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Goodness! I was going to use chicken wire. Why not? I thought that hardware cloth was overdoing it. Do I need to use it all the way up or just on the bottom?

Thanks so much for the advice.
 
Thanks to all the welcomes! I can see this will be an active and fun place to be.

In relation to the predators, I frankly don't know how some people breed a line for 20, 30, even 50 years. I don't know that I could keep predators out of them for that long.

Thanks again to all!
 
I to am new - I was sad to read of your preditors - we are lucky here in NZ we really don't have any - or I'll rephrase that most people don't - I have a neighbours cat who killed most of mine earlyer this week! I wonder if feeding that cat at the gate would keep it off my section?????

Well I hope to learn alot here to help my chooks! :-)
 
Welcome! What a heartbreaking amount of loss you have had :( So happy for you to be trying again! Have you tried any of those infrared flash boxes to deter any of the predators you've had trouble with? I'd imagine you would need to put it down near the ground to have a chance of it working against rats.
You know which ones I mean, the boxes that flash red at night so it looks like a competing predator's eyes?
 
Hi. Sorry for the delay. Having computer issues. I put out a soup bowl size for the racoons just before bed on the front porch, and the same size on the trail used by the bobcat at night. I think they are like any animal...why hunt if you don't have to?
 
jmdtk: Wow. I had no idea that NZ had few predators. I like that country now a lot more!

Seems to work to feed them. If the cat's belly is full, it probably won't eat your chicks. Did you talk to the neighbor?


Aero: I haven't tried them. I've wondered if they would work--rats being prey also.

I'm going to build a chicken tractor and see if I can just remove the birds. I think that might be my best bet. My coop is now seven years old, built of mostly plywood, and it isn't pretty like it was--all chewed up from the rats. So I think it is time to try something else. I think they will stay out of the chickens if they can't find them!
 
That's kind of similar to the design of the tractor I'm going to build this next week. I'm pretty excited about it. Mine won't have the closed in area. I don't want that. It will all be open to the air except the top part which will have a tarp on it to keep out the rain and hot sun. I was a little taken aback to find how much it was going to cost me. I hope it works like I expect.

Thanks again for the information on the critter feeding. I was feeding what looked like a very large otter. My cat is now gone.
 
Hello Friends
My Self Kelinahousie
I am New Here In this Forum and i like chickens very much...
 

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