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

[CHlCKEN]

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

How do the chickens feel about it?

 

[Qualien]

We keep guineas. We're always home, so when the guineas alert on a predator we know.

 

[rjohns39]

I use a combination of hardware cloth, electric fencing, LGD. That said, something (thinking fox) managed to dig under my wooden apron on the greenhouse and killed almost everything inside. Thankfully, my hollands are in a different more secure coop. The greenhouse had proven to be secure over four years.

 

[Bird_Lover_17]

I always keep roosters around, since they normally scare the hawks.
I bought that predator tape off amazon, that also helps deter many predators (also small ones)

I don't free range my birds since predators are a huge problem where I am. They have sheets of aluminum that go 1 foot into the ground (to deter digging predators), hardware cloth, locking doors, an electric fence around the coops, every latching good has a clip (so raccoons can't flip up the latch) etc.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

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

I need one of those! Maybe it will keep the Bald Eagles away.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Live traps. Sometimes I end up hand catching opossums, and skunks.

 

[Tinman0ut]

I have ducks with my chickens so they have a 24 hr access run (hardware cloth bottom to top, it’s got a 2 foot dig skirt, and it’s covered with hardware cloth). During the day I let them free range but have flags, CDs, and wind chimes and a radio hidden inside the coop playing AP radio news to deter ground and air predators... I’m trying all these methods after losing 1 of my girls to a coyote and because we do have hawks, bobcats, and 1 confirmed male Ocelot in my area

 

[Corbdee]

I use a game cam (for both keeping guard and for watching wildlife sometimes), a covered run (with Hardware cloth) and latches. Gonna have all that stuff updated when I build my new duck coop and run next week

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I have ducks with my chickens so they have a 24 hr access run (hardware cloth bottom to top, it’s got a 2 foot dig skirt, and it’s covered with hardware cloth). During the day I let them free range but have flags, CDs, and wind chimes and a radio hidden inside the coop playing AP radio news to deter ground and air predators... I’m trying all these methods after losing 1 of my girls to a coyote and because we do have hawks, bobcats, and 1 confirmed male Ocelot in my area View attachment 2520405

There's jaguars in Arazona?

 

[Tinman0ut]

There's jaguars in Arazona?

That was my thought when I saw that guessing they came here from Mexico since I’m just off the border... we will see if the wall effects migration/mating