the coop, waiting for the chickens to go in. The chickens however somehow knew they were there and roosted in the barn instead the few times it happened. We have caught 6 coons (1 unfortunately escaped) inside the coop at dusk, usually this happened at the end of winter when other food sources were scare. Coons are tenacious creatures. The last coon incident happened while we were away for a 3 day weekend. It was below zero so we decided to keep the birds confined while we were away. Came home to having the hinges on the pop door broken and the wood actually broken at a weak spot. Feathers everywhere, most birds missing, a couple with bellies missing, and one lonely hen left.
We are planing on building dedicated chicken run that is coon proof for our next batch coming so they can have the run option, but we still plan on free ranging mostly since I enjoy the watching them in the yard, plus I think it's better for them (and the feed bill) to find bugs and seeds.
Some things I found that always helped with predators was to have a lot of activity around the area the chickens roam. Our dog would be encouraged to walk the area, and my hubby would often "mark" the territory. Make sure there are plenty of places for them to get cover during the day. Places to hide under and hop/fly up. We also made sure we always had a rooster and a spare. Roosters were often the first and sometimes only loss to day time predators. We always let our girls out a bit later in the morning to avoid early morning predators also, we also fed the girls in the coop right before dusk and locked them up at the same time. Not only did they eat less after foraging all day, but then there wouldn't be feed sitting in the coop all the time to encourage other critters.
Our property is a mix of open pasture and wooded areas, and butt up next to a nature preserve. We have coyotes, foxes, hawks, turkey vultures, raccoons, and stray cats that we have seen. Other than a couple untrained dogs, and a car, our losses have been to raccoons. They like to come out right before dusk and hide in the coop, waiting for the chickens to go in. The chickens however somehow knew they were there and roosted in the barn instead the few times it happened. We have caught 6 coons (1 unfortunately escaped) inside the coop at dusk, usually this happened at the end of winter when other food sources were scare. Coons are tenacious creatures. The last coon incident happened while we were away for a 3 day weekend. It was below zero so we decided to keep the birds confined while we were away. Came home to having the hinges on the pop door broken and the wood actually broken at a weak spot. Feathers everywhere, most birds missing, a couple with bellies missing, and one lonely hen left.
We are planing on building dedicated chicken run that is coon proof for our next batch coming so they can have the run option, but we still plan on free ranging mostly since I enjoy the watching them in the yard, plus I think it's better for them (and the feed bill) to find bugs and seeds.
