devested to find our flock massacred

[Penpal]

I use electric poultry netting around the chicken tractor. If they are in a tractor you only need one set of the netting. You'll probably need a solar generator for power unless you are near the house or buildings. You don't need the best solar generator for a single unit of fencing. You don't need a high voltage for a small animal like a dog or raccoon.

 

[WingItRanch]

Do you have a picture of the hole that was chewed through 19g hardware cloth?

 

[McChooky]

I don't recommend guineas in chicken tractors.They hate confinement. Did any of those survive the attack?

 

[Devinetex]

I am so sorry that you lost your chicks. How is the one who survived? Was the game warden able to tell what may have attacked them? I've heard that badgers can chew through hardware cloth, but I thought they were too large to fit through a 4" hole. Since you have a predator capable of chewing through hardware cloth, you should look into hotwire for your coop/tractor.

The one survivor is doing well. I think we have found our predator. A couple nights later a pair of dogs showed up at 1 a.m. One dog was trying to get to the area the hole was at but it had been covered up. Not positive it was them but they looked pretty suspicious. We have one fence that's down from storm but we are working on getting new one put up. that should fix problem if it was this pair of dogs.

 

[Devinetex]

Do you have a picture of the hole that was chewed through 19g hardware cloth?

this is about the best picture I have. I made a mistake on hardware cloth it was 18 gauge. Hopefully you can enlarge pictures as the second one is sideways. But it tore the cloth down and out the full 4" square of cattle fence. We got video work the next day or two and dogs showed up a 1 am trying to get to same hole. We had something placed up there so they could not. So we think they were the culprits.

 

[WingItRanch]

this is about the best picture I have. I made a mistake on hardware cloth it was 18 gauge. Hopefully you can enlarge pictures as the second one is sideways. But it tore the cloth down and out the full 4" square of cattle fence. We got video work the next day or two and dogs showed up a 1 am trying to get to same hole. We had something placed up there so they could not. So we think they were the culprits.

Aw man I'm sorry. Yeah, I agree with you that it's likely dogs. Thanks for sharing. I have 19 gauge 1/2in hardware cloth and haven't had any issues.

Maybe it was slightly loose so the dogs were able to grab on and pull. If you use the same setup in the future, try tightening the hardware cloth around the cattle panel and securing it by using metal zip ties every few feet.

 

[KyCoop]

That looks like that garden fence stuff not HWC.
Get you some real HWC if you build back.