MURDER MYSTERY *photo of dead chicken*

[sourland]

Close the coop door tonight and in the future. The predator will return.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Thank you

 

[April’s Zoo]

never fun loosing stock to prevent more digging I'd bury a 2ft wide concrete mesh this could prevent future tunneling

is that a plastic coop anything can get threw that...

The squares of “concrete” mesh are too big to prevent digging. (The rebar/concrete mesh I’ve seen has 4-6 inch squares.)

What you need is 1/2-inch welded-wire mesh (aka hardware cloth)— attach it securely at least 3 feet high up the walls of your enclosure (higher is always better), and at the bottom of of the walls overlap it by several inches and form an “L” — continuing it horizontally at least 2 feet outside the walls. Bury the mesh under at least 1/2–1 inch of dirt or sand, or use sandbags or large paver stones in a continuous layer over top of the mesh so that a predator can’t find the edge and lift or bend it up to tunnel under. (If you use two rows of 12-inch paver stones around the outside of the enclosure, you can probably get away with 8-12” of horizontal mesh.... but then you have to be sure to never move the pavers. The idea being that the pred’s won’t dig from 24” away from the walls, but the L-shaped bottom prevents them from pushing their way in between the pavers and the walls.)

You can keep the plastic coop if you reinforce it well with welded wire:

• Use “furring strips” and screws to secure the mesh to each of the upright posts of your coop, or alternatively use washers under the screw heads— you have to do something to make sure the mesh won’t just pull away from the screws if it is pushed hard enough. (Tip: if you use furring strips, pre-drill the holes for the screws, otherwise because the wood is so thin, it will generally split when you drive the screws through it.)
• Make sure you overlap any seams by at least 6 inches & use wire to “sew” the overlaps every few inches.
• Don’t skimp on the attachment points. It’s better to over-do it than under-do it.

Sorry about the loss of your chickens. Keeping and housing them is a never-ending learning process. Mistakes and new challenges are how we learn.

Good luck. Keep reading and asking questions.

 

[MelissaRose]

The squares of “concrete” mesh are too big to prevent digging. (The rebar/concrete mesh I’ve seen has 4-6 inch squares.)

What you need is 1/2-inch welded-wire mesh (aka hardware cloth)— attach it securely at least 3 feet high up the walls of your enclosure (higher is always better), and at the bottom of of the walls overlap it by several inches and form an “L” — continuing it horizontally at least 2 feet outside the walls. Bury the mesh under at least 1/2–1 inch of dirt or sand, or use sandbags or large paver stones in a continuous layer over top of the mesh so that a predator can’t find the edge and lift or bend it up to tunnel under. (If you use two rows of 12-inch paver stones around the outside of the enclosure, you can probably get away with 8-12” of horizontal mesh.... but then you have to be sure to never move the pavers. The idea being that the pred’s won’t dig from 24” away from the walls, but the L-shaped bottom prevents them from pushing their way in between the pavers and the walls.)

You can keep the plastic coop if you reinforce it well with welded wire:

• Use “furring strips” and screws to secure the mesh to each of the upright posts of your coop, or alternatively use washers under the screw heads— you have to do something to make sure the mesh won’t just pull away from the screws if it is pushed hard enough. (Tip: if you use furring strips, pre-drill the holes for the screws, otherwise because the wood is so thin, it will generally split when you drive the screws through it.)
• Make sure you overlap any seams by at least 6 inches & use wire to “sew” the overlaps every few inches.
• Don’t skimp on the attachment points. It’s better to over-do it than under-do it.

Sorry about the loss of your chickens. Keeping and housing them is a never-ending learning process. Mistakes and new challenges are how we learn.

Good luck. Keep reading and asking questions.

Thank you for the advice I will do something like that I think!

 

[mountain chicken]

The squares of “concrete” mesh are too big to prevent digging. (The rebar/concrete mesh I’ve seen has 4-6 inch squares.)

What you need is 1/2-inch welded-wire mesh (aka hardware cloth)— attach it securely at least 3 feet high up the walls of your enclosure (higher is always better), and at the bottom of of the walls overlap it by several inches and form an “L” — continuing it horizontally at least 2 feet outside the walls. Bury the mesh under at least 1/2–1 inch of dirt or sand, or use sandbags or large paver stones in a continuous layer over top of the mesh so that a predator can’t find the edge and lift or bend it up to tunnel under. (If you use two rows of 12-inch paver stones around the outside of the enclosure, you can probably get away with 8-12” of horizontal mesh.... but then you have to be sure to never move the pavers. The idea being that the pred’s won’t dig from 24” away from the walls, but the L-shaped bottom prevents them from pushing their way in between the pavers and the walls.)

You can keep the plastic coop if you reinforce it well with welded wire:

• Use “furring strips” and screws to secure the mesh to each of the upright posts of your coop, or alternatively use washers under the screw heads— you have to do something to make sure the mesh won’t just pull away from the screws if it is pushed hard enough. (Tip: if you use furring strips, pre-drill the holes for the screws, otherwise because the wood is so thin, it will generally split when you drive the screws through it.)
• Make sure you overlap any seams by at least 6 inches & use wire to “sew” the overlaps every few inches.
• Don’t skimp on the attachment points. It’s better to over-do it than under-do it.

Sorry about the loss of your chickens. Keeping and housing them is a never-ending learning process. Mistakes and new challenges are how we learn.

Good luck. Keep reading and asking questions.

thank you for correcting me,

it is actually called hardware cloth , I use it about everyday with concrete that's why I said concrete mesh . but yes its still a good mesh around the coop

 

[April’s Zoo]

thank you for correcting me,

it is actually called hardware cloth , I use it about everyday with concrete that's why I said concrete mesh . but yes its still a good mesh around the coop

Ahh....
yeah, I don’t know many people who use 1/2 mesh with concrete. Doesn’t seem like it would work with the gravel in the mix....?
What I know as concrete mesh is also called ‘rebar mesh’ or ‘remesh’ — and it typically has 6” squares, but I’ve seen it with 4” squares a time or two, as well.

 

[featherhead007]

I'm not sure what size welded wire was used on my coop, run, because my rooster built it while I was away!

 

[MelissaRose]

Thank you all for your help! my family thinks it actually was the fox and he/she dug the hole, killed three chickens. I didn't mention we forgot to close up the chickens a few days ago and the fox came and scared a chicken off the roost, caught it and took it, this happened again and he took another hen from the roost and my broody hen from the nest box, so a total of 3 great laying hens and now something,most likely the fox came and killed 3 more. Now I've lost six out of twelve laying hens in a few days.

 

[April’s Zoo]

I'm not sure what size welded wire was used on my coop, run, because my rooster built it while I was away!

Lucky!

 

[MelissaRose]

Lucky!

I'm assuming you said that to @featherhead007 ? and just posted it the same time I posted mine!