Super Frustrated! Predators are figuring it out!

[PeepsInc]

I'm sorry to read about your loss. I hope these tips will help Ya..Bait your traps with a tbls of Grape Jelly on a slice of bread. Use legget traps in areas your birds dont roam. You can make a box trap with a 220 conibear trap, in trail or boarder areas. I lock my birds in several small coops @ night. Larger buildings like old barns are to easy for coon to penetrate. If you have a large piece of property, allow night hunters to bring in there hound dogs during the proper season. (You'll make some great friends doing that,& most will offer to trap for you)

 

[Renee]

I don't think you need to cover your entire run with hardware cloth as long as you coop your chickens up at night before it gets dark. Both raccoons and oppossums hunt at night.

I used hardware cloth because my run is small and I sometimes forget to close and lock the pophole door.

 

[duckgirl04]

I think for one the dog is an excellent idea. I have six outside myself. Although, I do believe you would benefit from an electronic fence. I also read on an earlier post where someone was hanging flashing christmas lights.

 

[kwgrid]

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I don't like making them go in the coop. It's too warm in there. I let them choose. They have roosts in there but they prefer being outside right now. They have roosting 'rods' in the run that are very close to the coop. They're about 4 1/2 feet off the ground and protected on both sides and the top. There's no way a coon or possum can get to them from the outside and reach in. I made sure of that.

Now if a varmint manages to break into the fencing somehow, they'll have to work to reach them. Hopefully before that happens, the ruckus will get my dog's attention. Even in the house, she can hear a lot better than me. If the critter is inside the pen, I have a long, pointed pole I'll impale that critter with. Otherwise, outside the pen I figure the pole and my dog will run it off.....I hope.

I'm betting the odds that the pen is secure enough to protect them. At the very least it is secure enough to create a real challenge for a varmint and buy some time for me or the dog to discover the interloper.

 

[rhodiegal]

Livestock guardian dog

 

[sephiroth]

A good dog will help.

My Amstaff is great!! He loves to leave his scent (intact) all around the coop and predators don't come around. Some nights I leave him out.. just because. Generally he's the laziest, lowest prey drive dog I've ever owned. For the first couple of years we'd get an occasional skunk, but no more, nothing. No predators to speak of. I know they're out there, but they don't come this close to the house anymore.

I go out with him when the birds are free-ranging and he does fine with the birds. Though I wouldn't leave him out there alone with them.

Anyway, get a good dog. Their scent around the property is a pretty good deterrent.

 

[Emzyyy]

So sorry for your luck.

Yea they can chew through chicken wire like swiss cheese hardware cloth is definatly the way to go. I use welded wire on my run because my chickens are in the coop at night anyway and can't get pulled through.

 

[SC_Hugh]

Chicken wire isn't for keeping predators out, because chicken wire bends easily and also distorts it shape. Tons of posts about chicken wire entry, but I haven't read one about hardware cloth failure.

Someone recommended 1/4" hardware cloth, but 1/4" is softer and more flexible than the 1/2" hardware cloth. Buy the 1/2" hardware cloth, it is best option. Hardware cloth is expensive, but it is secure.

--Hugh

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Good answer

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
But with a good dog, chicken wire is sufficient to slow the beasties down long enough for the dog to come on the attack.

I think I almost lost a turkey the other night. Because I had them in the tractor (I rarely do now days, even at night), I thought I would give my dog the night off and let her sleep in the house like she used to. About midnight she was barking and tearing at the back door. I sleepily let her out and she charged out the door. I returned to bed, thinking no more about it.

Next day a BYC friend was over to help with some processing, and while checking out my setup pointed out something had gotten to one of my turkeys. She had blood that had seeped through her wing feathers. Something must have reached through the wire to grab her.

Normally, it isn't even an issue. With my girl on guard, nothing appears to be coming around my birds (except a wildcat, but that's a whole 'nother story) even though we live in heavy coon and possum country and my big backyard pond probably draws them like flies in the hot dry summer. But even in this case, the wire slowed the predator down enough for her to come to the rescue.

Lesson: get a good dog, train it well, and then you don't have to worry about building a fortress. All you need is something sufficient.