# Protector for Chickens



## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

What makes a good protector for chickens? Something got in the pen and got two chickens. We have a tall fence and a cover for it, but there is a bit of a gap between the two. I'm going to work on fixing it. But every time I think things are secure, some kind of animal proves us wrong. I love chickens, but this is so frustrating. I don't even know what it could be this time, cause it has to be climbing up the fence and going in the gap. Maybe a possum? Anyway, is there something I can put in with the chickens to deter predators? A big tom turkey? I don't know...


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## LibertyHomesteadFarm (Feb 1, 2014)

Geese will protect chickens from anything dog-sized or smaller without the training LGDS need.


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

Geese kinda freak me out. Lol. I bet they would be good protectors. Wouldn't they need a pool or something to splash around in?


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## Greybird (May 14, 2014)

Your best bet, and the cheapest option, would be to eliminate that gap ASAP. Also, make sure that there's no way for a predator to dig under it. 
In a nutshell: beef up you fence!
If you have one or more raccoons going after your chickens then they will be back, and they won't quit coming back until you either kill them, fence them out or every bird that you have is dead. 
They will happily kill turkeys and geese too.


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## LibertyHomesteadFarm (Feb 1, 2014)

Geese don't need a pool, basically the same facilities as chickens.


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

It's a possum. We caught it in the coop tonight, unexpectedly (we were outside for a different reason), so there was nothing we could do before it wandered away. It dug under.  Our coop and run are pretty big, so I can't really rebuild the whole thing. I've never had something dig under in the 3+ years we've had chickens, so I didn't think burying fence was needed. I seem to always be proven wrong. The only thing I can think to do is put up electric fencing around the coop.


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## Greybird (May 14, 2014)

I wasn't able to bury a fence around my chicken pens, either. (It would take a heavy pick to get down more than an inch or so into the hardpan around here, and my back says NO to that idea!) What I did was split some 48" poultry netting into thirds with wire cutters and then run the 16" wide strip all the way around the pen, hog ring it securely to the existing fence about 4" up, and then press and/or weight it down firmly on the ground on the outside of the pen. A cross section of the fence would show it as "L" shaped. Brush and weeds grew up through the part on the ground in short order and made it essentially impossible to move. This all happened about 15 years ago and it's still in place and still working just fine.
Burrowing animals aren't very smart. It will never occur to them to start digging a foot away from the fence in order to get under the wire. What happens is they start to dig at the base of the fence, hit the wire, give up, and try someplace else. After several tries they will give up completely.


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## Frosty (Feb 13, 2010)

You can always get a havaheart trap and catch them and relocate them that's what I did. I also lock the doors on their coop at night cause one got smart enough to push the sliding door open and help himself.


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## LibertyHomesteadFarm (Feb 1, 2014)

Or just sit out one night with a spotlight and a .22


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## SeventeenFarms (Dec 10, 2013)

I use a havaheart trap and relocate. Any signs of digging I put it out and bait it. 2 racoons this year. We also have a shed which we close the chickens in each night. Interesting year for black snakes eating eggs - have relocated three so far.


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## Rise_and_Shine_Ranch (May 16, 2015)

What I do to keep predators from digging under is aproning (Just like Greybird said). Basically just taking chicken wire and lawn stakes and pounding them into the ground around the coop. Its not the prettiest, but I have never had a predator dig in to get my chickens. :locked2:


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

SeventeenFarms said:


> I use a havaheart trap and relocate. Any signs of digging I put it out and bait it. 2 racoons this year. We also have a shed which we close the chickens in each night. Interesting year for black snakes eating eggs - have relocated three so far.


 Snakes have been a problem for many backyard chicken coops here in CT this year too! So many folks losing either eggs, or more sadly, chicks from under broody hens. The snakes can get right through chicken wire spacing and many other small gaps. I believe here it is eastern rat snakes (great climbers) and occasionally black racers. One person I know even had a photo of the rat snake in the broody cage with the mother hen, they won't bother with the hen.


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## ms_mac (Oct 7, 2012)

I am wondering if sprinkling cayenne pepper around trouble spot could help. I had trouble with them digging around my satellite cable until I started to put the pepper out every day. Just a thought. Don't give up, humans are smarter than animals!


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## MylieD (Sep 16, 2013)

We put up 5 motion activated spotlights and haven't lost another chicken. I still want to put the chicken wire around the bottom, I just haven't done it yet.


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