Raccoons are EVIL.

[duluthralphie]

Buying a fencer is not like buying a coop. Find one that can handle WAY more line than you have up and you should be fine.

The store bought coops are pretty much all junk. ( cheap flimsy construction).


When you buy, know you can get plastic or fiberglass "post" you just push in the ground and run the wire through so no need for insulators. They are a tad flimsy too, but you can sturdy them by connecting them to the hardwire fence.

I like that I can push the posts through the hard ware cloth ground wire (to stop the diggers) and not compromise that system of protection, I can also have the wire 4-6 inches from the run wire..


I now TSC has them as do all the farm stores.

 

[Kwarner12]

Buying a fencer is not like buying a coop. Find one that can handle WAY more line than you have up and you should be fine.

The store bought coops are pretty much all junk. ( cheap flimsy construction).


When you buy, know you can get plastic or fiberglass "post" you just push in the ground and run the wire through so no need for insulators. They are a tad flimsy too, but you can sturdy them by connecting them to the hardwire fence.

I like that I can push the posts through the hard ware cloth ground wire (to stop the diggers) and not compromise that system of protection, I can also have the wire 4-6 inches from the run wire..


I now TSC has them as do all the farm stores.

Our TSC is a ways away from us, so that's the next place on my list to visit. The ones closer to me don't carry them.

I got my chickens on a whim. I wasn't going to buy any, but I made a spontaneous decision when I saw them (they were so cute!) so I didn't have anything ready for them. They were only 2 weeks old so I had a little time to order the coop and get some hardware cloth buried under the location we decided to put it. We got the site ready and the coop up in just over a week.
We have had chickens for a little over a month (of course we lost 2 to a raccoon which identified a lot of problems with the coop which have since been fixed) every spare moment we get we are working on something for them. We spent all day Monday building them a run extension and today we are attaching it and I'm going to build some more roosts to put in it.
I will probably contact TSC today about the electric fence. Fingers crossed they have it

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I have heard but I don't know, that because of the fire hazard in some locals where it is very arid that electric fences are forbidden. Where do you live?

 

[Kwarner12]

I have heard but I don't know, that because of the fire hazard in some locals where it is very arid that electric fences are forbidden. Where do you live?

I'm in Ohio

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Got a new coop and when the builder called to ask how I was liking it told them great except! They needed to put either chicken wire or the 1/4" square wire they used on the back window over the front windows and under the trim. Asked why and I told them that coons can tear through the plastic window screen and get inside. They build a lot of coops, guess no one ever mentioned that to them.

We had the same thing with our Amish-made coop. Very happy with the construction quality but we had to reinforce the windows and the big vent. The windows had plastic screens and the vent had wire screening with big spacing.
We used hardware cloth over the windows and put regular screening on the inside of the vent window for bugs and hardware cloth on the outside of the vent.
Funny how they never considered those predator-weak spots.

 

[Birdinhand]

my philosophy: envelope entire coop with 1/2" hardware cloth after framing, before siding, thick hot dipped galvanized U`nails, taught seams, two latches on each door (upper and lower corner), heavy duty hinges, no more than a half inch gap around doors or anywhere else. I've never seen a coop for sale that comes even close to what you can make yourself with good materials.

 

[Feathers everywhere]

I live in the city so when I built my aviary I set it up for double containment thinking my worst enemy would be the neighbors letting their cats roam free.. I keep on average around 100 Butler Quail at a time during the summer months...I started out with one inch chicken wire on the outside of the aviary with 1/4 inch mesh two feet up from the bottom and one foot out to discourage digging in.. Didn't take long for the young roof rats to find they could slip right through the one inch Chicken wire.. The adults couldn't but the young ones easily could.. Up goes 1/2 in. galvanized mesh all around and that stopped them from getting in.. I set up two "Havaheart" traps beside my aviary and in 30 days time I had caught 9 cats ( called animal control and they picked them up ) 4 Possums and a male raccoon that looked like a small dog.. These I dispatched with my pellet rifle.. It's not just a living in the country problem anymore..

 

[Kwarner12]

I have 1/4 in hardware cloth buried under the coop and run and the larger run has 1/2 in hardware cloth on the sides. I have 2 & 3 locks on all of the doors and entry points. Depending on their size. I even put 1/4 in hardware cloth on the coop under the nesting box because of gaps. 1/4 in on the vent as well.
We have raccoons, possums, coyotes, foxes, hawks, owls and stray cats, as well as an untrustworthy neighbor with an aggressive dog. I am trying to stay one step ahead of all of them. Some of my locks are actually key locks.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Awe, sorry for your losses I very greatly dislike raccoons. Basically after using the same coop for over 2 years, a raccoon figured out a way to tear the siding off the walls and get in. Killed one goose and a duck. So i put up heavy duty wire along the entire interior (this took me like all day. It is a 12x12 coop...so big) and that night, they broke through the siding in another place, slid between the frame and the new wire, found a small hole and dug a trench down and into my coop. Killed two more ducks, leaving one left. Poor thing.

And all this happened after a fox (also not my friends) massacred all 12 of my hens.(climbed over a 6 foot fence) so, with one lonely ducks and a couple pullets left, i've decided to sell them while i build a new coop and run. The thing is going to be totally raccoon proof. Wire dug a few feet down, totally covered run, all hardware wire. I am done with letting them have a feast.

I will say, one nice thing about raccoons, is they each only eat one bird at a time (there were two in the coop). Foxes kill for fun. They didn't even eat most of the chickens he killed. Just ripped them apart. That makes me even more mad than one that just has a meal and actually eats it.

 

[Howard E]

For those dealing with coons..........and I have them too......yet have never lost a bird to one...........

First line of defense is a tight coop that no coon (or other varmint/predator ) can get into, that protects the birds at night. Birds go in, door closes, birds are safe from all comers. If you have an attached run that is left open to the birds, the safe zone includes the run too. Top, bottom, all sides. Nothing gets in......no matter what.

Then out on the perimeter, if you allow them to roam about, is the daytime protection. A good solution for that is an electric fence, in one form or another. In close quarters, poultry netting is good, but is expensive and will require a lot of effort on your part to maintain. Other wire systems, designed to protect poultry will also work, cost less per linear foot, so enable you to enlarge the area enclosed as needed. One example here.....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/quick-and-easy-electric-fence.1191333/

BTW, there is another aspect of chicken math that some are not aware of. Basically, when you double the length of a run (say from 50 to 100 linear feet per side), you quadruple (4X) the area enclosed. So a quick and easy way to make a large chicken yard is to use the light wire fences.

And if all else fails, and some persistent coon can't be deterred any other way, you trap and kill em.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coons-believe-it.1170361/