Food scraps can also attract predators to the area. Many chicken predators are omnivores and just as happy to snack on your feed as they are on your chickens. This coop is so secure that you dont need to lock the birds in the shelter at night. It wont take long before they recognize your call and the promise of goodies will have them flocking to the coop at dusk every evening. Author/Blogger/Freelancer-Sharing adventures with backyard chickens, beekeeping, gardening, crafting, cooking and more. Make sure you read reviews and find the most reliable products to meet your needs. All were shrink-wrapped. Chicken wire was designed to keep chickens in but not predators out. When chickens feel safe, they will be more productive with their egg laying. From the aforementioned motion activated lights to ultrasonic devices, to predator lights meant to look like eyes (and other eye deterrents), ground spikes, and reflective tape (or aluminum pie pans), there are a lot of products on the market. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Predators that dig, like neighborhood dogs, foxes, and coyotes can enter the hen house in just a few hours if the floor isnt protected. Adding a roof the run has many benefits. Buy six-foot fencing (in quantity to save money) of a heavier, more durable gauge than regular chicken wire. Because we sometimes house our chickens in the chunnel overnight, we decided to cut some old wire shelving we had on hand and stick it in the ground along the edges of the chicken tunnel to prevent predators from digging underneath. Another solution you could try, if all else fails, is to trap your predators. Chicken feathers insulated them from the shock. In addition, a raised coop reduces moisture, which can cause rot. When it comes to chicken coops, one of the most important things you can do to protect your flock is to make sure it is predator-proof. They can forage for a good portion of their own food, while getting plenty of exercise and stimulation along the way. Prevent birds of prey from swooping into the run. Various materials are used in constructing a chunnel which range from wire to netting. With the shorter 1-by-3 boards facing in, drape the wire mesh over the ends. When used with poultry, the hoop coop is designed to be predator-proof, allowing birds access to pasture without worrying about flock loss. By paying with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS for only $17.95 (USA only). I know I told you above to make sure your chickens had cover to run to in the event an aerial predator like a hawk or owl is scanning the ground for lunch. The book then takes the reader through every step of keeping backyard birds, from choosing a breed to using the eggs, as well as some philosophical asides, such as, Should I take a $5 chicken to the vet? The books style is easy and comfortable, with lots of humor tucked in. Planning is the most fun part of building your chunnels because theres no limit to what you can do. The third layer of protection could be to use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. If budget is an issue and you're mainly concerned about raccoons reaching in, then hardware cloth up the bottom few feet of the run only. Theyre always on the lookout and will set off an alarm call that sends the rest of the flock running for cover. Can they kill a chicken or chicks, introduce disease, or even steal my flock? Coop & Run - Design, Construction, & Maintenance, https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/new-coop-project.1169916/page-2#post-18481208, https://www.backyardchickens.com/thder-2020-version.1529488/page-7#post-25809665. Add outside roosts and perches. Adding a roof the run has many benefits. Just make sure the grass around the perimeter isnt tall enough to short out the fence. DIY Home Biodiesel Production: Make Your Own Fuel. And be sure to make at least one gate wider than the widest object (garden cart, tiller, whatever) you will. The shape of this coop saves a bit of money on the cost of the welded wire mesh because it uses a little less than the rectangular coop. Wire mesh can also be used to cover any openings in the coop, such as windows and vents. For some chicken keepers/gardeners, this can be an excellent solution a win win for both the flock and the garden. CHICKEN DIY: 20 FUN-TO-MAKE PROJECTS FOR HAPPY, HEALTHY CHICKENS, STARTER COOPS: FOR YOUR CHICKENS' FIRST HOME, Large Chicken Tractor Plans for Raising Broilers. Just like with the eggs sitting in the coop overnight, food scraps could work as a predator attractant. These large chicken tractor plans are perfect for raising broiler chickens. Harvey Usserys The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers may seem oriented to larger flocks than most backyard bird keepers maintain, but the wealth of information in the book applies to anyone who keeps even one chicken. Its a super strong engineered wood product and has the extra advantage of being waterproof. Because your chickens have the area to roam within the tunnels, they are not bunched together, where disease loves to thrive. I use galvanized poultry staples because they dont rust like regular staples, and theyre strong enough to keep predators out. I swear by having a livestock guardian dog. Not to mention, keeping food put away will keep the rats out of your chicken coop. to incorporate chunnels in a backyard, around a garden, up and over existing chunnels, and even underground passes. If keeping an extra large dog on your property simply isnt an option, you might be able to mimic having one. The design is simple and utilizes materials that are long lasting, recyclable, and biodegradable. Theres no way animals can rip the seam apart this way. Heres how to keep your hens safe. The predator resistant chicken run of the Eglu Go features a protective skirt to keep your chickens safe inside The Predator Resistant Chicken Run The optional chicken run for the Eglu Go is made from strong steel weld mesh which is virtually impossible for predators to break. The perfect coop should be lightweight and easy to build even for a child or an older person yet it must be sturdy enough to keep predators away from the birds, and it shouldnt cost too much money. Especially in conjunction with hardware cloth, this can be an effective approach. Cut the circles out with a jigsaw. When considering design, one of the most important things that you want to think about is how to predator proof the run. A chicken tunnel, also known as a chunnel, is an extension of the chicken coop/run. Undaunted, Long next designed an ultra-sturdy coop, MOTHERs Mighty Chicken-Mobile, in 2011s Build an Affordable, Portable and Predator-Proof Chicken Coop. Predator Proofing the Chicken Run-installing hardware cloth over entire run-burying hardware cloth 1ft deep and 2ft wide outside of Coop and Run- Triple latc. Widely regarded as an expert in small-scale chicken breeding and raising, plus how to put chickens to work, Ussery also discusses ducks, geese and other kinds of poultry within the book. By making these simple changes, you can help keep your birds safe from harm. Do a thorough site inspection and plenty of pencil-and-paper planning first. They get a thrill from free-ranging in the yard and garden. Do's for Protecting Chickens from Predators. Stop approximately 4 inches short of the outside ends. They will need a place or two where they can quickly run to hide when they sense danger. that we have seen! This lip will act as a support for the other large plywood semicircle, which youll screw on when putting them together to create the roof. Follow when to start seeds indoors, zone 6 tips, and a calendar for your successful indoor seed starting. Ok, maybe that s a little extreme, but at least keep feed securely contained. We worked with Joe Ramey of Circo Innovations in Grass Valley, Calif. to design two easy-to-build coops that anyone from age 9 to 90 can assemble using no special tools. You dont have to step over tunneling with this subterranean corridor by providing your chickens an underground connector! A clean coop will help discourage rodents and other pests from taking up residence. JavaScript is disabled. Once you have your frame built, you cover it with wire. You should move it on a regular basis to provide your chickens with regular forage and to avoid over-fertilization of a single spot. I would not use a heat lamp if you can help it, they're incredibly dangerous. is yet another ingenious integration of chicken tunneling. This new and improved incarnation of the portable chicken coop is designed for three to four chickens, and anybody can build it. The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Tiny invaders like mice may be able to sneak under without a shock, since the very bottom string doesnt always touch the ground. All were shrink-wrapped. . The open floor has lots of advantages, the main one being that your flock can graze directly on grass and veggies or scratch around in the soil. Make sure you construct your coop with heavy gauge hardware. The width should be a minimum of 2. Adding lips to the 18-inch holes will allow you to utilize the cutouts as lids. Dig it down just a few inches and then cover it with soil, wood chips, mulch or other plantings. Cow panels or chicken wire also work, but hardware cloth is a nice happy medium in terms of price . I installed 4 of these little gadgets around my chicken coop, facing out in all four directions. This portable predator proof chicken coop DIY is low-cost and easy to make for just about anyone. It goes without saying that your chickens benefit from any form of free-ranging. In just 15 minutes, you can disassemble this run from one tree and reassemble it around another. DIY can provide great insulation savings. It seems that everything wants to eat chickens: neighborhood dogs, raccoons, foxes, weasels, and even chicken hawks. The area just in front of the bottom of your fence lines is wasted space. Its amazing the way they can manage to get into the coop when they really are determined to do so! When used in combination with other predator-proofing measures, they can be an effective way to protect chickens from harm. Build a Movable Coop for Around Trees Tools & Materials 2 sheets of 1/2-inch plywood, 4 by 8 feet 4-foot piece of string "Nothing should be able to get into a properly constructed coop," she said. Tunnels provide your chickens places to do what comes naturally, and thats to scratch and pick at the ground. Lastly, you get to sit and watch them roam and run through the tunnels. Fowl Stuff is a Michigan company that has designed an injection-molded cover that adapts 3- and 5-gallon pails for use as nesting boxes.
