Whole flock gone~!

[schnike]

Sadly this weekend was our girls first and last weekend in their new coop! Something pulled apart the chicken wire and killed all 5 of my girls So sad! Now we are installing a chicken coop version of Ft Knox with chicken wire and hardware cloth and whatever else I can think of. Any advice on how to keep things out? Is it helpful to close the hens into the hen house at night? I'm new to this and wish I had been able to protect my little ones!

 

[pdxpoppadaddy]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I find chicken wire to be VERY insecure and IMO should NEVER be used to keep predators out. Chicken wire's only use should be in temporary enclosures meant only to keep chickens in. I used 1/2" square opening galvanized hardware cloth in my coop/run and secured it every 4 inches with 18ga 1" long staples.

PLEASE secure the next version as well. I'd hate to hear of this happening again.

 

[ReikiStar]

Really sorry to hear about your loss, but I just don't know what it's going to take to get the message that: Chicken wire only keeps CHICKENS from getting through, but just about everything else goes through it like tinfoil.

Please help spread the word that a heavy gauge welded wire is the only thing that will keep anything (but a bear) out. Plus a dig skirt and hot wire.

Locking them up at night definitely helps. Use closures that require the use of an opposable thumb. Racoons are very adept at opening things you wouldn't think they could. We use carabiners to lock up our slide bolt handles.

Again, sorry for what your chickens went through.

 

[Birde]

Im curious how exactly they pulled they wire apart? What could do that? So sad I'm sorry to hear it.

 

[schnike]

Of course the hubby and I had discussed the other options and us not knowing any better at the time, he decided to go with the chicken wire (as he put it, it had chicken in the name). Sadly we have learned our lesson. Of course now I find lots of statements on chicken wire = chicken death and it is so true! We think it may have been a bob cat that pushed through the fencing and our dog may have helped with the clean up (the meat hen ended up in my family room!) I don't know how they could have pulled it apart but sure as it could be there is a hole in 2 sides of the run where the wiring is still attached at the bottom but there are no sharp wires or anything. So now to try to figure out what new breeds to get once Ft Knox is redone!

 

[Birde]

Try planting climbing roses, lattice or both. My husband told me a predator will eat them. Dogs will kill & leave them. I love my dogs & I know they won't do that but there are some that kill for pleasure. Someone around here would lose a dog for something like that

 

[speckledhen]

Chicken wire is NOT for keeping out predators or it would be called raccoon wire. That was the first mistake. Raccoons are super strong! Didn't need to be a bobcat at all.


Second mistake was not putting them in the coop and locking the door. Predators had all night to work on getting in for their chicken dinner right on the other side of the wire. ALWAYS put them in at night.

I'm glad you researched and now, you know where you can improve next time.

 

[schnike]

Sadly I think you might be right. My poor dog was originally a city dog until I married my husband and may have thought they were "toys". A good thought on the roses. Will chickens eat those though?

 

[schnike]

Thank you for the advice, sadly a lesson learned the hard way

 

[Capvin]

Everyone who reads posts like this feel horrible and sad for your loss. This site is chock full of good advise on how to predator proof your coop and run and I remain ever hopeful that people would read these posts BEFORE they build a coop and run. I admit that when I was first going to build I was tempted to use chicken wire. First because of the name and second because it is so much cheaper then hardware cloth. The name is very misleading and the only reason to call it chicken wire is that it keeps chickens inside but I (and everyone else on this site) can assure you that almost anything can easily break into a chicken wire enclosure. That goes for rats to raccoons. Again, sorry for your loss but I am hopeful that it will be educational to someone new starting to build a coop and run.