Less than 12 hours and they're at them already!

[Unobtanium]

Says it's good for dogs, and tolerates large weeds, so I chose the 0.04j 2 mile model and used polywire.

 

[Unobtanium]

I just got done lowering the wire. Diggers are my main concern

 

[Birdinhand]

coons today... rats tomorrow! I would not bother with rebar! I'd dig down about 24" and install heavy gauge hardware cloth. sooner or later the rats will discover the unlimited supply of feed and then you will have an even bigger problem on your hands. the only way to not be constantly at war with the wilderness is to create an impervious envelope around the coop. if you add a run, then you need some way to lock the hens in at night to the part of the coop that is fort knox. electric wire is decent for larger runs where it is most economical. no amount of shooting or trapping or poisoning can keep up with a constantly supply of critters coming from woods, actually it's true even here in the burbs.

 

[Howard E]

Looks good!

BTW, if you have never felt a fence, you really should test it yourself. Just to be sure it works. (better yet......get a teenager to do it.......they might be dumb enough to try it).

 

[Unobtanium]

Something tells me that fence has a lot more juice than mine.

 

[Unobtanium]

They are just sitting there looking at the coop when I come out onto the porch. What are they doing? They aren't messing with it, just looking. Are they like cats watching a fish-tank, or are they actually calculating and testing the wires like a velociraptor?

 

[Aji Dulce]

I went out on my porch this morning at 0300 to look at my chickens sleeping in their new coop, and I saw two raccoons! Eyeing them. I ran inside and grabbed my suppressed .22 pistol and fired 2 rounds. One at the eyes of the coon in the bushes, and one at his buddy as he stood there. I heard a good THWACK from the second round, but the coon dashed into the brush. I will go and look for it in the morning, but maybe a suppressed .22, as pleasant as it is to my birds, doesn't have the horsepower to do the deed when fired by a sleepy person at 30 yards and attaining less than a CNS hit. The suppressed M4 is next. I want to kill those things before they get a taste of my chickens!

I am very proud of my coop, however. I saw no signs of damage, and I bet the coons were at it for a while. I doubt they showed up right when I did. Any further advice on how to proof it? I have motion activated solar powered 200 lumen spotlights on the way already, and I am hoping that rooster pictured grows into a vicious beast as far as raccoons are concerned?

Nice coop, I can see why you're proud of it. But it is built to keep chickens in, not predators out. Do I see a gap on the bottom between the wood and the run? Anything that makes it in, will walk up that plank. A fox will sit there and dig at the base until it can go under. Attach hardware cloth to the base and bend it out to the surface of the grass 18" so the digger can't burrow. My chicken coop is built like Fort Knox and I'm still going to put electric fencing around, and a trap outside of that.

 

[christwodog]

We bought the solar fence charger from TSC, 2 mile - I'm getting 6000 volts all around, buy the tester for $15, well worth it. My lowest wire is about literally one inch off the ground, then two more wires spaced 12 inches apart from that. I am always at war with raccoons and feral dogs, but since going to electric fence, nothing has gotten in. A couple mornings I woke up to find the wires all pulled out of their holders, so something tried to get in unsuccessfully. I also have the solar motion detector lights on all sides.

The .22 should take care of the raccoons, it's what we usually use. Once I used my 9mm because that's what I had on me.

I never thought it would be such a challenge to keep them safe, but the electric fence is a mandatory investment, I believe.

 

[citykitty]

Would something like a corrugated plastic panel around the bottom help too? I'm going to use hardware cloth around the bottom of the run, but I'm afraid those little boogers can still reach in and grab my chickens.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

The .22 should take care of the raccoons, it's what we usually use. Once I used my 9mm because that's what I had on me.

my grandpa use's a .22 short on them (and works really well) once there trapped at close range.