(Video Inc.)Off The Grid Living: Secrets To Predator-Proofing Your Chicken Coop

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Secrets To Predator-Proofing Your Chicken Coop

Written by: JD Lara How-To

Secrets To Predator-Proofing Your Chicken Coop

Image source: Buildcheapchickencoops
Foxes, coyotes, weasels, raccoons, rats and hawks. Predators abound in and around a homestead, and they’re all after your chickens. Possums, skunks and snakes wouldn’t mind stealing some eggs and chicks, too. And even if you live in the city or the suburbs, your neighbors’ pet, not just your own, might not be able to resist chasing and playing with your prized hens.
Chickens attract all kinds of predators — be they domestic or wild. Ensuring their safety is one of the most challenging tasks anyone who raises backyard flocks will ever face. There’s nothing more horrifying and infuriating than seeing the bloody, feathery remains of your poultry when you check their coop in the morning. So how do you predator-proof the chicken yard so you can minimize or totally avoid the unnecessary loss of your fowls?
Try these tips:
1. Provide a strong, sturdy coop. Build a small shed or hutch that is solid, free from any gaping holes or wide gaps in its walls, doors and floor. If you want to keep windows open for proper ventilation, secure them and all other openings with a tight, heavy gauge hardware cloth or welded wire. Soft chicken wire or plastic mesh screens won’t do, as they can be pried, gnawed or torn open by raccoons and weasels. Raise your coop at least a foot high off the ground to keep snakes, skunks and rats from lurking and burrowing Secure doors with double-lock or multi-step closures, as some predators, particularly racoons, are known to have dexterous hands that can unlatch simple hook and eye-type locks.
2. Train them to roost in the coop at night. Provide food inside before sundown, so they’ll know it’s the place to be around that time. Keep this practice until they “come home” regularly, out of habit. If owls are plentiful in your area, lock up your birds before dusk, as owls start to hunt for prey at around sundown.
3. Provide an enclosure around the coop. This will serve as the chicken run, yard or outdoor feeding area. Secure it with a tight fence, high enough (about 4 feet) and deep enough (1.5 feet) underground to keep jumping and digging predators at bay. Use chicken wire or welded wire mesh, with holes no bigger than half an inch. The smaller the holes, the better. If you want to keep rats out, go for an even finer mesh, around ¼ inch.
(An alternative to burying wire in the soil is to reinforce the base of your fence by wrapping an “apron” or “skirt” around it made out of chicken, dog or cyclone wire, bending it at a right angle so it extends out to the ground. When dogs or foxes start digging where the fence meets the dirt, they won’t be able to get through the wire and eventually they’ll tire of trying.
4. Cover the run with an aviary net for added protection from aerial predators, or else string some galvanized wires across it, about a foot apart. If raccoons, bobcats, skunks, fishers and other climbing, jumping and prying predators are a concern, install a finer, sturdier shield overhead such as welded wire mesh or wooden slats or lattice.
5. Keep the surroundings of the yard clear. Most four-legged predators hesitate from approaching their game without enough cover. Remove thick vegetation, debris and all kinds of potential hiding places outside. By all means you may provide natural shelters (shrubs, branches) and man-made ones (crates, pallets, an old chair) inside their pen – they’ll serve as added shade and protection for your birds – but keep the field outside it always mowed and free from obstruction….MORE HERE

Source: www.offthegridnews.com

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