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

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Yes, I am usually packing heat. with the critters we got it's for my own safety though as my coop is all ready well ventilated! Ankle high is good for most, and knee high for bears. Funny thing with bears, they like to snif first, then taste...zapperooni Batman! Off to a better place....

 

[RaeRae2]

We built a very strong run and the chicken house is actually the old milk house in our barn. It has 4 solid, insulated walls, and 3 steel doors. Nothing except a crazed, rabid bear could possibly rip into the chicken house. And even then, it would take him 3 days to eat through a wall. The walls are steel sided and the room has a concrete floor. The chickens are locked in there every night with all the doors shut. The room is air conditioned and heated depending on the circumstances.

I don't feel that it's my place or right to kill predators which might set foot on my farm. Their DNA tells them to "Find food, and eat it." Or even in the case of domestic dogs - dogs are predators that kill for sport. It's just what they do. You can't erase thousands of years of evolution with a .22 shell. I don't feel that one death justifies another death.

This run was expensive and time consuming to build, but I didn't want that fear and worry of something ripping into it. It is all hardware cloth and heavy lumber. The boards on the bottom are buried in the ground, and the hardware cloth is double secured with lathing screwed down.

Sure something "could" get into it - there's always a chance. But the chance is pretty small.

The thread is about telling how a predator got your chicken so it doesn't happen to someone else. Well, I let the birds run loose one day for a few hours and a hawk took one of my Ancona hens. So the best run and chicken house in the world won't protect them if you turn them loose to run. No more free range for mine!! Every now and then I feel tempted to just open the door and let them out for an hour or so before bed, but I just CAN'T bring myself to do it.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Very nice place, and it looks secure. My chickens are lucky to have a secure coop to sleep in. They come from stock that doesn't, alot of people let them sleep in trees. Owls like white it seems. Now, there has been a panther sighting half a mile from me...I have only seen tracks at a spring near the house. So it has taken the last of my old layers, glad I bought replacements this year. This type of predator is very difficult for them to evade...they have also been known to attack and kill people..so any predator like that, what which isn't afraid of me and comes into my yard will get shot dead...no question...we have small grandkids too...a few chickens, no big deal..they can be replaced. Now broodies and chicks get a protected pen until they can fly out of it...I've been told my game hens have flown after and chased off hawks....I can believe it, ferocious little monsters. My chickens wouldn't be very happy living in a coop and run, they aren't bred for it. As far as dogs, strays don't last long chasing livestock, sorry. I will catch a hunting dog and wait for the owner to come pick it up ( as long as it's not chasing livestock) and then the owner get an education on property lines. My own dogs get bootcamp...they are the solution and not the problem and they best know it.

 

[swestover]

I have never had anything (knock on wood) get into my coop, it is like fort Knox but my neighbors across the street have had three flocks of chickens and every one has been killed. We have skunks ( yes I have been sprayed) and raccoons all over! Their coop and run are all together so at night they can not just close the door and lock them in. The skunks and raccoons dig under, open doors and get in anyway they can to kill their chickens. (after three flocks you think they would do something better) the raccoons climb the trees and get on top and pry open the chicken wire where it is not secure to get in. Very sad....

I buried metal around the door of my coop, and the coop sits on buried cinder blocks for added protection, the windows are covered in chicken wire and closed at night. I also have a rooster that stands 8 ' tall ( ok maybe not 8) I think would scare off any preditor!

 

[swestover]

Also my chickens free range all day and I have never had anything get them or take one... I honestly think that it is their nature to free range and my Roos really watch my hens, if one hen makes a certain noise you should see the roosters come running very very protective. BUT that being said IF something did or was a threat to my animals or kids I would protect them anyway I needed too.

 

[bruceha2000]

This run was expensive and time consuming to build, but I didn't want that fear and worry of something ripping into it. It is all hardware cloth and heavy lumber. The boards on the bottom are buried in the ground, and the hardware cloth is double secured with lathing screwed down.

Very nice looking. As a new chicken owner, I am wondering how long can the birds be in that run before they turn it to dirt? From all I read, they aren't real good about managing their environment in a sustainable way.

I ask because I need to build a run for my dozen now 5 week old chickens. I'm trying to decide how I can build something strong enough for them to be out unattended all day but large enough they won't decimate the terrain or comfortably large (their coop is 9.5'x12') but still somehow portable. Unfortunately the land behind the barn (the coop is a converted horse stall) slopes down to a pond so it isn't as easy as just wheeling a large structure to a new area every few days, weeks, whatever.

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[clucky3255]

I have a coop with a run covered in netting. I had no problems since I had moved here -4years. But this year my chickens started disappearing one by one. I couldn't find out how the predator was getting them out. One day I found a chicken carcass halfway pulled through the fence and I placed my game cam there. It showed a raccoon climbing up the fence and there was a weak spot where the fence connected to the coop and the netting.

I started reinforcing the coop door for the night but it got that open too. Finally I placed triple wire over the spot and used concrete blocks in front of the door. Then I placed a live trap with marsh-mellows and I ended up trapping 3 coons.

I would suggest to make sure that the coop and fencing around the coop is secure during the night. If you can pull it up then a coon can too. I even had thick welded fencing (not chicken wire)- but it wasn't nailed properly at that spot. Also use locks that coons can't just lift up and get in - that's how they got into my coop.

As for what caused the attack - I believe it was due to my refrigerator going out lol. I had to dump a bunch of stuff in the back of my property and I think it lured the raccoons to my house. I was used to dumping things like that when I had dogs at my other place and I think that the dogs kept the coons away. So I would advise not dumping food and feeding wild predators - even though they can be cute.

OH NO!! I have a hole in the chicken wire at the bottom that my foot can fit through... is that a problem?and i have locks that you Can push up while carrying a waterer and on two of my coops that don't have any roofs . one does. BUT i have seen foxes and raccoon's in the daytime..but they don't have any proof of trying to get into my coops. the raccoon scared me.

well the fox did too.does anyone think that i should put new locks on my doors? i guess that they might try to dig... but my dad just finished one of them ...so i cant do much about that one.

PLEASE HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[clucky3255]

Also my chickens free range all day and I have never had anything get them or take one... I honestly think that it is their nature to free range and my Roos really watch my hens, if one hen makes a certain noise you should see the roosters come running very very protective. BUT that being said IF something did or was a threat to my animals or kids I would protect them anyway I needed too.

MINE FREE RANGE TOO.. BUT I DON'T HAVE A ROOSTER TO PROTECT THEM. I HAVE GOT... 5 GROWN HENS AND 7 PULLETS.. I THINK ONE MIGHT BE A ROO THOUGH.

 

[clucky3255]

Yes, I am usually packing heat. with the critters we got it's for my own safety though as my coop is all ready well ventilated! Ankle high is good for most, and knee high for bears. Funny thing with bears, they like to snif first, then taste...zapperooni Batman! Off to a better place....

hahahahahahah poor bear

 

[clucky3255]

I have never had anything (knock on wood) get into my coop, it is like fort Knox

but my neighbors across the street have had three flocks of chickens and every one has been killed. We have skunks ( yes I have been sprayed) and raccoons all over! Their coop and run are all together so at night they can not just close the door and lock them in. The skunks and raccoons dig under, open doors and get in anyway they can to kill their chickens. (after three flocks you think they would do something better) the raccoons climb the trees and get on top and pry open the chicken wire where it is not secure to get in. Very sad....
I buried metal around the door of my coop, and the coop sits on buried cinder blocks for added protection, the windows are covered in chicken wire and closed at night. I also have a rooster that stands 8 ' tall ( ok maybe not 8) I think would scare off any preditor!

how tall is your rooster?