Smallest hole a chicken can get through?

[BigFuzzball]

Could chickens get through a gap 18cm square ?
Have recently converted my Grandkids old (plastic) garden playhouse into a coop for our 4 girls (soon to be 6 once the 'rescued' battery hens are through quarantine and integrated).
Reason I ask about 18cm is that either side of the house door there are square framed panels that look ideal to be cut through to fit an automatic up/down door on a timer so we don't have to keep going up to put them away and getting up at dawn to let them out...........advice please !!

 

[N3wtpond]

HI all. I'm having similar issues, one neighbor keeps hunting dogs and they have laid waste to our flock twice now. I have a fenced in ared but keep the gate open to allow chickens in and out, into the woods. Does anybody think an 8x6 tunnel made from planking, but with 2 or more 90 degree bends would allow chickens to pass though, but prevent these medium sized dogs getting in because of the bends in the tunnel? Any experience you may have with this king of idea would be greatly apptreciated. Also, is it going too far to register these attacks with local police, just so they're on the record? thanks.

 

[FeatherToes0328]

That's fantastic, you've got some resourceful goats

I would suggest creating a more solid pop hole. Right now sounds like you just cut the hole into a wire fence (am I reading that right?), which can bend (though you mention the cinder block I can't see it in the pic--close ups might help). Try creating a wooden "portal" that the chickens can get through--I think you're right that they can fit through an 8 or 10in opening but not much smaller. Possibly, make the portal long and skinny (I'm thinking 4 boards, each 8in wide by 2ft long, screwed together into a long box shape) to deter the goats. And good luck!

I have a chicken that squeezed through a 4-5" wide spot where a wood slat came off of a wood panel fence.

 

[debid]

I'm pretty sure if you knock together two wood scrap frames and screw those together through the wire, the goats are excluded and the chickens will move comfortably through. 6x8" is plenty, I wouldn't make it big enough for the goats to think about trying.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Thats pretty much what I did, cut through the fencing. I'll reenforce it next weekend, trying to make it as stiff as possible.

Can you sandwhich wood around the hole to reinforce it? I had a full grown Bielefelder rooster that squeezed through a 6-7 inch hole in a separated run to get to another rooster just to fight. The hole was for chicks to escape adults, but that boy found it and extruded himself lthrough somehow. I don’t recommend you make a hole that small though.
Here he is- clearly NOT 6 inches around. Good luck.

 

[debid]

I wonder if you made a box around the opening, like a tunnel. Have two sides open, one where the chicken would enter the goat fence, which would be attached to the fence. and then a side open so the two openings are on a right angle to each other. The box would have two sides and the roof closed, plus leave the corner closed. That way the chickens would walk through a L shape, but I dont think the goats could squirm in and then sideways.
I am not good at explaining but in my mind it seems like it would work because your goat could never get her head and legs up to pull through.

I like how you think! That might be a little bit of a challenge for the chickens to figure out but it should keep the goats from going through.