My luck ran out on 2x4 wire fencing (learn from my mistakes!)

[arizona_chicken_noob]

For about 2 years I had good fortune with 2x4 wire fence being the sole barrier on my outdoor run space. This is a wooden structure approximately 4x8 covered with 2"x4" wire fencing and there have been no mishaps/attempted breaches to this point. Indoor coop is adjacent and always available.

Came out this morning to what I might best describe as a meat brick in the run. It was a chicken body missing everything but 1 leg, and a large feather pile. This was my absolute most skittish bird that doesn't even let ME touch it, so a surprise there, and I assume the predator was a coyote. We have raccoons in the neighborhood (I live in the city) but I don't know if they are strong enough to bend the fencing like this.

I will be adding hardware cloth to this run, and hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes (or at least see what can happen on 1 bad day).

I always knew it would be possible for a bird to be attacked through 2x4 but I didn't realize how much of a massacre could take place. Purple dot is where the body laid.

 

[Sally PB]

We have raccoons in the neighborhood (I live in the city) but I don't know if they are strong enough to bend the fencing like this.

Yes, they very much are strong enough to bend that kind of fencing. Raccoons are strong, clever, and smart.

I will be adding hardware cloth to this run, and hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes (or at least see what can happen on 1 bad day).

Thank you for posting your experience.

Good luck!

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

Thanks @Sally PB they only come out at night and I haven't seen one in a while, so I have more to learn about racoons. As you might imagine, today has been full of internet searches about racoon poop vs coyote poop

 

[fuzzi]

For about 2 years I had good fortune with 2x4 wire fence being the sole barrier on my outdoor run space. This is a wooden structure approximately 4x8 covered with 2"x4" wire fencing and there have been no mishaps/attempted breaches to this point. Indoor coop is adjacent and always available.

Came out this morning to what I might best describe as a meat brick in the run. It was a chicken body missing everything but 1 leg, and a large feather pile. This was my absolute most skittish bird that doesn't even let ME touch it, so a surprise there, and I assume the predator was a coyote. We have raccoons in the neighborhood (I live in the city) but I don't know if they are strong enough to bend the fencing like this.

I will be adding hardware cloth to this run, and hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes (or at least see what can happen on 1 bad day).

I always knew it would be possible for a bird to be attacked through 2x4 but I didn't realize how much of a massacre could take place. Purple dot is where the body laid.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Get enough hardware cloth to lay down an 18" apron around the run. I used one long piece over my hoop coop, attached it to the wood frame, and continued laying the one piece 18" out from the frame. Then I used landscape staples and tent pegs to hold it down.

So far no losses, though I have seen the results of attempts to dig under the frame, and to bend the HWC.

During the build

 

[Sally PB]

Raccoons are usually more active at night. But I have seen them around PLENTY during the day. They sometimes run in a small group, especially moms with young, and the young after they're out on their own.

 

[McChooky]

Thanks @Sally PB they only come out at night and I haven't seen one in a while, so I have more to learn about racoons. As you might imagine, today has been full of internet searches about racoon poop vs coyote poop

I'm sorry for your loss and hope your chickens will be okay until you can get hw cloth. You can count on it coming back soon! They don't give up easy!

 

[lagrange chicks]

Thanks @Sally PB they only come out at night and I haven't seen one in a while, so I have more to learn about racoons. As you might imagine, today has been full of internet searches about racoon poop vs coyote poop

Since coyotes main diet are rodents there poop most times has some hair in it.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

I'm sorry for your loss and hope your chickens will be okay until you can get hw cloth. You can count on it coming back soon! They don't give up easy!

I installed half inch hardware cloth yesterday and climbed up on my roof to sit still and survey what would happen next. I was up there for an hour while the sun set and no visitors.... probably for the best!

Might end up in another stakeout tonight. I'm also ready to set up coop area cameras, I just need to figure out which unit and the install.

 

[FunClucks]

I installed half inch hardware cloth yesterday and climbed up on my roof to sit still and survey what would happen next. I was up there for an hour while the sun set and no visitors.... probably for the best!

Might end up in another stakeout tonight. I'm also ready to set up coop area cameras, I just need to figure out which unit and the install.

You may already know this, but when you install, make it taut to the underlying 2x4 fencing and/or wooden frame. If a dog type predator can get their teeth in it, they can sometimes tear the hardware cloth off, so I've been careful not to have mine loose. I install the screws and washers onto the wooden frame to keep the hardware cloth in place every 5". I use zip ties or metal zip ties or hog rings to secure the hardware cloth to the metal hoop coop fencing that supports it. Sometimes I use 19 or 20 gage galvanized steel wire (same material as what hardware cloth is made of) to sew sections of hardware cloth together and fill in any holes or gaps. I'm probably overdoing it a bit, but we've had no entries or injuries in 2 years now on multiple hoop coops and I get raccoons, possums, foxes, snakes, hawks, cats etc. around my coops nightly. Many little digging holes show up on top of my 3 ft wide apron. Some of them are at 2.7 feet from the coop, which is concerning, and makes me grateful for my 3 ft wide apron.

Anything you do will be an improvement. The predator will come back for a while until it realizes it can't get any more chickens. It will try everything it can to gain entry. So I think your odds of eventually seeing it in person or on camera are pretty good. Wishing you luck! Sorry about your poor chicken.

 

[McChooky]

My run is predator proof which allows my chickens tor roost there yearround .I don't have welded wire or woven over the hardware cloth on top so it has a tarp.As a temporary aide you may want to use bird netting over your coop so predators with claws can get tangled up in it