So people live where predators abound and show no fear of humans as they randomly decimate your livestock (and yes, chickens and ducks around us are considered livestock) to the point that they come around you in broad daylight and you let your birds free range because from what I've read it would be cruel to lock them up in a pen?
Freaking amazing, IMHO.
Bobcats and cougars that do not fear humans are not something you want around your property. Reserve or not, you do not want a wild animal not to fear you. It will eventually figure that it is okay to attack humans, pets and other livestock because it has not developed a healthy fear of humans. This is why the game wardens will destroy the predator rather than relocate it. Relocated it will just resume it's 'normal' behavior of feeding off of what ever livestock it can find.
Around us, everyone, even the Amish, have at least a 30 caliber or a shot gun sitting by every outside door of their house and they are prepared to use them if a Bobcat, cougar or other predator has the bad sense to go after any of their live stock. Not keeping your birds, sheep, cattle, horses, or what ever you have safe from harm is like taking a toddler out of a play pen and letting it play unsupervised next to a busy freeway.
We have a two story coop that has cost us the whole sum of 25 dollars, that amount being in hardware and nails. It is otherwise 100% repurposed material that we had on hand from other building projects. We built it off the ground, no chance of anything digging in, surrounded it with kennel panels and hot wired the run to keep predators out.
I would much rather spend money to build a cheap coop out of pallets and whatever I can find laying around to keep my birds safe and keep them penned up than suffer the horror (not to mention the terror and pain the animal suffers in an attack) of finding one of our flock torn to pieces by a predator.
Sorry for the rant and if I stepped on anyone's toes, but this kind of stuff just ruffles my feathers the wrong way.