How to Stop Chicken Predators

Many people feel now is a good time to raise back yard hens.  I think any time you want to raise a flock of chickens, geese, or ducks is a good time.  Now is a very good time to think about their coop, and keeping them safe from chicken predators. 

Protect your chickens. Don't let this happen to your flock.

Everyone LOVES Chicken.  Predators help themselves to chickens, eggs, and feed that don’t belong to them. 

When raising chickens for profit, or as pets, the loss of a bird is more than disappointing.

Learn how to protect your chickens from predators.

• How to prevent chicken predators from getting your chickens inside the coop. 
• How to prevent chicken predators from getting your chickens inside their run.
• How to prevent chicken predators from getting your free range chickens.

Meet a few chicken predators.  Know the rascals you are protecting your chickens from is important to knowing how to stop them.

The weasel and mink can squeeze and slither snake like through the smallest opening in a chicken coop. Weasels are a difficult chicken predator to stop. A space in the chicken wire, a hole in the floor, or space between loose boards is an inviting open door to a weasel.  Weasels will climb over and around your coop, looking for that one small space, large enough to poke his head through.  Then, will wiggle inside.

If a golf ball fits through a space in your coop, a weasel and mink can “weasel through, too”.

I’m without proof, but I believe a weasel murdered my laying hens inside the coop, by finding enough space between the wire and the water pipe.

Fox are clever and determined chicken predator. Typically a fox will snatch a chicken and take it away.  A few feathers on the ground are all that’s left of a stolen chicken.  Fox also enjoy fresh eggs. 

Fox will dig under your fence and coop, to come up inside with all the chickens, and will enjoy the eggs and run off with your chickens. 

This is a coyote prowling around near my hen coop.  This is one of my primary suspects when I’ve lost chickens.  These larger canines eat the whole chicken and leave nothing but a pile of feathers behind.

Knowing coyotes are prowling around the hen’s coop before my morning coffee is very is worrisome.  This coyote is as big as my dog, Daisy.  There could be more than one, and sending Daisy out to protect her hens against a pack of hungry coyotes could be a mistake.

Racoons are omnivores.  They survive on plant or meat food sources and are not a picky chicken predator, they’ll enjoy anything they find, that is etable.  The chicken grain, household leftovers, chickens, eggs, and baby chicks are all a well stocked buffet for racoons.

The racoons around my coop travel in a small group. 

Many carnivorous birds are chicken predators.  Owls are night hunters and usually chickens are cooped up while these predators are out and about. 

Let’s not overlook the closest chicken predators to your flock.  Beloved and mild tempered, well fed house pets may also be a chicken predator.  A chicken may start out as an amusement to your pet, but quickly turns them into the call of the wild to the most gentle of house pets.

This extends to your own pets as well as your neighbors’ adorable cats and dogs. The excitement of feathers flying and hens squawking, and will find their way into your yard and into your run and coop. 

This is the first time our cat saw the chickens.  She was extremely interested, but sized up the fencing and decided she couldn’t get through it, this time.

My neighbor’s dog came around and immediately started digging next to the fence.  He would have had himself a wonderful time inside the cage with chickens that couldn’t get away.

Stopping all these chicken predators from poaching your flock of chickens, ducks or geese is possible.

To stop chicken predators from entering your coop, cover it completely with 1 Inch wire mesh chicken fencing.  Build or buy any coop that suits your needs and wrap it completely with wire mesh.  Overlay the mesh and staple or cable tie it securely together.  Extend the wire mesh into the ground 9+ or more, so that the canine chicken predators will give up trying to dig under the coop walls. 

This is about keeping the smallest chicken predators out of your coop, and keeping your chickens safe from them, inside.

Any feed and water pipes or nest boxes, that extend out through the coop, needs to be wrapped securely with mesh chicken wire, to prevent small varmints from squeezing inside the coop.  I belive this is how a weasle entered my coop and left four dead hens inside.

Check your coop wire frequently for small spaces or sags or damages in the mesh.  Repair them immediately to prevent vicious chicken predators from wiggling into your coop and killing your birds. 

Always have the tools on hand that you need to mend your wire mesh.  Wear thick leather gloves and use wire cutters, and long cable ties to cut, shape and securely hold the mesh wire together and around the coop.

I invested in an electric mesh poultry fence to protect my hens and chicks from predators.  The fence set up easily with step in poles.  The mesh grid is smaller near the ground where smaller animals and rodens will meet the fence. 

I used aluminum electric fence wire and handle to coneect the electric mesh poultry fence to the existing cattle electric fence.  This was the easiest and least expensive set up.   I also have a separate solar electric fence box for the fence around the coop where it isn’t near the cattle fencing.

This electric mesh poultry fence is very easy to move, light weight to carry.  After a month of being in the horse paddock, I decided to move the chickens and their fence back to their coop. 

The new location for this electric mesh poultry fence, around the coop requires an electric fence box, and a ground rod, to provide enough electricity to stop a chicken predator.  I use a solar charged electric fence box, near the coop.

This electric mesh poultry fence was an excellent investment.  I haven’t lost a hen to a predator when I’ve had them safely inside.

The hens’ feathers insulate the hens from the electricity, but their waddles will feel the hurt, if they touch the electric fence.

To maintain this electric mesh poultry fence, I mow the grass, and set up the fence in the new area.  It is very light weight; I can move it without help.   Occasionally I need to clip tenacious weeds away from the fence.  It’s very easy and very effective.

I’ve had success with this electric mesh poultry fence through the snowy winters. 

Protect your flock from chicken predators with a guardian dog.  A good dog will chase off predators, and your flock will learn to trust their dog.  Daisy is my third layer of flock protection from predators.  Smaller predators will know the dog is around.  My dog has scared off predator birds, rodents and some coyotes.  She sounds the alarm when the predators are around. 

Daisy is an American Border Collie.  She was taking care of her baby chicks as soon as they were able to get out of their nursery. 

Patients and trust will build a solid foundation between your guardian dog, your flock and yourself.

• Protect chickens from predators, with an electric mesh poultry fence around the coop. 
• Protect chicken from predators, with sturdy chicken wire, over the entire coop and buried a foot into the ground.
• Protect chickens from predators, with a guardian dog.