Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[RenaG]

We watched a hawk circling us and our chicks yesterday as we were working on the coop and run. My husband decided that before we do anything else we are putting the cover on the top. My question is 2x4 welded wire ok for the cover over the run? The girls will only be in the run when we are home.

 

[bruceha2000]

We watched a hawk circling us and our chicks yesterday as we were working on the coop and run. My husband decided that before we do anything else we are putting the cover on the top. My question is 2x4 welded wire ok for the cover over the run? The girls will only be in the run when we are home.

Anything that a concerning predator can't get through is fine. 2x4 welded wire fencing is more than adequate for hawks.

 

[hennedout]

I had a hawk pull a chick through their hog wire cage. I heard a racket and ran to the coop to see the hawk fly away and my favorite blue splash maran chick hanging out through the wire. : (

 

[bruceha2000]

I had a hawk pull a chick through their hog wire cage. I heard a racket and ran to the coop to see the hawk fly away and my favorite blue splash maran chick hanging out through the wire. : (

Sorry to hear that! In the case of my prior answer, she was asking about covering the top of the run with 2x4 welded wire fencing to keep the hawks out. There NEEDS to be 1/2" hardware cloth on the bottom 2 or 3 feet of the run. Besides your hawk incident, raccoons will grab a bird through the wire if the bird is close to it. And, I suppose, if one has roosts in the run that extend the fence, that area would have to be covered as well. My birds prefer to be against a wall at night. Since I don't have 10 walls

some have to be against a bird that is against a bird that is against a bird that is against the wall. And when they get lazy in the barn alley during the day, they will frequently make a dust bath or 'resting' nest close to a wall. I expect the same would be true of birds in a wire fenced run. Easy pickings when they are having a nap.

Bruce

 

[Spongegirl]

My rooster, that I have to keep separated because he is not breeder quality and hates everyone, found his free ranging way up to my breeding flock. He got mad. Tried to trample my beautiful, perfect 2 month old chicks. Jerk! He just cant handle company and competition.

 

[ll]

How about a big goose windsock or two? Opinions?

I saw them on ebay as decoys (for coyote I'm guessing)

A kite in the shape of a black bird when you happen to be home?

I read hawks are less apt to go after a black orpington for example, because they think its a crow.

A pair of seagulls chased away a recent hawk, twice actually ~over our house.
Interesting because we don't live near the beach. Maybe gulls nest inland idk.
More recently a black starlingorsomething that's nesting in our front yard had an air duel with a hawk ~over our house. Both times the hawk was chased away successfully by them.

 

[Michael Apple]

I warned someone about loose boards on their poultry house once. Eventually it was opened one morning and ducks were strewn about with heads off, necks eaten, and bodies left intact.
The work of coons was obvious. A well built house with high walls that cannot be climbed is best. Woven wire fencing lasts longer than welded wire fencing. Burying hardware cloth flat on the ground along the perimeter of fencing prevents digging.

I walk around the yard perimeter, checking for evidence of digging every so often. A predator, like a coon or fox, will keep working an area until they have access to what they want. If i see any evidence of this or see any coon or fox droppings on the property, I begin baiting and setting cage traps in locations they are likely visiting. Relocating is not an option since it is not only illegal in my state, but may very well become another persons problem, and animals like raccoons are very territorial and will often kill other coons relocated. Populations should be controlled, and that can only be done by culling them.

 

[gilcamp4]

Yea, racoons are bad but a fox will take one right from under your nose in broad daylight!
I recently lost three of my four girls while they were free ranging. I happend to be in and out of the house that afternoon and wasn't paying enough attention to where they were ranging. They went to the edge of the woods and were scratching around in the dead leaves finding all kinds of good stuff. When I saw them I should have tempted them away with a treat, but I got lazy and figured they would be okay. PROBLEM #1. Never think they will be okay alone while free ranging. "I'll just leave them for a minute." That's all it takes.
I have to agree that racoons are very smart creatures. They can easily open a latch with their little "hands." But, they can be caught rather easily in a havaheart trap. Foxes are pretty smart when it comes to the havaheart traps. Very hard to catch! We did get a shot off at one of them last year, then we didn't see them for a long time. I say THEM because we saw two, together on a knoll in our front yard.
Now they're back feeding their spring time babies, again!

we also had a fox get 8 chickens in one night, we also have a game cam, it showed not one but two of them at 4:45am clean our coop, we locked the door but not the coop pop up, we left it opened so they could come out into pen anytime they got awake, not any more they now wait for us, we can not free range here, wish I could, we also have coons and dogs live in the farm country.

 

[EeyoreD]

<snip> Burying hardware cloth flat on the ground along the perimeter of fencing prevents digging.

I walk around the yard perimeter, checking for evidence of digging every so often. A predator, like a coon or fox, will keep working an area until they have access to what they want. If i see any evidence of this or see any coon or fox droppings on the property, I begin baiting and setting cage traps in locations they are likely visiting. Relocating is not an option since it is not only illegal in my state, but may very well become another persons problem, and animals like raccoons are very territorial and will often kill other coons relocated. Populations should be controlled, and that can only be done by culling them.

If you can't bury the apron like I couldn't (water table, gravel/clay, tree roots, etc) I found that an effective and relatively cheap way was to lay the apron and then lay a double layer of those 8x16x4 solid concrete blocks over the top. (these thingsL http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-16-in-x-8-in-x-4-in-Concrete-Block-30165803/100350254) I have 1500 pounds of those over the unburied apron around my coop. I had a problem with digging before I put those in, but no more.

However, like Michael Apple, I totally check for signs often. Very often.

I agree that populations should be controlled, but be aware. Studies have shown that trap/kill does very little to effect raccoon density over a couple of years. I'm not saying it's useless to do it - on the contrary. But I'm saying that just because you trapped a crapload one year, don't ever EVER think you're safe. I can't speak to fox but coons are ubiquitous, more will just move in. You may be ok the year after, but the year after that you're right back where you started unless you keep on it.

EDIT: I realized as soon as I hit send that I should probably back that last para up. This isn't one of the articles I've read and I have only read the summary (it's a pay article for the full text)but it basically says the same thing: Once you relax control measures, populations increase almost instantly and dramatically.

http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mamm.2000.64.issue-4/mamm.2000.64.4.369/mamm.2000.64.4.369.xml

 

[Hopes4eggys]

Just wondering how many people would be willing to share their horror story of how they lost their chicken or chickens to predators. I think it would be helpful to the people who are just getting into raising chickens to understand what could happen if the necessary precautions are not taken when putting together their coop and run.

Hi, You may or may not of read my introduction post, I mentioned then that as a TOTAL MY FAULT OF MY OWN I lost all my birds a few years ago to foxes, My coop was very strong secure & no way could a fox have got in there, However, Despite my girls having a very roomy dry & warm coop 9ft x 18ft I felt a little guilty that they were cooped up especially as they were rescue birds ex meat & battery farm hens, so I built them a day run that was made from a mesh & built high around about 6ft high giving them plenty of extra scratch about space on open earthy ground, And to be honest they absolutely loved it, However sometime later I cant remember when one of us here totally Forgot to usher them back into there main coup for the evening, The day run was high and locked but in all honesty it was not designed with foxes in mind but more a case of keeping them safe during the day in one place.. Anyways the next morning we popped out to collect the eggs & It was a horrific murderous crime scene... My birds were totally ripped to pieces, Only one bird was missing the rest were in tatters, ripped and torn with nothing but feathers and bits of chicken everywhere..... I totally understand a mama fox swiping a chicken to feed her babies I get that, What I don't understand is why they totally destroyed all my birds leaving nothing but gross out nastiness.. We even found a head poking out the ground further up my garden, I assumed the fox had buried a hen with thoughts of returning back for it, WRONG!!! It was just a head, It had actually pulled the head from my bird and went to the trouble of partially burying its head.....We were totally gutted, My kids were really upset because they used to collect the eggs, Thank goodness they did not find this awfulness, Anyways time past we moved to Devon in the south west of UK, Its really strange, Quite honestly I am surrounded by natural stunning countryside yet I in 3 years I can count on one hand the amount of foxes I have ever seen, So anyways I have built my new coop its a lot smaller than the last simply because I have a small garden, My birds are very happy & laying very well, My garden is a bit like fort knox Nothing gets in unless I say so including my kids, the coop is strong warm light & airy, I plan very much to make it stronger but i am at the moment building a low level extension from the front and against my fence to give them more scratch room in utter safeness, I sorry this post was long but best advise I can give is do please lock your birds away at night... Don't forget and even if you have to set an alarm on your mobile phone to remind you, or disaster sadly just might happen... Thanks everybody, lee & yvonne