RE: I'm devastated????

[Gindee77]

Never underestimate the power of a coon that wants chickens/eggs!! I lost almost an entire flock (20 chickens out of 25) to a raccoon. un We had country property then and I had never seen a coon out there!

We had a small wooden building for a coop and it was secure...or so we thought. All locked up and tight, every night. That coon chewed thru the wooden door the chickens went thru to get out to their run and killed them while they slept.

I know it was a coon because I caught it in a live trap when it came around the next night to get the chickens it missed the first night. I hate to admit this but that coon died in that trap!!! So it wasn't a "live" trap after all!!

I would be afraid to use only the plastic mess fencing. But we really have a bad time with coons around here.

I live in a neighborhood, but it's surrounded by woods. Now that I have chicks again, I have a live trap set all the time just outside the chicken shed and will relocate any coon that tries to get my chicks.

I have a different set up now, than the first time I had chickens. I have a metal shed with a very secure chicken coop inside. The metal shed is tight and locked up at night. I have 3 different latches on the door of my coop. It's completely wrapped with chicken wire AND hardware cloth. Overkill? Maybe, but I'm determined no coon will get my chickens ever again!

 

[Cetawin]

Here is my 2 cents worth. If you have raccoon, fox and weasels, you need a buried run, sides buried about 10 - 12" deep and outward from the run about 6", cover with chicken wire and then run wire mesh cloth from ground up about 3 feet. Cover the top completely.

A coon or a fox will reach through chicken wire and yank a bird out. They and the weasel will dig. A hot wire will slow them down...but determination will usually overcome that...they will find another way if that is your only protection.

Good Luck with the babies.

 

[Must Be Losing It]

We have fox, fisher cats and coyotes as neighbors in our neighborhood and lost two guineas last year to a fox. Since then we buried concrete block below the run line and have hardware cloth beneath my guinea house and not one loss all winter, which I'm quite proud of given how many prints we found outside the pen and how tough a winter it was this year, so that's what i'm doing for my chickens this year!