What can I do?

[AliGabaree]

So something went through my chicken wire to get to my chickens last night? It pulled one of my younger chicks out through it and killed her. What kind of predator will break chicken wire to get to my chickens? Is there something I can do to keep them away, will a stronger wire help or an animal I can get to help keep the predatord away from the coop? I'm new to chicken owning and need some help!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Chicken wire is to keep chickens in not predators out.

Raccoon are known to reach in and rip head off. Sorry for your loss.

Half inch hardware cloth on all openings is what most of us with heavy predator load will use. Beware your predator will be back for another meal.

Other predators that will go through... mink, weasel, opossum, skunk, and so on. Not to mention big cats and others. Also even rats are chicken killers.

1/2 inch hardware cloth! Good luck.

 

[Polish Hen House]

Raccoons can do that. They are the masters of breaking into chicken coops. I typically will put out baited traps on the opposite side of yard from my coop. Thankfully my city will relocate the raccoons once I catch them so that is how I control the raccoons.

 

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

I third the raccoon. They kill for fun, not because they’re hungry. Hardware cloth is a must!

 

[Folly's place]

My coop/ run combination has hardware cloth, well secured, over every opening. The lower four feet of the run section also has 2"x4" woven wire over the hardware cloth. Chicken wire is useless!
Rebuild/ reinforce everything. Have your survivors in a safer place until things are better for them.
Electric fencing, or electric poultry fencing, works very well for ground predators.
Mary

 

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

I love my premier1 poultry net! Good stuff! Saps the crap out of the neighbors dog!

 

[centrarchid]

@AliGabaree, regardless of predator type and material coop is made of, strive to have contained birds well away from sides where predator with approach. This includes top and bottom. With older birds I provide some sort of roost that effectively suspends birds in middle of coop at least 12" from sides, bottom and top; 18" is better. I have several coops now with immature chickens where they are provided upside down plastic milk crates to roost on. It keeps birds off bottom and starts process of roosting up which has many advantages. Another approach is to place a hard surface like a piece of plywood between pen wall and where predator might be sniffing around. I do this with chicks not yet roosting up and not willing to roost in a box laying in its side.

Most instances where I have had predators penetrate a coop side to get at birds, the contained chickens were roosting in contact with the side of the pen where I could literally pull feathers off birds pressed tight against material. In some of those situations, even hardware cloth came up short for protecting the chickens.

 

[techbsmith]

@AliGabaree, regardless of predator type and material coop is made of, strive to have contained birds well away from sides where predator with approach.

You know - that's something I haven't thought about. I have a ladder roost in my main pen, along with several other roost bars in that one and other pens that are right up to the side. Even tho I have hardware cloth on the run, I think I'll do some adjustments to fine tune. I put them where they are mostly for me, meaning it looks "neater" and more organized. The chickens don't care where the roost is as long as they get in the shade or up off the ground.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[llombardo]

I'm probably going to make a bigger coop, but I think I'm thinking way out of the box and in my mind it's different then most. It will most likely take me forever because I always add stuff. I was actually thinking about rolling hardware cloth on all sides of the outside of the coop(on the actual wood) so if something tries to climb they will get cut doing so. I also was just going with it being a few feet off the ground with a couple layers of plywood.

It really makes sense in my head...lol

 

[MROO]

I'm probably going to make a bigger coop, but I think I'm thinking way out of the box and in my mind it's different then most. It will most likely take me forever because I always add stuff. I was actually thinking about rolling hardware cloth on all sides of the outside of the coop(on the actual wood) so if something tries to climb they will get cut doing so. I also was just going with it being a few feet off the ground with a couple layers of plywood.

It really makes sense in my head...lol

Sounds interesting! If you make a couple of sketches and describe what you're doing, I'd be willing to bet you'll get lots of good feedback from the community, here. It'll save yo some headache, probably some money, and cut at least a few days off of the "forever" time frame!