Waters-flock
Chirping
Sorry for the long message in advance. We recently moved from a large city to a rural location in Central Texas and are getting ready to add chicks in February. I am putting together two chicken coops and I am busy gathering information to make these coops as predator-proof as possible before the girls arrive. We have ten acres and have been told (and seen) many, many predators in our area. (hawks, snakes, foxes, coyotes, racoons, opossums, rats, and the list continues).
My plan is to put the two coops (each has a small secure run attached) in a large area about an acre away from my house. The plan is to put both coops inside a larger enclosed area to give the chicks more freedom during the day. I wanted this large run-type area to be as predator-proof as possible, which leads to my questions:
1) How do I secure this larger run? I was going to make a fence with hardware cloth but my original plan was not to fully enclose the entire area. I am going to put down a perimeter border with rocks but I am not as worried about digging predators because most of our ground has bedrock very close to the surface and digging isn't all easy. Flying predators are a big concern but I read (here, of course) that if I string cables across the top in a random pattern, this will help with that type of predator. That leaves all the rest - many predators can climb right over a fence. Do I enclose the entire larger run completely or just put a fence around the area, leaving the top open? Because the coops will be inside this larger run, any roof will have to be high enough for me to enter, since I need to access the two coops.
2) Do electric fences work and is that something I should consider? I am also going to put up solar powered motion detector lights - there is no power to the coop area.
3) I hope that the coops will secure the hens at night but I want to give them a secure place to wander during the daytime.
Any other suggestions anyone can offer would really be appreciated. I am clearly already chick-crazy before I even see my girls. I just want to do whatever I can up front to make this a safe home for them. Thanks in advance!
My plan is to put the two coops (each has a small secure run attached) in a large area about an acre away from my house. The plan is to put both coops inside a larger enclosed area to give the chicks more freedom during the day. I wanted this large run-type area to be as predator-proof as possible, which leads to my questions:
1) How do I secure this larger run? I was going to make a fence with hardware cloth but my original plan was not to fully enclose the entire area. I am going to put down a perimeter border with rocks but I am not as worried about digging predators because most of our ground has bedrock very close to the surface and digging isn't all easy. Flying predators are a big concern but I read (here, of course) that if I string cables across the top in a random pattern, this will help with that type of predator. That leaves all the rest - many predators can climb right over a fence. Do I enclose the entire larger run completely or just put a fence around the area, leaving the top open? Because the coops will be inside this larger run, any roof will have to be high enough for me to enter, since I need to access the two coops.
2) Do electric fences work and is that something I should consider? I am also going to put up solar powered motion detector lights - there is no power to the coop area.
3) I hope that the coops will secure the hens at night but I want to give them a secure place to wander during the daytime.
Any other suggestions anyone can offer would really be appreciated. I am clearly already chick-crazy before I even see my girls. I just want to do whatever I can up front to make this a safe home for them. Thanks in advance!
It is good you are planning first. I don't have electric fences but do have electric wires around my coops and pens. Nothing messes with the electric wires. I have the electric wires around my coops and pens as I said, good heavy duty netting covering all of the pens and concrete under the gates all due to losses from predators in the past. I also have several game cameras up on my property. Some of the cameras are on posts that I can move around. Here is a family of coyotes. I do believe the adult predators teach the young that a chicken isn't worth getting zapped for. Ask any questions you have. You wtill probably some across other things of interest. Everyone here is ready to help. I have previously posted this video on other threads.
