Raccoon lock on metal framed run

[SamIamNam786]

Oh, it will definitely return. It has found a location full of food/meat and it will be very determined to get in. Raccoons don't just eat eggs. Proper current pictures are required if you want help with your setup.

Pictures are up. I'm not sure what lock would work for it

 

[TooCheep]

Thanks for the extra pictures. That helps. Here are my thoughts:

• Chicken wire is unusual for that type of enclosure. Are you sure it is chicken wire (hex-shaped) and not diamond-shaped fencing? Chicken wire is too weak and diamond fencing is too large which is why hardware cloth is generally recommended for protection. If diamond fencing was included, it will likely have better attachments than zip ties which will degrade over time and eventually break. I'd put up to the diamond fencing as a backer to the hardware cloth to help hold it in place.
• I don't see anything that you can anchor a padlock or even carabiner to for a strong lock. Maybe you can get a good metal ring below the u-latch that you can somehow lock to the u-latch. Possibly someone else will have a better idea. The hardware cloth there will not be strong enough to be a permanent solution if you mount the lock directly through that wire to hold down the u-latch.
• The gap around the door is large enough for a raccoon to grab a chicken and kill it. I don't have any good suggestions on how to stop that. Fortunately, raccoons are primarily nocturnal hunters, so it wouldn't be a problem when they sleep at night in the coop (assuming the coop is closed).
• It is frequently recommended that you have a 1ft "skirt" of hardware cloth around the base of the enclosure, either buried vertically into the soil or just below the surface. This will discourage digging.

Unfortunately, chicken coops/enclosures are very attractive to predators. That is why we must setup as close to a Fort Knox protection system as possible. The basic structure looks good, but it does need some tweaks to give you the best security. Good luck.

 

[SamIamNam786]

Thanks for the extra pictures. That helps. Here are my thoughts:

• Chicken wire is unusual for that type of enclosure. Are you sure it is chicken wire (hex-shaped) and not diamond-shaped fencing? Chicken wire is too weak and diamond fencing is too large which is why hardware cloth is generally recommended for protection. If diamond fencing was included, it will likely have better attachments than zip ties which will degrade over time and eventually break. I'd put up to the diamond fencing as a backer to the hardware cloth to help hold it in place.
• I don't see anything that you can anchor a padlock or even carabiner to for a strong lock. Maybe you can get a good metal ring below the u-latch that you can somehow lock to the u-latch. Possibly someone else will have a better idea. The hardware cloth there will not be strong enough to be a permanent solution if you mount the lock directly through that wire to hold down the u-latch.
• The gap around the door is large enough for a raccoon to grab a chicken and kill it. I don't have any good suggestions on how to stop that.
• It is frequently recommended that you have a 1ft "skirt" of hardware cloth around the base of the enclosure, either buried vertically into the soil or just below the surface. This will discourage digging.

Unfortunately, chicken coops/enclosures are very attractive to predators. That is why we must setup as close to a Fort Knox protection system as possible. The basic structure looks good, but it does need some tweaks to give you the best security. Good luck.

The enclosure came with chicken wire but I bought hardware cloth and have that on my run. You can see it in the picture below. The hardware cloth is extended over the roof As well..im at the hardware store getting stainless steel zip ties that I'll wrap around the door and the frame and I'll attach a padlock to it.

 

[Debbie292d]

That's what I was curious about. Do you have a link?.

If you look up climbing carabiners, you'll find the strongest, largest ones such as this.

 

[aart]

Pictures are up. I'm not sure what lock would work for it

Looks like there might be some kind of hole there, but can't really see how that latch works in that position(not quite closed all the way?).
Wondering if the raccoon actually opened it or.....?

 

[perkolator]

That latch doesn't look like it's closed all the way, I'd guess the door needs to be adjusted a tad further away so the tab drops into the slot and leaves the round hole open for inserting a lock/carabiner. If adjusting the latch isn't possible, I'd do what someone has posted many times here (sorry, I don't recall who it is): two eye bolts with carabiner latching them together, they can easily be installed in that metal pipe.

 

[Sefirothe]

You want the latch to close like this:

Then, you can put a carabiner or snap thru the hole to prevent the latch from being moved to the open position like this:

 

[SamIamNam786]

You want the latch to close like this:

View attachment 3767137



Then, you can put a carabiner or snap thru the hole to prevent the latch from being moved to the open position like this:

View attachment 3767141

Yes, this was just a picture I took to show there was no hole underneath. I like your idea though. I do close my lock properly, how come your door is so close to the frame? Mine has a space of two inches. I'll take a picture to show the update.

 

[Sefirothe]

Yes, this was just a picture I took to show there was no hole underneath. I like your idea though. I do close my lock properly, how come your door is so close to the frame? Mine has a space of two inches. I'll take a picture to show the update.

The door on mine came mostly pre-assembled with minimal gaps, it's one of the reasons I chose this specific pen, along with the extra bracing in the corners and on the back wall. The biggest gap is at the top of the door.

You can see here I also added a chain above the latch that had a snap on the end, I used that to also reinforce the door by wrapping the chain around the door post and the frame post then snapping the chain to itself. I didn't entirely trust the provided latch, we have big, fat, strong raccoons around here. It was fiddly to feed the chain thru the chicken wire at the top each time I wanted to open or close the door but better safe than sorry.

 

[lildoggy]

So there was one chicken left inside the run...but it wasn't after him...it went into the coop. So I called my husband to hold a wooden piece over the door of the coop while I gathered the last chicken. I threw the chickens into a small shed.

Then my husband got out of the run and took a hose and tried to spray it out. It eventually left the coop when it didn't find eggs. Thank God I had collected them all earlier! I'm hoping bc he didn't find food, maybe he won't return?

I didn't see any holes. Even the front door has hardware cloth around the edge to prevent gaps. The door was wide open, so I'm 100% he got in from there, as all the other chickens had run out of the run.

He'll return. Count on it and prepare.