Predator protection

[bigoledude]

Bird netting is good only for birds. Coons can and will find a gap in it or, just tear right through it. Bird netting won't even slow down a big boar coon. In many cases raptors are able to infiltrate bird netting. Sometimes they are able to get in and are not able to escape. In these situations they usually kill even more chickens.

Hawks and owls love to attack from a perch. Two large pines seems like an advantage for raptors as opposed to a deterrent. Back in the old days, when it was legal to kill birds of prey, people would erect poles near their chickens with foothold traps on top to catch raptors.

Badbart, you are doing well. Just imagine the largest and smartest threat to your wife's birds and develop a strategy to keep these out. If you have any of the weasel family, don't leave even the smallest gap in your defenses. It is absolutely incredible how small of a space minks and weasels can squeeze through at full speed! And, they tend to kill everything they can catch.

I'm just wondering if the stuff you are stacking against the back of the coop is gonna be over buried hardware cloth. If not, predators are pretty adept at moving material like logs, rocks and dirt while trying to uncover their next meal.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Wondering if this is enough protection: I plan to have the chickens in a tall fenced yard, with a bit of chicken wire strung around a corner of the yard to let the dog know to stay on her side away from the chickens, and put the chickens in the coop at night...I'm hoping if the dog is there the racoons stay away, and two huge pines should keep Hawks from being able to land. Any thoughts?

Hawks are more likely to light in the trees and wait on a bird to venture near. Then the hawk c a n drop out of a tree a nd on your chicken. Hawks are ambush predators highly able to kill in the forest. The trick is to separate the hawk from your chickens. No hawk, no dead chickens! One of the most deadly chicken hawks is the Sharp Shinned Hawk. This hawk is also named the "Blue Darter Hawk" I'll give the folks on this forum two chances to guess how it got to be named the "Blue Darter"

 

[Badbart]

Yes...the logs and rock will be over all ready buried hardware cloth 2 feet out....

 

[bigoledude]

Yes...the logs and rock will be over all ready buried hardware cloth 2 feet out....

Now that's smart Bart!! You appear good-to-go.

 

[aart]

Yes...the logs and rock will be over all ready buried hardware cloth 2 feet out....

I would not cover the apron with logs and rocks all the way out to the edge of apron, they may just start digging at the edge of logs/rocks and end up under the wire mesh.

The way an apron works is predator starts digging where the run wall meets the ground, they hit the mesh and move over only to be foiled again...eventually giving up. They don't know to back up because they can't see the edge of the mesh 12-18" away from wall.

Allow the grass to grow up thru or over the mesh with maybe a few inches of rock/log against the run to weed whack against without damaging run materials.

 

[Badbart]

Very good point thanks...

 

[bigoledude]

Hey BadBart, I'd listen to aart, he's smart! Awright! Awright! I'll quit.

 

[aart]

Hey BadBart, I'd listen to aart, he's smart!

She is

.....some times, about some things....other times and things, not so much.

 

[bigoledude]

Sorry Ms. aart. Typical dumb assumption on my part!!

At least you're smart most of the time. Now me???? Nudda madda altogether.

 

[Texgal57]

I'd really appreciate some suggestions.

My coop is pretty much completed. It's wrapped in1/2 hardware cloth and we have a covered run. The problem is that we live in very rocky soils and aren't able to dig down to put an apron of hardware cloth around it. I was thinking about pouring some concrete around it and pushing some paver rocks into it. Do you think that will be sufficient?