Predator proof/resistant coop or pen?

[Bird Brain]

Quote:
Wow. Thats devotion.

 

[Bird Brain]

Quote:
I realize that if there were truly a preditor proof pen, then there would probably not be any need for this section in the forum. Just looking for ideas to minimize my loss and generally get info on the bad critters.

 

[saddina]

Yeah, no worries sugar, sometimes people swear that thier set up is "proof" when they've not had issues yet, which is 2 different things. I certainly don't want you spending a fortune on someone's fool-proof plan on ebay.

Using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire is a good start, my set up is a coop with smaller run inside of a 6 ft chain link fenced area. Here my biggest concern is the neighbor's 2 labs comming thru the fence (they've done it twice before, not mean dogs, but they could easily hurt a smaller animal) and the neighbor's across' set of stupid purse dogs (chihuhua pures and mixes) that can dig.

For the larger dogs I latch the chain link nightly, if I can climb the fence (I did to test it's weight bearings, and then had my 6'5 275 hubby hang off it too), then it can withstand the large dogs jumping on it. For the smaller dogs I bought some 12X12 pavers and set them in a ring around the coop/run. Anything trying to dig under is gonna have alotta concrete on thier skull. And I have my 3rd layer of protection, a big old cat that allows nothing in his yard that is not family, he likes to sit on the fountain and wait for the purse dogs to enter his yard so he can slap them around.

 

[jwchicklady]

possums come up on my deck in the evening, even when we are right there on the other side of the door wall, so they are not afraid to come close to the houses. I lost 2 chickens to a raccoon the other night--so the coop is becoming more and more like fort knox as time goes on. My hubby is complaining that he is having to spend an awful lot of time keeping my chickens safe.