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

[1muttsfan]

Other: 10" hardware cloth buried in a trench around the perimeter fence, stapled to slab cedar boards.

No trap in the world will prevent predators from killing your birds, it only gets rid of that one - and for every one you kill, another will quickly move in. Proper predator proofing is the only way to ensure your chickens are safe

 

[DanEP]

I have a number of security steps, starting with all the wire is 1/2" hardware cloth. Coop is 2' off the ground. The entire coop and run is covered by steel roofing which allows me to keep food and water in the run reducing rodents in the coop. By the way all food is fed thru 3" elbows on the feeders and is elevated above the ground so rodents are almost a thing of the past, this has cut the mouse problem by around 90%. There is also a 2' wire fence apron on all sides of the run( coop is part of the run). And lastly all door and windows have latches which all can be used for locks of different types. since building this coop I've had zero loss to predators. I'm dealing with a lot of critters in my area so I had to go hard on safety. In this area we have wild cats, my worst problem but also have stray dogs fox coyote coons opossums skunks and hawks.

 

[Killyhawker]

The locking coop is above ground. They head in there by themselves at dusk.

 

[CLSranch]

I read that most of these are problems with hawks. Which I've had problems with. Even had one when I came back from hunting, fortunately I decided to watch the chickens instead of returning the gun. I found foot traps for coons on a corner post are efficient.
I also use live traps, pet safe traps year round and sometimes foot traps around the coop overnight. They are a pain setting every night and tripping before letting the dogs out in the morning. But caught 3 in 2 weeks in the same foot trap sadly after losing several hens.

 

[Wjpeaches]

Perhaps this is going to sound extremely gross, but I don't have predator problems. All of my girls, geese, and rabbits sleep inside the house every night. I have to put heavy tarps in each of their rooms for bedtime. The gross part is having to roll up the soiled tarps every morning for clean up. Ducks and chickens aren't bad, but good lord, the goose tarps looks like a guacamole explosion. Reading all of BYC articles have been a big help. Will be building housing soon. In the mean time, my sobbies, (Sebastopol geese), are giving me my cue to go to bed. Once 8:30 rolls around, they start making a guttural sound. Guess I can't watch TV!

 

[Appalachickens]

Perhaps this is going to sound extremely gross, but I don't have predator problems. All of my girls, geese, and rabbits sleep inside the house every night. I have to put heavy tarps in each of their rooms for bedtime. The gross part is having to roll up the soiled tarps every morning for clean up. Ducks and chickens aren't bad, but good lord, the goose tarps looks like a guacamole explosion. Reading all of BYC articles have been a big help. Will be building housing soon. In the mean time, my sobbies, (Sebastopol geese), are giving me my cue to go to bed. Once 8:30 rolls around, they start making a guttural sound. Guess I can't watch TV!

Wait, the birds sleep inside THEIR house (in a coop) or YOUR house?

 

[Appalachickens]

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

I know this is about predators, but what a gorgeous cat!

 

[Carson213]

To protect my birds I have fairly large pens. I don't free range anymore due to losses in the past. I have electric wires around my coops and pens, concrete under the gates and good heavy duty netting covering all of the pens. I have had no intrusions. They have to get past the electric wires first. My fence is also grounded so if anything touches the fence and the electric wires they will know it but even if they only touch the hot wires they will know it and will hurt for awhille. I use both insulators and step in posts. I added another coop so I had to move the wires to accommodate for the new pen. I also have several game cameras. I love my cameras. I think the adult predators teach their young that a chicken isn't worth getting zapped for.
Here I used the fence insulators.
View attachment 2520181
Here I used the step in posts When I added a coop and pen.
View attachment 2520183

your chickens are safer than my own kids! i have 23 dom coppers, one barred rock roo, and 15 blue bresse...but the netting to cover my entire run would be more expensive than the occasional loss of a $2 chicken...obviously, i hope the hawk would grab the roo, then a DC, then a bresse

 

[Carson213]

your chickens are safer than my own kids! i have 23 dom coppers, one barred rock roo, and 15 blue bresse...but the netting to cover my entire run would be more expensive than the occasional loss of a $2 chicken...obviously, i hope the hawk would grab the roo, then a DC, then a bresse

that was in financial order

 

[Coop-de-coop]

Living in a sub-alpine habitat, we‘re spared raccoons and most years skunks. Instead we cope with foxes, coyotes, bobcats, ermine (weasel family) and bears, dealt with hardware cloth, electric netting, and hot wire. Raptors are the biggest problem though, hawks and owls especially. So covering the run is a must plus it keeps out feed and egg thieves like magpies, ravens, and jays.

We built our coop on an oversized box foundation stabilized with road base. We placed 1/4” hardware cloth under joists out 2’ feet beyond box timbers to discourage not just predators but mice!