Chicken Predator Prevention

The Crime Scene was horrible…

I opened the coop door, only two hens walk out.  I wondered where the other's have gone.  Daisy walked into the coop and came out sad and alone.

I walked into the coop and saw the crime scene.  A surreal moment as I counted the corpses.  It was awful. I inspected and repaired my coop of any imperfections that would allow the tiniest of predator to squeeze through.

Without any proof, I’ve decided a weasel or minx with spring pups, was the murderer.  A minx is small enough to squeeze through a tight space, and has the size and strength to murder my strong and excellent laying hens. 

The survivors were in shock and didn’t want to return to their coop. 

The Witness Protection Program

I put a large cage inside a spare horse stall.  I put both very frightened hens inside the cage with food water, perch and nest bucket.  My hens were real troopers, always having 2 eggs for me every morning.

I wouldn't give up raising hens.  I don’t want them permanently located in the horse’s barn.  I very quickly got used to farm fresh eggs, and Daisy enjoyed herding her hens every night. I researched until I had a new plan. 

I invested in anelectric mesh fence.  I moved the cage out of the barn and surrounded it with the new fence. I connected it to the electric horse fence with wire anda handle.  It worked out great.  I added a few more chicks to my flock so my two hens wouldn’t winter alone.

The hen’s feathers insulate their bodies from electric shock.  Chicken waddles are very sensitive to hitting the fence.  Fluffy little chicks felt a shock until their feathers grew out.  

Rose and Ruby are comfortable and safe, now.

Theelectric mesh fence is easy to set up.  Mow the grass area where the fence will be set up, lay the mesh fencing out then step in the little posts.  I walk around one last time to snug the fence up. Then I connected to our existing aluminum electricfence wire surrounding the horse pen, with electric wire and an electric fence handle.  I move the fence anytime I felt the hens could use fresh grass. The electric mesh fence takes minutes to take down and set up. My hens follow their food and cage coop to the next location.

Since then, I moved all my chickens back to the old coop, away from the horse paddock and away from the existing electric horse fencing. I invested in a solar electric fence charger because it is provides enough portable electricity to support the electric mesh fence.

I don't have elecricity near my hen coop. If I had power near my coop, I'd choose an AC powered electric fence charger to power the electric mesh fence.  The electric mesh fence provides effective protection from predators. 

My hens have been safe from predators since I've been protecting them with the electric mesh fence. This mesh fencing system has been an investment in my hen hobby.