newbie questions

[jennmugg]

We plan to leave our girls in a run covered with chicken wire attached to the coop all day, 8 hours of which we will be at work. We live in the country. Should I be worried about predators getting them during the day in that set up? I know we have local wild cats, raccoons, massive hawks, and coyotes.

What about at night? Our coop will be outdoors all summer and shut up every night. I'll have padlocks on the doors and ventilation window, and for extra ventilation there will be chicken wire over the gap between the coop and the roof.

 

[SoJoChickens]

Chicken wire will not always stop larger predators (dogs in particular). Welded wire would be better. I would especially use welded wire on the vents since nighttime predators have a long time to work at getting in.

 

[Paganbird]

If you're going to put chicken wire over the gap at the roof, I would suggest framing it with a wooden frame. We had put it up at the gap between our rafters for ventilation. It was secured VERY well with heavy duty staples. A very Big, Old, Hungry racoon got in one night. It killed several chickens & I lost my beautiful rooster!
It had pried and pried at the chicken wire until it was warped.We replaced the wire, framed it with wood, screwed it in, & have had no problems since. (We have also caught 5 coons in a box trap, but we lost a total of 10 chickens in the process.)

 

[Tala]

You need to use hardware cloth on the vents, because raccoons stick their grubby paws through chicken wire and grab chickens!!!

I worry most about dogs in the daytime, they can go right through chicken wire. Chicken wire is for keeping chickens in, that's it. It doesn't keep anything out except maybe hawks. Electric fence is good for keeping predators out. Usually you can deter them from digging under stronger fences by burying some of the fence or bricks, or a hot wire along the bottom.