Official BYC Poll: How Do You Protect Your Chickens From Predators?

[Shezadandy]

We here in the midsouth, are getting hammered with ice and now snow. Temps down close to zero, rare here and expected all week. I have not had the level of damage yet, as some past storms of the 1990's. But trees are still cracking up and coming down. Our local power is off and on. So far they have kept up well, with the repairs around me! They (our local power coop) did a lot of right of way clearing the past couple of years and it is paying dividends now! God bless and keep safe to you and your neighbors! I was without power 5 weeks in the biggest ice storm in the 1990's. I pray nobody is going to go through that!

That is the worst sound.

Boy, 5 weeks, happily we're still in week 1 - still no power yet. We're last on the list because of our (lack of) population density. Before we lost internet access, there had been 1200 individual either breaks or trees on line reported on the electric grid. We lived closer in last time there was a big outage- and all the PUD neighborhoods across the street got their power fixed right away while ours was off for 3 days. That inspired the generator when we moved further out.

Around here they basically sheer a tree on the side of the power line - but - this time the ice was so bad it didn't matter.

Our ice melted so now the cleanup can at least get started safely. The animal buildings made it through. Fences and nets - a pain but fixable. Happy to see freezing temperatures off the forecast and very little ice still up. Not looking forward to the clean-up - but at least now we can get to it with some measure of safety.

 

[Molpet]

That is the worst sound.

Boy, 5 weeks, happily we're still in week 1 - still no power yet. We're last on the list because of our (lack of) population density. Before we lost internet access, there had been 1200 individual either breaks or trees on line reported on the electric grid. We lived closer in last time there was a big outage- and all the PUD neighborhoods across the street got their power fixed right away while ours was off for 3 days. That inspired the generator when we moved further out.

Around here they basically sheer a tree on the side of the power line - but - this time the ice was so bad it didn't matter.

Our ice melted so now the cleanup can at least get started safely. The animal buildings made it through. Fences and nets - a pain but fixable. Happy to see freezing temperatures off the forecast and very little ice still up. Not looking forward to the clean-up - but at least now we can get to it with some measure of safety.

Aurgh I thought portland had better weather... guess everyone is getting hammered one way or another

 

[cmom]

Here is rain, rain and more rain.

 

[Molpet]

Here is rain, rain and more rain.

And humid, humid, humid ..... The only thing I hate as much as ice.
I'll stick with my cold and snow

 

[Appalachickens]

I hate to admit it, but inside my house. I know...yuk! But

I have a great picture in my mind of the chickens lined up at the bathroom door, irritated that the ducks won't get out of the bathtub.

 

[Shezadandy]

Aurgh I thought portland had better weather... guess everyone is getting hammered one way or another

Yes! Generally we'll get a day or two of snow or none at all. When the Arctic does it's drop into the US trick is when we get nailed. I've had ice, then snow, then ice - this is the first time it's been ice only.

The net held up REALLY well. It only ripped in 2 spots where big branches caused the damage, and by the poles. There's still work ahead getting those restored with some paracord and back up over the poles, but with just a couple hours worth of work, we got it safe enough for the flock to return outside. I'm actually really impressed at how little damage there was considering how much weight it had on it.

 

[Scrat]

I have small grid strong mesh surrounding all sides of the coop and edges underground and rocks on edges too ! Small mesh size makes it impossible for predators teeth to get a grip to break in !!!

 

[Scrat]

Small grid mesh all around and dug in apron edges and surrounded by rocks !! Small grid mesh is strong and predators can't get their teeth gripped to break in !! The coop is raised for cleaning, easy to get shavings into wheelbarrow, and I've seen rats tunnel through cement flooring at my mother-in-laws coop. Knowing that I'm living in a very rural / agricultural area, there's many predators to avoid !!!

 

[Birdsonghill]

That is the worst sound.

Boy, 5 weeks, happily we're still in week 1 - still no power yet. We're last on the list because of our (lack of) population density. Before we lost internet access, there had been 1200 individual either breaks or trees on line reported on the electric grid. We lived closer in last time there was a big outage- and all the PUD neighborhoods across the street got their power fixed right away while ours was off for 3 days. That inspired the generator when we moved further out.

Around here they basically sheer a tree on the side of the power line - but - this time the ice was so bad it didn't matter.

Our ice melted so now the cleanup can at least get started safely. The animal buildings made it through. Fences and nets - a pain but fixable. Happy to see freezing temperatures off the forecast and very little ice still up. Not looking forward to the clean-up - but at least now we can get to it with some measure of safety.

We were in an area that was last to be repaired in our county back then, but lots of local people went Two or Three weeks plus! This time, so far, not to bad here! We have the heaviest snow in years ay my house, about 10 inches here and 9am temps at 3 degrees today. The snow has stopped and the sun shining but expected to drop 9 more inches Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The temps are not to rise above freezing till Saturday! Last time we had something like this was decades ago. The ice is still there under the snow and more limbs and tree damage continues , but not terrible like it has been before. I pray for all folks without power and in the areas with terrible damages! I will be starting plants for my spring garden in a couple weeks!

 

[cmom]

Luckily we rarely have snow. It's been a long time but we have had a dusting in the past. We have lost power but it was from a hurricane. All of my waterers at the coops are auto waterers. Luckily they are at a lower grade and I was able to use a generator to fill a very large trash can and rely on gravity to keep the waterers going. We had to time share the generator because it wasn't big enough to power everything.