Official BYC Poll: How Do You Protect Your Chickens From Predators?

[Boomboomboyo]

I just boughtealistic looking mannequin to keep away the

I just bought a realistic looking mannequin to keep away the hawk that recently attacked.View attachment 2517668

That is horrifying good job

 

[Tahai]

My new coop is entirely enclosed inside the run. the run is fully enclosed in 16 g. 1/4 hardware. predators must breach the run before they can even attempt the coop.

 

[Thrasher wheel]

I don’t think it is worth having chickens if you have to go to so much trouble to protect them. Eventually a predator will figure out whatever you and your chickens will be in danger. Have you thought about you family dog or cat when inviting predators onto your property by having chickens

 

[Sosalty]

For ducks; -redid the pond to include an island. -left the muscovy wings so they could fly. -installed electric fence around coop + sank ground rod into damp soil 3 ft from pond, +lined the perimeter with hardware cloth both to prevent digging and improve conductivity with electric fencing, -vigorously trap & dispatch predators (Which improves the quality of life for remaining predators & vastly increases the populations of prey.)

 

[amity80]

I have hardware cloth buried under my run and also in an apron running a foot past the run as well, and I have had great success with free ranging only during high sun. I only let my girls out to free range 2+ hours after sunrise and put them back in the coop/run 2+ hours before sunset (10-4) on days that are very sunny. I read that hawks won't attack on a sunny day because their shadows give them away. And most other predators prefer to hunt dawn dusk or at night. This has not failed me as a technique in 3 years. I lost my roo to a hawk early on at sunset and instituted this policy and lost nothing for three years, the only other times I ever lost birds to predators was recently when one bird wouldn't go back into the coop/run so roosted outside for the night and an owl or hawk got it, and when a bobcat ripped open and entered my coop this spring. Just so you know, the bobcat tried to dig under (found the dig marks) but couldn't get passed the hardware cloth buried under the run, and ended up prying the chicken wire off the corner of the coop at a stappled seam to let itself in. Since then I have rebuilt with an even bigger run that is roofed an inside and outside layer of protection on my run, with a layer of wire on the outside and hardware cloth running the inside wall of the coop, and I screwed extra wooden boards over any seams along the outside edges of the wire so a predator can't get their claws in the seam and pull it off the framing.

 

[KerriChick]

Our run is pretty lacking in daytime security(just a 6' chicken wire fence to keep the chickens IN-they used to free range but I like to keep them separated from my dog and out of the big garden) but the coop itself has locks on all the doors and is raised up off of the ground with hardware cloth over the windows. I do plan on putting in some hardware cloth on the bottom 2' of the run when we reconfigure it after doing some landscaping-we have a large tree and a bush next to the run on a fairly steep hill and they have lots of cover and are hard to see from the air. We also have a very large family of crows nearby that run off all the hawks in the area! They are my buddies.

The predators in my area to be wary of are raccoons and the very occasional(and very brave) coyote or fox, but the locked coop at night has kept them safe for 2 years so far. We are in a suburban area near a larger road surrounded by open space/foothills, and the back yard is about 1/4 acre and has a 6' privacy fence all around the perimeter.

 

[DeAZ]

My chickens have a coop and run, that have wire mesh. also padlock the doors. I also bring in their feed at night. My poodle is a very alert watchdog, and he warned me about something wrong outside. I put him on his leash and went out. A fox was standing beside the coop but left quickly when it saw Guy go ballistic at it. Javalina have been getting into the coop looking for food, and the chickens have been getting out through the breaches. But they are quick to come back when I bring them their food. I'm getting an electric fence to fix that.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I have heavy predator activity in my area. I keep my main flock confined to a fully enclosed run and coop. The two layers of wire are buried one foot and lay outwards one foot and go entirely over a framed up top with corrugated metal covering about half the top. One layer is cheap dog fence and one chicken wire 1 inch mesh. Never lost a bird from this set up or my previous similar set ups , once in permanent use. I did lose a six week chick to a corn snake on day one in the new coop from a small hole over looked in the house/coop. My rooster bachelor flock roams the property freely in the front three acres, where my dogs and I help ward off predators in the day time. They roost in a fairly secure coop at night. I take them as I need them and enjoy the yard ornaments and bug predation they do. One or two of these might get snatched or find death in a mishap, but it is uncommon. I suffered from devastating losses to predators when I was younger and did not have a secure coop and runs for my birds. Best wishes for all you chicken folks! I more than doubled the covered run in this coop set up later that same year as the birds matured. They have about 450 sg.ft. of covered outside area and 100 sg. ft. house/coop in this one. I have two more coops but one is in disrepair and not in use now. This building was a run in for my grand daughter's horse, that I converted by adding a raised floor, constructing a roost with clean out area below with access doors at UTV bed height, a window, nest boxes, etc. I have been running 20 to 25 layers in this coop with a Welsummer rooster harem master.

 

[LaFleche]

Several years ago I tried using a mannequin as well but it did not work.
Instead the hawks were quite comfortable using it as a perch!

Hawks are too intelligent to fall for it.

 

[Birdsonghill]

Several years ago I tried using a mannequin as well but it did not work.
Instead the hawks were quite comfortable using it as a perch!

Hawks are too intelligent to fall for it.

I agree about the hawks but the crows and deer both have been afraid of my scare crow made to look like me sitting in my lawn chair that I move everyday! I simply stuffed some of my work clothes with walmart bags, including attaching stuffed over calve stocks to the legs and rubber shoes. I then painted my characture of myself with my mustache, on a stuffed bag for the head and pinned on one of my hats and sunglasses. It looks like a pudgy old man siting there resting, just like me! The crows could be seen all summer checking it out carefully not getting too close to it and my main garden. It worked on the deer till a storm with 100mph winds brought down trees and limbs that buried my scarecrow and knocked down the deer netting for two days before I could get to it! Good luck everybody!