we woke up to a chicken massacre. ANy ideas?

[Ducks-R-Us]

I had that happen before just put up a electric fence around it then nothin will happen to them again1

 

[wisefool]

You pretty much need absolute fort knox. I have learned this the hardway myself. When my dad and I discuss this, I used to say, "naw, a racoon can not climb 5 foot streached horse fence. And even if they did, they are not going to scale the coop wall 5 feet straight up through a knocked out window. There is no way the oldtimers spent all the time and energy bullet proofing the coops. We've gone a month without a casualty. Besides the chickens love that open window"

He said, "you may be right, you may be wrong. Do what you think is best."

Over the last 3 days I have lost two hens (ouch). Heads missing. Today we bullet proofed the coup. (for the 5th time). We also probably annoyed the neighbors a little bit with some after hours activity.

You must do both. Coons are too capable, too greedy and too fearless. Possums are almost as bad.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
You're right. They had dogs and guns and traps, and weren't afraid to use any of them.
They also kept plenty of chickens. There's safety in numbers.

 

[wisefool]

Quote:
You're right. They had dogs and guns and traps, and weren't afraid to use any of them.
They also kept plenty of chickens. There's safety in numbers.

Not so sure about the dogs being effective during nighttime. But the guns and traps are working swimmingly for me now. And I still have 80+. But the predator landscape has also changed. The coons we are dealing with now are absolutley relentless and seem to have a cloning machine better than my nightly burn pile.

 

[lilshadow]

I would say coon, and they will keep coming back until everyone is gone. Caught what killed mine red handed, it was a coon at night, and a fox during the day. I not only had one coming in, I had six coming in at the same time. We camped out for 1 week straight. Haven't had any problems since until last night, got my slw roo. I'm very sorry about your lose. You could trap it or shoot it.

 

[Maryallison]

Sorry about your loss. It happened to me too. We are in the process of building a fort knox coop too. I was devistated to loose my favorite frizzle.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

I hear people talking about electric fences alot. I just don't understand how to go about it.

Do I attach the wire to the coop itself? What kind of posts do I need to use? I really do not know anything at all on how to do this. Can someone go a little further in depth.
I know we have fox and coyote and hawks. So far I have kept them all in the coop and run safely but I would like to do more.

Thanks!