Need Advice to Keep Predators Out

[mylilchix]

We are in the process of finishing our chicken run. We've used 1"x3" welded wire fencing covered in chicken wire. On the inside of the run I'm buidling a nice rock wall around the fence, on the outside we're burying the fence and adding rocks. Gotta love CO, there is no shortage of rocks!!!

The run will be covered with bird netting and a metal roof. The north side of the run borders our dog run. The south and west side of the coop and run border our llama pasture. This leaves the east side of the run unprotected. What can I add to that side to keep the chickens safer? Thanks for you help!!

Sonja

 

[amazondoc]

A hot wire?

Sounds like your situation is somewhat similar to mine -- lots of rocks!

I'm wondering, though -- why the rock wall on the INSIDE of the fence?

 

[mylilchix]

First off we have tons of rocks (no pun intended) around here, so I figured if I add rock to both sides it'll make it harder for anything to dig in. We also did some excavating and then filling back in to build the coop and run, so I'm using them for erosion control too. Plus, it looks pretty!

Sonja

 

[Chirpy]

Hi Sonja! Knowing where you live you could have bears and cougars as your predators. So, that makes things different than most people here have to deal with.

First, I would suggest you wrap hardware cloth instead of the chicken wire around the outside of that East side. If you've already used the chicken wire (kinda sounds like you have), then I would say you've done all you can for smaller predators (coyotes, raccoons, etc.) and need to think about the big ones.

I don't believe an electric fence would stop a cougar as they don't get near enough the fence to touch it - they jump over things instead of climbing. I have also heard that an electric fence won't stop a bear unless maybe he touches it with his nose or the pads of his feet. A man in Evergreen watched a cougar jump into his six foot high dog run without touching the fence. That did not turn out well.

I would suggest installing motion detector lights and possibly using a radio at night. Some people swear by human urine to keep all predators away ... it certainly can't hurt. Have your hubby play "little house on the prairie" and pee around your fencing regularly.

Do a Search at the top of this page for 'bear' and 'cougar' and you should find some threads on who else here has dealt with that.

I wish I could help more but, thankfully, I don't have personal experience with those two predators. We have only had one sighting of a cougar near us since we've lived here but one did kill a neighbors alpaca.

Good luck.