I live only 10 mins from town, but in a fairly wooded area. I have been concerned about foxes, raccoons, and possum (even though I haven't seen any lately) I have been slowly building up our run for our chickens, first with a larger heavier gauge wire, and then with finer wire (hardware cloth?) along the bottom. Along with 2x4's around the bottom for extra security. I have been letting out my chickens who are 8 and 6 weeks old while I am outside or in view ( thier coop can be seen from my kitchen window) and they are fairly close to the house (easy access). Then yesterday while out with my chickens giving them treats, I saw for the second time a juvenile bald eagle! Last year we had a pair of ospreys hanging out in our backyard, this year an eagle! So we started to put up some plain chicken wire over the top of the run yesterday as a precation until we get a roof on it, but we were a few feet short . Am I being to cautious? Will an eagle or osprey take a chicken for lunch? I still will not leave with all my chickens out because of the gap in the top of the run. Who knew you could have all these critters so close to town!
Better safe than sorry! A Red Tail Hawk perched on a limb above my run, contemplating the wire roof. He flew off empty handed! If we didn't have a roof, I would have walked out there to see him on top of one of my idiot girls, who were all standing outside looking up talking about it. They must not have known the danger. Some roof is better than roof, since a predatory bird needs a way to fly out, package in hand. I'd imagine an eagle, even a young one, would have a pretty good sized wing span to work with.
There is no such thing as overly cautious... on the other hand, do your best, but don't beat yourself up if something happens... because it does... even to the most overly cautious of us.
