Daytime protection

[GiddyUpGo]

Hi everyone, I live in a rural area and have had chickens for a few years. We built them a fortress for a coop complete with a wire floor, roof, and stapled down hardware cloth. It keeps them safe from predators at night but we’ve always free ranged during the day since their coop is too small for full time living. So far we’ve lost two of our girls to daytime predators, the second just the other day to a coyote who walked right down the driveway in broad daylight. So now I’m considering some daytime fencing but we’ve had a change in our financial situation since we built the coop and can’t afford to put as much money into the run as we did the coop.

I’m wondering if it would be enough to just put up some regular chicken wire or no-climb fencing around the coop? I don’t let the chickens out when we’re not at home and until the coyote showed up we’ve never had a predator bold enough to come that close to the house. I’d like to think even a bold predator wouldn’t spend a lot of time trying to dig under the fence in the daytime if there are people around (though I didn’t think they’d come right up to the house either so I might just be naive).

Anyway I guess I’m just basically trying to add an extra layer of safety when the girls are free ranging during the day, within the limits of what we can afford right now. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be appreciated.

 

[Hanathehappyhen]

How large are you planning on making the run? If it’s fairly small you could fence the sides and then put some plastic chicken wire on top. You can buy several yards for around $20 at Home Depot.

You could also try bottled coyote pee. It sounds weird, but I know people that it’s worked for. It signals to the coyotes that other coyotes are here and it’s their territory.

 

[KyCoop]

Maybe a motion activated sprinkler could help as a detergent.

 

[mowin]

A determined predator is just that.... determined. I've had coyotes patrol the outside of my fence only to get run off repeatedly by my 3 dogs.
Coyote pee isn't going to deter another coyote. If anything, it's going to attract the local coyotes to a intruder in their territory.
Put up whatever fencing you can afford. It's better than doing nothing.
Good luck.

 

[Ridgeback825]

Hi everyone, I live in a rural area and have had chickens for a few years. We built them a fortress for a coop complete with a wire floor, roof, and stapled down hardware cloth. It keeps them safe from predators at night but we’ve always free ranged during the day since their coop is too small for full time living. So far we’ve lost two of our girls to daytime predators, the second just the other day to a coyote who walked right down the driveway in broad daylight. So now I’m considering some daytime fencing but we’ve had a change in our financial situation since we built the coop and can’t afford to put as much money into the run as we did the coop.

I’m wondering if it would be enough to just put up some regular chicken wire or no-climb fencing around the coop? I don’t let the chickens out when we’re not at home and until the coyote showed up we’ve never had a predator bold enough to come that close to the house. I’d like to think even a bold predator wouldn’t spend a lot of time trying to dig under the fence in the daytime if there are people around (though I didn’t think they’d come right up to the house either so I might just be naive).

Anyway I guess I’m just basically trying to add an extra layer of safety when the girls are free ranging during the day, within the limits of what we can afford right now. If anyone has any suggestions, that would be appreciated.

We made an outdoor run that is 6x32 and used welded wire. Unfortunately, a bobcat grabbed our female duck by the neck through the fence, so I will be lining the inside with chicken wire tomorrow. I built fort Knox for the raised coop with an indoor run underneath, but this gives them more space during the day. It's not totally secure but we didn't think we needed Fort Knox during the day. Another layer of security that I added was driveway motion sensors so I get an alarm inside if something is lingering around the run. We too have been on a budget and this seemed to be a great and cost effective way to expand their space while keeping them fenced in.