Massacre last night... Coop Design Ideas?

[cactus-hen]

Hot wire. After loosing 1/3 of my flock to coyotes I surrounded the pen with a hot wire. The only box I could get was rated for 5 acres. I used it around a 45x45 pen. The first time a coyote tried to climb the fence I heard him yelping until he was far off into the desert. One tried again 10 days later. Same results. I never had another problem with coyotes getting into the run. It sounds like it may have been a bear that tore through the plywood walls. So sorry for your loss. I know how it feels.

 

[dieselgrl48]

Wow so sorry to hear.We have fox, coyote, coon's and the like here with some Close bear spotting's and We have bobcat but haven't heard of any spotting's of mountain Lion's here but a Panther spotting and livestock kill 26 miles from Us.I don't know how to even handle something that big.I guess just keep a big gun.A customer I had once that had lived In Fl and her neighbor had bear's and said they literaly ripped 8 foot wire from pheasant pens and peacocks and ate the bird's.I havent encountered anything like that yet.I hope you can get the critter soon.So so sorry about your bird's.Let Us know if you find out what got in maybe someone can help if they know what's getting in.

 

[arch_cpj]

There is no coop that can by itself withstand a bear or cougar you need to get some steel t posts and put them every 10 feed get some 15 gauge barbed wire and add that to insulators on the posts get it very tight.. I would also get a large LOW IMPEDANCE fencer and use 3 ground rods.... Its your only shot

 

[EELover]

Quote:
My husband likes your first idea the best, attaching the 2x4's to the plywood and nailing each board to the frame to shield so it would have to break the boards by section from the plywood from the frame. He checked the tracks and compared them online and they are definitely mountain lion tracks. The board was ripped from the bottom up. The hole wasn't large enough to be a black bear and the tracks don't line up to one either. I live in the Rocky Mountains and mountain lions are common in the state park that we live by because of the deer population. My husband also informed me that if he ever hears the dogs barking like that again that he is going to get his gun and we are going to have mountain lion for dinner the next day. What a disaster!

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:
My husband likes your first idea the best, attaching the 2x4's to the plywood and nailing each board to the frame to shield so it would have to break the boards by section from the plywood from the frame. He checked the tracks and compared them online and they are definitely mountain lion tracks. The board was ripped from the bottom up. The hole wasn't large enough to be a black bear and the tracks don't line up to one either. I live in the Rocky Mountains and mountain lions are common in the state park that we live by because of the deer population. My husband also informed me that if he ever hears the dogs barking like that again that he is going to get his gun and we are going to have mountain lion for dinner the next day. What a disaster!

Mountain Lion...CRAP!!! I would bring the dogs in at night if one of them is really prowling around. I have heard of them eating german shepards in the San Diego area. I think it will be easier to keep a cat out than a bear though. It will still be a very daunting task to say the least!!! I am so sorry for your loss and I hope you and your husband can figure out a solution. Unfortunately if a super reinforced coop and a hot wire doesnt work, I am afraid he will have to kill it.

 

[Luke13:34]

I don't have any other suggestions for you, but couldn't read this without saying how sorry I was for the loss of your chickens.

 

[iluvsedward]

wow maybe it had babies. whatever it waz

 

[bibliophile birds]

as chick_in_the_burbs said, some kind of fencing attached to the wood would help a lot. i don't think i'd go chain link since it's so pricey, but some 1in X 2in fencing would work wonderfully. just staple it to the walls once they are up, i'd do the outside but the inside would work too, and that will make it A LOT harder for them to break in.

and you can't really go wrong with an electric fence!

 

[EELover]

My husband said that fencing would be a really good idea too. We have 2 medium sized dogs (average of 60 pounds). We don't have to worry about them in the summer because the deer population is so high. We do bring them in at night during the winter though because that population goes down. We have found that mountain lions, although they are large and aggressive, like to go for the easy kill unless food is scarce. It went after my chickens because it knew that they wouldn't put up a fight. My dogs however will. They have been outside for 3 years now and we haven't had a problem.

 

[mccaff mama hen]

I'm so sorry for your loss