Lessons learned too late.

[gailstpierre]

I am back after a year without hens. It happened slowly, first just one in a month. I had forty chickens so I did not notice too much. Then I found I was down ten chickens and I began to really worry. My chickens were free range and had five acres to wander about, but alway came home in time for supper. Then they stopped coming into the coop at night. I would round them up and physically bring them into the coop with them trying so hard to get out of my arms. I thought there might be something in the coop that was scaring them but I checked it thoroughly and found nothing. As time went on I lost more of them and never found a trace. Then I found a wing stripped of meat. I knew then that it was a preditor and not that they just left because they didn't like it here anymore. They still didn't want to stay in the coop and there was nothing I could do. Finally there was only one and she hung on for a couple of months and then was gone. I tore down the coop and found a problem inside one of the walls. There was a rat snake living in the wall. They are not poisonous but they love eating the eggs whole. The entrance was well hidden by the nesting boxes. I am afraid that I murdered that snake but that did not solve the question of what happened to my chickens. My niece came to visit a few months later. We were sitting on the back porch when she said, "you have coyotes." In Florida????? YES! What I thought was owls hooting turned out to be coyotes howling in the distance. The mystery of where my chickens went was sadly solved. Now I have built a raised coop which a thick floor, a large run with chicken wire sides and roof 19 feet long and eight feet wide. The sides are covered over with camo tarps. Around that is a hog fence three feet out from the run. I am getting eight baby chicks next week and I am not going to let it get up to forty. I am 76 and too old for that. I hope I have them well protected this time. I love having chickens around. I guess we all do.

 

[Red Mangrove]

I haven't lost a chicken to a predator in almost a year now. All of my chickens sleep outside in trees because they prefer it

There's even been a huge red fox coming around for a couple of weeks now and I'm not the slightest bit worried about any of my chickens. They can handle themselves

I trust their instincts

 

[Folly's place]

Chicken wire won't keep predators out!!! And small chicks can get through it, not as big an issue. We all have many many different predators, and they all love chicken!
Pictures of your new set-up will help here, if you want advice.
Our first chickens, 30+ years ago, were some cute bantams from a neighbor. she told us that they would be fine roosting in the barn rafters. Not so! After many night time losses to raccoons and opossums, we finally learned, and set up a garden shed as a coop. Now, three additions later, and sad losses because we free range, and have had break-ins to our coop, we have learned, and it's always the hard way for the birds.
Mary

 

[SourRoses]

Hi fellow Floridian!
Yes, we have a lot of predators. Your birds likely fell victim to many, rather than just one kind.
Around here we've seen Racoons, Possums, Fox, Coyotes, Owls, Hawks, Snakes... I even lost a half-grown bird to a rat, of all things, which squeezed through a 1inch gap between two boards.
Please consider using 1/2 inch hardware cloth instead of chicken wire.
Making their sleeping quarters predator proof is the best way to protect them.

 

[Knobby]

I just lost my very first chicken to a coyote this morning. I felt devastated, but have promised to make sure the rest of the flock are well protected.