wrens in and around the coops and runs.

bucky52

Songster
11 Years
Apr 26, 2011
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they are eating all the chickens feed.and fouling the coops and Waters.How do you get rid of them.I have welded wire and I inch poultry wire on my runs.they fly through the 1 inch wire like its not even there.i have hard cloth over the vents and doors of the coops.they fly through the small chicken door on the bottom of the coops.I 'm going through so much feed.the wrens are eating more than my chickens.
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The best solution is using a finer mesh (ie hardware cloth) to cover all surfaces and make the run in accessible to the wrens.

ETA - expensive, yes, but in the long run the savings in feed would likely be worth the expense of the cloth upfront.
 
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I mentioned that to my DH.I have multiple runs.7 total.He told me I had lost my mind.I do agree with you.I'm going through lots of feed.and I worry about the health of my chickens.we are in the process of building a coop and run for some rooster.Once we get done.I might be able to sway him.
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I mentioned that to my DH.I have multiple runs.7 total.He told me I had lost my mind.I do agree with you.I'm going through lots of feed.and I worry about the health of my chickens.we are in the process of building a coop and run for some rooster.Once we get done.I might be able to sway him.
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Alternatively, you *could* try laying poultry netting over in second layer that is offset from the first so that the openings are not lined up and create smaller openings - but that sounds like a lot of work and still requires buying all new wire (granted cheaper than HW cloth) and it may not work. You might look for end of season sales on things like shade cloth, etc - this time of year you might find some bargains from places not wishing to overwinter inventory.
 
That is a good idea.My girls are spooked very easily.not sure if they could learn how to use one.
 
I had terrible problems with sparrows eating the chicken feed too (you can read all about my battles on "My Coop" page). I designed and made a couple treadle feeders and they immediately ended the problem of wild birds eating the feed. You can find plans on how to build one in my signature line. A cheaper and quicker alternative to the treadle feeder is a trigger feeder. People seem to be very pleased with them and you can read about them here. Finally, if your coop is relatively wren-resistant with the exception of the pop door, you could put up vinyl strips over the pop door to keep them out and put the feed inside the coops. Vinyl strips like these are relatively inexpensive and would keep wild birds out while letting your chickens to pass through. There would be some training with each of these methods, but any one of them would help reduce feed loss.
 

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