# Chicken/Animal Security



## ONEOLDCHIEF (Jan 5, 2012)

People often ask how to start a Homestead small herd or even a small flock, but most do not offer advice about animal security... What happens when there is a breakdown in security for the animals is the same thing that happens when there is a breakdown with our security; it becomes a bad day...

Woke up this morning to Chicken carnage. Four dead, three dying.:gaah: One died while I was searching for the scoundrel, and had to put the other two down, and one was our Roo... Neighbor said she saw a fox running across her yard, his days are numbered...

I will NOT lose anymore, this is WAR. Anything stepping foot on to my property or flying in my airspace will be considered a hostile force and be Terminated with Extreem Prejudice, and burried where they drop. Have spent too much time and money on them to keep loosing them. I can handle loosing one or two a year, but to kill and just leave them lying there on the ground. It has to STOP and STOP it WILL:club:

Whatever Killed them went into our chicken yard... The panels are just small enough to keep the chickens from escaping, but now I see large enough to allow a preditor in... Will be puttin up Goat and Sheep fencing around entire propety to keep dogs, coyotes and foxes out, and install an artillery battery for the flying menace...

So, for anyone wanting to start a Small Homestead Flock or Herd, you need to assess the risk to your animals and provide protective measures, too late once the predator is inside the wire... Hard lesson to learn.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Predation is something that gets mentioned a lot, it seems to me, but I think that until it happens to you in a bad way it doesn't really hit home.

I live in an area with a huge amount of predators and that is a very important factor in the structure of our homestead. I am a huge proponent of hardware cloth wherever possible, sure it can be expensive but if done properly it will outlast you and keep animals safe. Chicken wire or what have you can be breached by almost any determined predator (raccoon, bear, coyote, dog, skunk, etc.). It also plays a huge role in the type of animals ( such as cows over smaller animals), the breed (some animals are just tougher), and the way I treat them (docile, hornless, penned animals are more vulnerable generally).

A difficult part of a small homestead can be the lack of symbiosis that happens with a few varieties of animals. For instance having a GOOD outside dog will have an enormous effect on predators in most cases, even if they are not actual guardians. I would use the expression that a coop of chickens are like "sitting ducks" but even they would be more able to protect themselves. Having the coop within an area that has other livestock around it, without trees or bush encroaching, can offer a lot of protection depending on the livestock involved.

Now I still think a few laying hens are an excellent first or only animal on a small homestead but protecting them is absolutely essential. A properly made hardware cloth enclosed coop is essentially immune to most predators though it must be inspected regularly. Correctly *adding* a electric fencer will keep out everything from lions and tigers and bears.

Before you assume that goat fencing will keep out all problems do some reading on predator fencing and consider planning for the addition of an electric component if things are serious.


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## power (May 7, 2011)

If it is a fox the goat and sheep fencing will not even slow it down.
A fox can get over a 6' fence easily. They can also dig under a fence in a matter of minutes. They will usually hunt in the early morning hours around 3am.
If it is the fox it will return until there isn't anything else to catch.


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## k0xxx (Oct 27, 2011)

We've lost hens to predators over the years, and each time has been a learning experience. Our run is now surrounded by 2x4 welded wire that is cemented into the ground and topped with electric wire, for dog and fox protection. We have 1 1/4 inch bird netting covering the run to protect from hawks. The windows are armored with 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and the chicken doors are securely latched and locked at night to keep out raccoons. We also occasionally set out traps to catch errant raccoons, as they have been the worst offenders.


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## ONEOLDCHIEF (Jan 5, 2012)

power said:


> If it is a fox the goat and sheep fencing will not even slow it down.
> A fox can get over a 6' fence easily. They can also dig under a fence in a matter of minutes. They will usually hunt in the early morning hours around 3am.
> If it is the fox it will return until there isn't anything else to catch.


I am hoping it will come back, I have a little surprise waiting...artydance:


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## power (May 7, 2011)

k0xxx said:


> We've lost hens to predators over the years, and each time has been a learning experience. Our run is now surrounded by 2x4 welded wire that is cemented into the ground and topped with electric wire, for dog and fox protection. We have 1 1/4 inch bird netting covering the run to protect from hawks. The windows are armored with 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and the chicken doors are securely latched and locked at night to keep out raccoons. We also occasionally set out traps to catch errant raccoons, as they have been the worst offenders.


If you have a determined fox the 2x4 wire will not keep it out. Most of the time the fur on a fox will keep an electric fence from hurting a fox. The bird netting will not stop hawks, owls, or other animals. It is only good to keep birds in. The 1/4 inch hardware cloth won't keep out much. I have had pheasants fly right through it.


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## mamamouse (Feb 15, 2014)

We keep geese in a yard attached to the chicken coop....they keep most everything away, or at the least alert us when a dog or coyote is around and needs to be shot


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

I have a 7x 16 run attached to the coop made from welded wire cattle panels with 6x6 holes.

Around the base is 1/2 by 1/2 hardware cloth over the cattle panels. Covering EVERYTHING is chicken wire.

Never had a break in yet... 

many have tried, though.... none have succeeded


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## txcatlady (Sep 26, 2013)

Not a predator story, but funny about my chicken pen. Monday we went to see grands in steer show of our county show. He left early, I was announcer and stayed til after showmanship. Imagine my surprise coming in road to see cattle track everywhere. He had left gate open and cows had come all the way to our house and some had gotten in my chicken pen! I have a little gate to let birds free range and lock up at night. So happy that only damage was chain link off of one tpost which I rewired up yesterday. Opening in gate is so small I really don't know how they got in. Pen full of tracks though! He had to cube them again to get them back in pasture. Funny


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## HardCider (Dec 13, 2013)

We also had a small door/ramp that got closed every night. I had a very intensive predator control program on our former homestead. Not only to cut down on our livestock losses but also to increase our game populations to carrying capacity. That included handling the feral and free roaming dog/cat issues. Overhead wire slowed down the hawk problem


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## power (May 7, 2011)

UncleJoe said:


> I probably wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't seen it myself one morning. Daylight was just breaking on the horizon. I heard a commotion out at the coop and looked out the window. I could just make out the form of a fox circling around. I was getting ready to grab the .22 when all of the sudden he took a step back then jumped onto one of the 4" corner posts.  By the time I got down the stairs and to the door, he already had a hen and was on his way.
> 
> Continuing the above story; I ended up going out to the coop the next morning about an hour before there was any sign of dawn. I went in the coop/run area with the .22 and waited. Sure enough here comes the fox over the ridge heading right for me. I waited till it was about 50yds out and that was the end of that problem. Got home from work that night and the vultures had taken care of everything but the bones.


I have a pet fox. Went outside the other day and saw him on top of my greenhouse. The greenhouse is 16' tall. Finally saw how he got up there. There is a 4' raised bed about 6' away. He jumped on the raised bed then onto a 6' fence and walked the top of the fence to the corner of the greenhouse and jumped to the lower edge and climbed up a 45 degree angle roof to get on top.
I wouldn't have believed he could figure that out until I saw him do it.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Lost a hen to an owl the other night. It took me about 30 minutes to locate the rest of the flock and coax them out of their hiding places and back into the coop. Now I let them out of the coop a couple of hours after sunrise and they go back in it a couple of hours before nightfall. They're so skittish right now they don't wander far away from the coop or from the buildings. Right now they're all on the front porch hanging out on the dog pillows. 

Like most of you, we have 1/2" hardware cloth around the bottom 4' of the coop and also buried it six to ten inches. The coop sits inside a goat wire fence that is closed with a simple metal garden gate that has goat wire wired onto it. It latches closed with a ubolt. 

We have chicken wire over the rest of the coop up to the roofline and it's screwed into the metal support beams. The door is made out of PVC and hardware cloth and it latches at night with a carabiner. There's one small space still "snake-able" when the door is closed and I fixed that by curling a piece of hardware cloth around that part of the door and holding it in place with a bolt. I also push a 4"X4"X4' board up against the base of the door once it's closed. That secures the coop until something smarter comes along and tests it.

The hen house sits inside the coop and also has hardware cloth over the vent panels that's screwed into the PVC posts. If I close the door on the coop (we use a small 28" window for their door), then that's a secondary layer of protection.

Unfortunately, it is what it is. The predators do what they do and it's up to us to try to keep our animals as safe as possible. Even from the two-footed predators.


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## ONEOLDCHIEF (Jan 5, 2012)

Well, you know the saying becareful what you wish for... Wife went to milk the goats this morning and she found a pile of feathers, I have not made it home yet so I do not know if it was from the original attack or if the hen that was out the did not want to come back got caught... Never heard anything... Setting up deer camera today... 

May have to call in a Drone strike... eep:


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