Predators in California (La Mesa)?

[seann]

Hi,
I wonder what kind of chicken-eating predators are around my area. I live in La Mesa, CA.
Image from google earth (edited):

(click to enlarge)

Our neighbors have dogs (2 on my left, 1 on my right and 2-4 behind us).
I've seen neighbor's cat or two (across the street) walking around and sometimes on backyard fence.
They don't seem to bother our chickens. One time I caught one just staring at the chickens.
I've smelled skunk but never seen one.
Obviously I see a lot of crows flying around.
I'm sure there are rats around.
I've heard my neighbor saw a coyote around but I've never seen one.

So far: dogs, cats, skunks, crows, rats and coyotes.

My small coop is wooden with hardware cloth all around.
I still need to reinforce the doors (its side has a big gap as I'm no expert in carpentry) and other areas.
My chickens have lived there at least 10 weeks without problem.
The coop has solar led light but it may not matter against predators.

Questions so far:
1) What other predators could there be around my area?
2) What else should I do to protect the chickens: traps? solar motion light around the coop?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Suckafish272]

I've lived in San Diego all my life. We have everything short of bear here. You can definitely add raccoons and possums to your list as well as birds of prey. Bobcats and even mountain lions are occasionally seen in our suburban areas. The best thing you can do is completely enclose your run with small mesh hardware cloth because we have predators with brute strength and some like raccoons are pretty smart on top of that. You'll want to block that gap in your door as well. I don't think motion lights do much, everyone has them and the predators soon find out they aren't a threat. I think a big step to keep raccoons and possums away is making your chicken feed unavailable at night. Those things go backyard to backyard eating dog and cat food that people leave out so if they smell chicken feed they'll be coming to your backyard as well.

Hope this helps