What makes a coop "Fort Knox" predator proof?

[Bogtown Chick]

I think just laying out some sort of wire to prevent digging under is all you have left to do. Hungry predators are 'diggers'. They'll tunnel and shimmy under faster than a blink of an eye.

Looks like fort knox to me otherwise.

 

[rottlady]

I live in very rural area of Western NH we have Black bear, Bobcat, Coyote, Fisher, Red and Grey fox, Possum, skunk, weasel, Mink, many forms of aerial predator from owls to Red tail hawks to Goshawks to Bald Eagle

My idea of a Fort Knox coop
a coop with every window, vent and outside pen covered in 1/2" hardware cloth, the run itself having a top of at least 1X1" welded wire if not a solid roof. A chicken access door that you physically shut at night (NOT an auto door) with a latch you can lock by using a snap or lock and a human door that locks the same way. Egg door also same locking system

ALL this surrounded by wire cattle panels that are hung off insulators off posts and electrified strongly. No free ranging unless closely supervised and even then youd have to accept possibility of a killing right under your nose so my 9 girls and guys do not free range (My coop is not yet done but will be built as above, right now mine are in a building in a very large pen) . The sister in laws 23 birds I care for do free range unsupervised and they do suffer losses even though the coop itself is pretty secure

 

[Howard E]

I live in very rural area of Western NH we have Black bear, Bobcat, Coyote, Fisher, Red and Grey fox, Possum, skunk, weasel, Mink, many forms of aerial predator from owls to Red tail hawks to Goshawks to Bald Eagle

Wow.......that is a pretty heavy predator load!

Your suggestion about hanging livestock panels from insulators and making them hot is an interesting one. You could so something similar and for less cost by using woven wire fence. A more permanent version of electric poultry netting? I have seen raccoons go through my livestock fence like it isn't even there, but that is because it is not hot. They always touch it first while standing on the ground. Hang it a few inches off the ground and you could weed eat under it same as with single wire fences.

 

[rottlady]

the cattle panels are dirt cheap at Tractor supply. cheaper than a roll of woven wire and easier to deal with. They are stiff and need no stretching and disassemble easily. Bee keepers use this method in bear country (that is where I got the idea actually)

a large bear will go through electro netting without blinking. In fact that just happened here with the hives the beekeeper has. They were protected by lectro netting powered by a charger used to keep Highland bulls in and the bear flattened it and destroyed a hive

http://www.righttothrive.org/2015/12/09/protecting-bees-from-bears/

 

[zndzant]

@rottlady WOW! That's a lot of mean predators! You cattle panel idea sounds quite effective. And I dont free range my chickens at all, either. Good luck!

 

[rottlady]

my front door this past spring. That is a Bear print

 

[LOTRnchicknluvr]

I think you're doing great! The only thing I'll warn you is this is a picture of where a fox drug out our chickens through a small gap. He also dug about 10" down in three places, but we had wire all around so he wasn't able to get in that way.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

How are you going to keep the diggers out.

 

[Howard E]

the cattle panels are dirt cheap at Tractor supply. cheaper than a roll of woven wire and easier to deal with. They are stiff and need no stretching and disassemble easily. Bee keepers use this method in bear country (that is where I got the idea actually)

a large bear will go through electro netting without blinking. In fact that just happened here with the hives the beekeeper has. They were protected by lectro netting powered by a charger used to keep Highland bulls in and the bear flattened it and destroyed a hive

http://www.righttothrive.org/2015/12/09/protecting-bees-from-bears/

Ouch. That is a serious fence! Not sure it would be practical for a large expanse of space, but for a confined space like that needed to surround a set of bee hives, it certainly would.

I have a brother in law in northern WI who would like to keep bees to go with his really nice garden, but says it would be impossible due to the bears. He fights them constantly. None of my electric fence ideas impressed him. This might. BTW, that is a Parmak Solar 12 fencer. The solar version of my fencer. For short runs, my tester shows it throws off about 16,000 plus volts. Any animal that can stand a dose of that is one tough customer.

 

[railroad hutch]

yes as others have said,it's a good looking coop,and solidly built.similar to what we have.however after the first year weasels started burrowing under the wall and getting inside and killing birds.as was said a 10" concrete floor will stop this.but we have had excellent luck with galvanized steel wire dug down 18" then bent at a 90* angle out 12" and backfilled.That wire fencing also runs up the side walls around 3 feet.so what i'm saying is,the wire is an extension of the outside wall down into the ground,then out at a right angle around a foot.since we did that NO minks or weasels have gotten in.but i live in new england and the earth is rocky, making it tougher to dig through.maybe you want to go further down and out if your ground is soft, and maybe pour some concrete in the moat. - About our coop:⅓ of the roof has plywood (the north ⅓),in the winter we put a tarp over the north half of the coop for snow and rain,and our north wall and half the east wall has corrugated translucent fiberglass to protect from cold winds. on the north it's top to bottom.but on the east,it goes down to a foot above ground level for ventilation.the west wall is a shed that sits a foot off the ground but has wire and concrete to prevent burrowing,but air flows under the shed into the coop.the south and most of the east is just double wire fencing on the lower half and chicken wire above and on the roof.but the entire coop has the 18" down and 12" out steel wire burrowing preventer. - On chicken care: this summer on some hot days i hung a big fan for more air movement, also we like to let our birds out in the afternoon for some real foraging in the grass and stuff,but you have to watch out for hawks and foxes and stuff.i had them out today,and a sharp shinned hawk made an attempt at dinner,but i was close enough to keep them safe.we do like to get some WELL SECURED heat lamps with guards carefully placed going on the coldest of winter days,but many say thats a folly,but it makes us feel better.and of course we have the heater to keep water from freezing. the coop looks good! good luck