Chicken Loss (again) :(

[Cinnajava]

Hi everyone.

I have just lost 3 chickens (yet again). The oldest Chicken was about 3 months and the chicks were almost 3 months old. My husband told me this morning as I was rushing to get kids to school and went to work- That a predator pushed in the Hardware cloth on the window, Ate the oldest and shredded the 2 babies and left. This is the second batch of chickens that we have lost in a row. This coop was supposed to be 'predator proof', ( I realize that this is sort of a joke) But I didn't expect to have such lousy luck esp. in the suburbs.

I would welcome suggestions for reinforcing the coop to help with the predators, yet still allowing good ventilation as the weather has been unbearable. Also any suggestions on what did this. I put a stock photo down below so you might see the area as I haven't yet been able to look in person.

 

[Stipenvlerk]

O no! I'm so sorry for your loss...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not sure where you are located so I don't know your potential predators. If you are in North America a raccoon would be at the top of my list but there are several others it could also be in North America.

To know how to reinforce the window we'd need to know what is there and how it was pushed in. Was wood broken or did the attachments that should have held the hardware cloth in place fail? Was the hardware cloth torn? I'd really need to know what happened to suggest a practical way to reinforce it. Photos could be invaluable.

 

[User635240]

A good way to secure it is to put an electric netting fence (Premier1 equipment), or a hot wired fence around the coop. They are both effective at keeping predators out. In the meantime though I'd recommend bringing all the chickens into the garage until a trapper can catch the predators. Otherwise they'll just keep coming back every day until there's no more food for them.

 

[WingItRanch]

Wow I'm so sorry. That's tough.

I live out to the country with all sorts of predators so I build a "predator proof" run. What I did was secure the hardware cloth on the outside with thick gauge poultry staples hammered in. You place the hardware cloth on the outside so if something presses inward, it's more resistance. Looks like the manufacturer secured it on the inside.

I also put a hardware cloth skirt all around to prevent digging animals.

Good luck!

 

[Cinnajava]

Not sure where you are located so I don't know your potential predators. If you are in North America a raccoon would be at the top of my list but there are several others it could also be in North America.

To know how to reinforce the window we'd need to know what is there and how it was pushed in. Was wood broken or did the attachments that should have held the hardware cloth in place fail? Was the hardware cloth torn? I'd really need to know what happened to suggest a practical way to reinforce it. Photos could be invaluable.

I'll take pictures this evening and get back to you.

 

[Cinnajava]

Not sure where you are located so I don't know your potential predators. If you are in North America a raccoon would be at the top of my list but there are several others it could also be in North America.

To know how to reinforce the window we'd need to know what is there and how it was pushed in. Was wood broken or did the attachments that should have held the hardware cloth in place fail? Was the hardware cloth torn? I'd really need to know what happened to suggest a practical way to reinforce it. Photos could be invaluable.

I'm in NW Missouri.

 

[User635240]

Can you set up a trail camera or security camera? If you know what type of predator you have then you can get the appropriate trap.

I'm in NW Missouri.

 

[Sic]

Sorry for your loss. It's really hard to keep chickens safe when everything wants to eat them. By your description it sounds like this is a prefab coop. It's always better to have the hardware cloth attached to the outside of the wood using screws and washers to keep it from just being pushed in. It looks like the hardware cloth of the coop/run is attached to the inside, and if it is only secured with staples it will not be predator proof.

Even though I have electric fence, in case that fails, my open end of the coop is massively reinforced, but we have large predators, including bear. So it has 1/4" hardware cloth on the inside, another 1/4" hardware cloth to the outside of the 2x4's and then 2x2 across and 1/2" hardware cloth over that, then.. logs 8" apart to keep large predators from gaining access even if they rip or bite through.

You might consider attaching another layer of hardware cloth to the outside and using screws and washers to secure it well. If they will be in the run unattended, consider also adding at least 12" of hardware cloth skirting on the ground around the run, it's easy to gravel over the top to prevent digging in.

 

[chooki]

Ever since my canary got eaten by a predator through a cage many years ago, I started to distrust single layered cage/coop. Try to use 2 layers coop, and make sure at least one layer is indestructible by the likes of wolves and foxes.

Here is our bachelor pad on the farm, it is not as pretty as yours. But farm is unmanned 2-3 days at a time, so far no bird was lost to predators inside the coop.

Interconnected mesh wire on the inside and pallets connected with screws on the outside. Also 0.5 metre metal mesh skirts outside the pallets to stop digging.

There are quite a few different types of predators around and about on the farm, every now and then I have some bird newly located to the farm decide to not go into the coop at night, and I could not find them in time. In a day or two, they turn into a puff of feathers. That's why my older roosters trust their coop very much.

There are rat burrows though, so I suggest you to check for holes around your coop area to make sure no predator dig through.