Well, the predators have found us.

[valmom]

Unfortunately. We have had our chickens for a year now, just about to the week, and this week we had a fox grab one of the girls. Everyone else set up a squeal and "called" my SO to save them. The fox was so startled he dropped the hen and they ran for the henhouse and the fox hightailed it.

No more free rangeing.

Then last night just around dusk, but not dark enough for the girls to have gone in the coop we hear squawking from the coop run, look out and the biggest raccoon I have ever seen is IN THE COOP with the girls! We go running out yelling like mad things (our neighbor actually came over to see if we were all right ) and by the time we covered the 50 feet to the coop the raccoon had high-tailed it back over the 8 foot fence around the coop and had not managed to actually get a hold of any of the chickens.

So, the .22 rifle is out and the .38 pistol (but unloaded since SO will not leave a loaded gun around) in case anything comes back. And we now have to figure out how to get a wire roof on the whole coop run which is an odd shape and has the coop sticking up right in the middle of it.

Any suggestions? Here's a picture of the coop:

 

[onthespot]

hot wire top and bottom of that fence

 

[dacjohns]

Poles and support beams for the wire cover.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Hotwiring the bottom is great, maybe a few strands at different heights. But hotwire is NO good unless the animal has contact with the ground.

 

[jjthink]

So sorry this is happening. Is the hen that the fox dropped okay?

JJ

 

[Cheryl]

Southern chick looks like she has a flag pole with a net on top, maybe you could try something like that? Others have strung wires across the top and hung bank cds...

 

[Dilly]

Quote:
Hotwiring the bottom is great, maybe a few strands at different heights. But hotwire is NO good unless the animal has contact with the ground.

That is not true. All you need to do is ground the wire. Drive a metal rod a few feet into the ground and run a ground wire to it.

 

[RoyalHillsLLC]

A tall pole in the center with deer netting will be plenty. I have had big predator problems outside the pen, but never any climbing over thru the netting.

 

[jenjscott]

I agree. Hot wire is the answer. Damerow has a diagram in her Storey book. Just ground the main fence like Dilly said. We live in the middle of critterville and use it to keep them out of out muscadines, chickens, and garden.

 

[morelcabin]

I have hotwire every 6 inches for about 3 strands high and then one higher strand about 3 ft up from the ground. This has worked wonders for keeping our predators away from the run. I haven't lost a single bird since I did this.

PS - mine is grounded with a 10 ft metal ground post and if you are NOT touching the ground it doesn't get you. Rubber soled shoes are also an insulator...but take the shoes off and ZAP! If you want to really get them the first time so they never try it again, wet the ground around the run, and soak the area where the ground pole is

By the Way I absolutely LOVE your setup...so rustic and charming! Great job!