Cami0488
Chirping
I lost my first flock and learned my lesson. I am using an old dog kennel as a chicken coop/run enclosure. I foolishly left a flimsy area of the 10x6' coop open and easy for predators to enter. Go figure, only two days of being in their coop, 2/6 chicks went missing and the other 4 were left dead.
1 was stashed in the corner, fully intact, 2 were left fully intact dead inside the coop, and the last one was at the gate decapitated. What kind of predator does that sound like to you?
So I set up a trap...
I put a fresh fish I caught to use as shark bait and dog food into a small varmint trap. The next day i found an opossum in it. Not sure if he was the mass murderer but I got rid of him anyways. So I got myself some new chicks, and kept them in my garage while I spent the last three weeks inspecting and repairing every last nook and cranny of my coop.
I finished, and so this last week I set up my trap with bait left it to see if it was disturbed. I tried with bait left just outside the coop - Disturbed. Then with bait in the coop gate locked - not disturbed. Bait with gate open - ravaged. So one last time I put a fresh fish, honey, and dog food with the Gate locked, and it was left completely untouched (except by ants). So after a good weeks worth of testing with fresh bait, it seems as though nothing can get inside my coop.
For a list of revisions I:
- Re dug and affixed my 1.5ft width pressure treated plank directly into the ground with the lip hugging the perimeter of the enclosure.
- 2ft off the ground hugging the entire perimerter is 1/2" hardwire cloth. The cloth was safety wire tightened every 6 inches for no give way.
- the small surrounding openings where the nesting box is was also safety wired. There is no give.
- the swing door was covered and sealed with a hardware cloth, openings above the 2ft high cloth surrounding the perimeter of the coop are no bigger than a chain link fence hole.
- roof is chain link secured with fencing wire tied every other chain link. No give.
- inside the enclosure the chicken coop itself has had the entrance closed with a sliding door.
- all window openings of the coop are secured with hardwire cloth.
And yet....
It's 1am midnight and I pulled the shotgun out the safe, loaded it up, put some shoes on, threw in some hearing protection and a flash light, and walked out there looking for something. All I saw were my 3 little chickens asleep on the roost.
Every shred of doubt over any area of weakness I have made a point to strengthen. The person I bought the chicks from live down the road and told me we have no weasels. So I shouldn't worry about the fence. But I still worry about those sneaky little coons.
Hopefully tomorrow morning I wake up and see them alive...
Your thoughts and opinions on all this is appreciated. And thanks for reading!
1 was stashed in the corner, fully intact, 2 were left fully intact dead inside the coop, and the last one was at the gate decapitated. What kind of predator does that sound like to you?
So I set up a trap...
I put a fresh fish I caught to use as shark bait and dog food into a small varmint trap. The next day i found an opossum in it. Not sure if he was the mass murderer but I got rid of him anyways. So I got myself some new chicks, and kept them in my garage while I spent the last three weeks inspecting and repairing every last nook and cranny of my coop.
I finished, and so this last week I set up my trap with bait left it to see if it was disturbed. I tried with bait left just outside the coop - Disturbed. Then with bait in the coop gate locked - not disturbed. Bait with gate open - ravaged. So one last time I put a fresh fish, honey, and dog food with the Gate locked, and it was left completely untouched (except by ants). So after a good weeks worth of testing with fresh bait, it seems as though nothing can get inside my coop.
For a list of revisions I:
- Re dug and affixed my 1.5ft width pressure treated plank directly into the ground with the lip hugging the perimeter of the enclosure.
- 2ft off the ground hugging the entire perimerter is 1/2" hardwire cloth. The cloth was safety wire tightened every 6 inches for no give way.
- the small surrounding openings where the nesting box is was also safety wired. There is no give.
- the swing door was covered and sealed with a hardware cloth, openings above the 2ft high cloth surrounding the perimeter of the coop are no bigger than a chain link fence hole.
- roof is chain link secured with fencing wire tied every other chain link. No give.
- inside the enclosure the chicken coop itself has had the entrance closed with a sliding door.
- all window openings of the coop are secured with hardwire cloth.
And yet....
It's 1am midnight and I pulled the shotgun out the safe, loaded it up, put some shoes on, threw in some hearing protection and a flash light, and walked out there looking for something. All I saw were my 3 little chickens asleep on the roost.
Every shred of doubt over any area of weakness I have made a point to strengthen. The person I bought the chicks from live down the road and told me we have no weasels. So I shouldn't worry about the fence. But I still worry about those sneaky little coons.
Hopefully tomorrow morning I wake up and see them alive...
Your thoughts and opinions on all this is appreciated. And thanks for reading!
and mice. 
