Need help improving our predator defenses!

[KyCoop]

String masons string across their area. Its inexpensive and it works. It has to be replaced every year as it breaks down from weather but that's not a big deal. I will tell you if you do use this method and it comes time to replace it, give yourself time to take it down and put it right back up! Leaving it down rings the dinner bell for the hawks. We have had them land on the fence as we were working hoping to grab a quick snack.
Of course it's not 100 percent fool proof but it's better then nothing.

 

[rosemarythyme]

We are down to 9 chickens.

What would make it easier is if I could move that behemoth coop about 4’ back toward the back fence, so I can center it on a nice big flat spot to set up some wire fencing and netting.

So the "good news" if you can call it that is you'd only need to section off a run space that's maybe 10x10 (bigger if you can manage it but at bare minimum they should be fine with around 100 sq ft). So a single large span of netting should easily cover that amount of space (my last netting purchase was 20x20 I think).

The coop *might* be rollable if the terrain there is mostly flat and you can jack up one edge onto a pipe, with more pipes behind it (the way they supposedly moved massive stones to build the pyramids). I'm probably not explaining it well but for a short distance move that's what folks on here would likely suggest.

 

[puddle_drinker]

I’m determined to make this work, but I will be so appreciative for more feedback as to the best way to protect our girls in a way that doesnt break the bank.

Welcome to raising chickens! I have a similar situation. A 50'x50' run with 34 chickens, Red Tailed Hawks, Red Shouldered Hawks, and Bald Eagles are my main threat. Welded wire fencing surrounds the run, 2" netting covers 80% of the run. Shiny mylar tape and shiny objects are hung around the run and some nearby trees. For defense in depth I have 3 mature Jersey Giant roosters in case a hawk sneaks in the 20% that isn't covered in netting. Also have one bantam Old English Game rooster for moral support. I haven't lost a chicken in the run to predators in over three years, so far.

You'll probably want some structures for the chickens to take cover under spaced around the run. Those could be as simple as a pallet on four concrete blocks, or a fancy raised bed garden with space underneath the chickens can hide under.

You should be able to pick up 2500 sq ft of netting for around $50ish. You may be able to get away with not covering all 4000 sq ft. If you don't already have a rooster maybe it's time to accept that chicken math is real and get a good rooster. Jersey Giant roosters are much bigger then hawks and, in my experience, not likely to be aggressive towards people.

You may also want to put up a bird feeder to help keep your local wild birds healthy so the hawks have something else to catch their interest.

Good luck!

 

[MinnPeeps]

Buy the largest enclosed dog kennel you can find. How many chickens are you expecting to keep? If you are using chicken math, 9+9=18 chickens. I have aerial predators (eagles, hawks, owls, falcons), my run (enclosed dog kennel) has kept my girls safe. Where are you located? I want to warn you of ground predators also. Good luck.

 

[cavemanrich]

What would make it easier is if I could move that behemoth coop about 4’ back toward the back fence, so I can center it on a nice big flat spot to set up some wire fencing and netting.

The coop *might* be rollable if the terrain there is mostly flat and you can jack up one edge onto a pipe, with more pipes behind it (the way they supposedly moved massive stones to build the pyramids). I'm probably not explaining it well but for a short distance move that's what folks on here would likely suggest.

I came across your post first,,, wanted to suggest same as rosemarythyme did
so here is a YouTube video explaining the process.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I came across your post first,,, wanted to suggest same as rosemarythyme did
so here is a YouTube video explaining the process.

Thank you - much better with a visual!

 

[McChooky]

We are 4 months into our effort to raise chickens. So far it’s been working pretty well, until today. We have a nice sized coop that sits at the far end of a fenced in area that is about 4000 sq ft in total (the area, not the coop). We put up a wooden privacy fence in December for them to have plenty of space, but we’ve haven’t been able to set up adequate protection for them, and we probably made a huge mistake putting them out there before we had more protection in place. They had gotten so big, we had no more room to keep them inside. We clearly don’t have adequate protection from predators because, unfortunately a hawk was able kill one of our chickens today. So we clearly need to do more. Although my wife grew up with chickens, it was in childhood in a very different climate with different predators. And she’s a bit stumped. I’ve never raised chickens, so I’m totally in the dark. We spent a lot of money on this privacy fence to give them a lot of room, but we’re realizing we haven’t done enough to protect them, and we need ideas on the best way to go, and a way that works with our limited budget. What I really want to do is have someone who has knowledge of this kind of thing come and look at our current setup (or maybe offer ideas on seeing pictures of it), but we really need someone knowledgeable to tell us the best way to keep our chickens safer without breaking the bank. And we kinda need to come up with something fairly soon. We’re afraid to let them out of their coop right now until we have something definitive in place. We’ve already seen the hawk return and land on our fence presumably to look for another target. It already knows it’s a place it can find more, so we need to put in place something to keep it, and anyone else who wants to take a shot at our chickens, out!

Keeping your chickens in lock down will prevent losses and force the hawk to hunt somewhere else. It can take a couple weeks to make the hawk move on. If you have zero tolerance for losses and are attached to your birds build a covered run and add a couple strands of electric fence around it. It'll keep aerial predators out and 4 legged ones.

 

[Debbie292d]

unless you have the smaller hawks, sharp shinned or Coopers… they hunt in the trees and can maneuver through lines with ease.

I thought we had the coopers but not the other kind, but regardless, our guy wires coming from our 125' tower which cover an acre keeps them away. We had what we call a chicken hawk that stood on the light pole near one of the guy wires once, which was daring, but never came closer than that. It would be easy to maneuver I would think as they are a distance apart but somehow keeps them away. We find dead birds on occasion that hit them though.

 

[Stephine]

I thought we had the coopers but not the other kind, but regardless, our guy wires coming from our 125' tower which cover an acre keeps them away. We had what we call a chicken hawk that stood on the light pole near one of the guy wires once, which was daring, but never came closer than that. It would be easy to maneuver I would think as they are a distance apart but somehow keeps them away. We find dead birds on occasion that hit them though.

That’s interesting! How thick are the wires? And what is the tower they are stabilizing?

 

[Debbie292d]

That’s interesting! How thick are the wires? And what is the tower they are stabilizing?

The tower is for our internet. It had to be 125' tall to get over the trees between us and their tower. The cables are about 1/4" thick. There is one at 30, 60, and 90 feet that come down and meet at the ground where they are cemented into the ground. There is this same thing on three sides.

That's my hubby up there working on it.