Raccoons getting chickens

[centrarchid]

With immature chickens not roosting up effectively I provide and object like an overturned milk crate they will often adopt before going to more elevated roost. Another trick has involved placing a small roll of fencing up against outside of pen wall that makes for raccoon can not reach those birds sleeping tight against fencing. Then work to get them roosting up with intermediate option like described above.

 

[Peepsi]

Nice setup! I had always thought that 1/2” hardware cloth would stop non- bear predators also, until I read a post on BYCs where dogs sliced through the poster’s hardware cloth to get her birds! After a neighbor dog came onto our property and killed one of our free range guineas, I’m thinking about putting field fencing over the top of our hardware cloth for our chicken run...

I've read that too, but if it's the same thread I'm thinking about, the hardware cloth didn't seem like it was attached as tautly and tightly as it could have been. A dog would be hard-pressed to get a grip on my hardware cloth, and he'd have a hard time pulling it out. I tried with all my might to yank it off, as well as using pliers, and could not (I literally used *thousands* of staples, as well as using washers and screws in many places.)

Plus, like the OP, my yard is fully fenced in, and dogs cannot get in, unless they can jump 6 feet straight up without any help. Thankfully, the neighbors that share walls with us don't own dogs, so I don't have to worry about dogs getting in from those yards!

Good luck on keeping predators out of your run. That sucks that your neighbor's dog came onto YOUR property. I hope the neighbor paid you some money for your poor guinea.

 

[centrarchid]

I have had raccoons, dogs and Opossums chew through the heavier grade of hardware cloth. No reading. First hand experience. Layers of partial barriers better than false sense of security with one "superior" barrier.

 

[Peepsi]

I have had raccoons, dogs and Opossums chew through the heavier grade of hardware cloth. No reading. First hand experience. Layers of partial barriers better than false sense of security with one "superior" barrier.

Wow, that's impressive. Ok, I can see how layers are better. After all, my yard definitely has layers (fences, hard-ware cloth on fences, plus the hardware cloth coop itself.)

 

[50-45-1]

Hi,
i was just reading all of your posts and as far as the predator proofing, the hardware cloth is the way to go. i fully surrounded my coop with hardware cloth down a foot and out a foot like L shape. i only did my coop as my chickens are closed inside at night. fully predator proofing the run is more work and expense. i dont mind making a couple trips to the coop each day. open in the morning, close at dusk. they also make automatic doors some folks like.
a trail cam is a great tool for chicken owners.
also i have used a baby monitor to keep track of my chickens at night.
about the chicks not going inside at night, i wonder if your chicks are accustomed to a heat lamp or light. if so you could rig up a low wattage bulb inside the coop and they will automatically go inside your coop at night. after a few days you could probably remove the light and they will be trained where to go to roost.
good luck!
congrats on the new baby!

 

[Folly's place]

My coop has hardware cloth, with 2"x4" woven wire over the lower 4' of the run also, all stapled into the framing with fence staples, and with 1"x4" boards screwed in over that. There's a concrete foundation, no openings anywhere larger than 1/2", and locks on the doors. I can add electric fencing when bears arrive!
Mary

 

[hayley3]

The 1 x 2 inch welded wire is a good start but make certain it is securely attached to wood nails no more than 4" apart. Look carefully at corners of that door; if you can pull them out by tugging on corner of door then consider putting a latch on corners. Move the roost away from corners of pen so raccoon not tempted to reach through fencing to grab sleeping birds. I would make so roosts stick from outer wall off coop and terminate well away from run walls. Better yet have birds roost in coop and close doors at night. It raccoon traffic high then consider mounting an electrified wire around base of pen to zap raccoon probing perimeter. I also also do trapping to keep raccoon numbers down.

I have cameras out most of the time in barn and around out perimeter of my fence. Raccoons usually captured outside my out perimeter. When they did get past that we had approaches making their job more difficult.

Cameras were really helpful because most of time the raccoons took multiple nights of incursions before actually going after chickens. A trap could be relocated to area raccoon was messing around.

I now use lights in the barn, not very bright, so chickens can see a raccoon coming in. The chickens can then evade raccoon and produce alarms that call dogs or myself up.

Think layers as you obstruct those raccoons and predators in general.

I have a light on as well, a red light that allows them to still sleep. I also have an audio monitor. They can see the intruder and then I can hear their alarm. The baby audio monitor saved my chicken's life once. We ran out and the chicken was in the raccoon's mouth but she is still alive to this day and is very old now.

 

[Mimi13]

I have had raccoons, dogs and Opossums chew through the heavier grade of hardware cloth.

Ditto on this and also will include a chain link fence. My old male catahoula was a destructive terror in his younger years. He chewed through every kind of wire imaginable, except bull panels, and dug out of the yard on numerous occasions. There was nothing that would keep him inside a fence when he’d get a whiff of a bitch in heat. Now granted he has no more front teeth remaining, top or bottom, but then again he is 12 and still eats fine, maybe just a tad slower.

 

[toredano]

main thing is to concrete the bottom in.. sink your fencing in a bout 5 or more inches and concrete it in..We done this with all our coops.. and no raccoons or possums never ever got into them. So nothing can dig under it.. mayeb a rat or mouse but they wont be an issue unless you new hatchlings in there ..

 

[aart]

I have had raccoons, dogs and Opossums chew through the heavier grade of hardware cloth. No reading. First hand experience.

Got pics @centrarchid ?
Not that I doubt you, but always good to see scenarios of HC failure.