Required fields are marked *. Once you know about the possible chicken predators it is good to protect your coop as much as you can. (Both burying and extending is not necessary with electric mesh fencing.). One of the best ways to protect chickens from hawks, owls, and eagles is to make sure your chickens have lots of places to hide when a predator is flying overhead. Whether you’re in an urban environment or surrounded by acres of land, other critters may want to cash in on the hard work you're putting into raising chickens. The most common chicken predators are rats, skunk, birds of prey, opossum, raccoons, foxes, bears, coyotes, weasels, snakes, bobcats, minks, badgers and fisher cats. Not only is this, but some predators like possums and snakes are excellent climbers. Focus Prose LLC is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. Bushes, large grasses, decks, and overhangs can be a perfect place to take shelter. One shock is all it will take to keep most predators away from your chickens for good. No matter how much preventative measures you take, there is always a chance a predator will show up anyway. Top Ways of Protecting My Chickens From Predators. And if you have a resident raptor you’re caring for your land correctly! This is another method used to protect … They cannot fight against larger predators such as Coyotes, large cats, or raccoons. Raptors are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so you can’t harass it in any way or try to force it off your property. Be sure your dogs aren’t tempted to chase running, squawking chickens if … Many predators such as hawks or owls dive right in from the sky and will take your chickens away. I vowed to never let this happen again so I fixed up the coop to be as secure as Fort Knox. Raising chickens is a valuable practice for any homesteader, but protecting chickens from predators can be a tough job. Unfortunately, chickens are vulnerable to a dismaying number of predators, from petite weasels to brawny bears. You can bring fresh clipped grass to your hens as long as it’s free of chemicals and as long as you have poultry grit available. Can You Raise Chickens and Quail Together? Dogs, roosters and guinea fowl are considered the best animals to protect chickens. It’s vital that they have a safety shelter that they can run to when they sense danger. Teach your resident livestock that your fence is not to be trifled with by stringing hot wire across the top of the fence or setting up a electric mesh poultry fence around the coop or free range area. You may have seen them perching high up, such as on a dead tree or telephone pole. Protecting chickens from predators is accomplished at three different levels: Discourage predators from visiting your homestead Secure the coop and run to give the chickens a safe haven Active predator management when necessary There is error while submitting your request. To learn more about us, click the button below. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If you allow your chickens to roam free rather than keeping them in a coop or pen, it’s much more difficult to protect them from predators. I hope our time-tested tactics below will help you protect your chickens from predators, too, to avoid the pain of losing a feathered friend. link to Do Chickens Attract Pests & Wildlife, Chicken Predators 2 – They tried again but failed this time – How to predator proof the chicken coop (https://youtu.be/_T4MjXxyeqc). Having a very secure chicken run and coop is imperative for the safety of your flock. Improve Fencing and Housing for Increased Protection. This can be as simple as a coop that is covered and raised off the ground. Please try again. Figure out Who Done It. And make it high enough (at least 6 feet) to stop coyotes and foxes from jumping over. Protecting your chickens from predators begins with proactive measures. To keep these tricky carnivores out, bury welded-wire mesh around the perimeter of the chicken run. Please let us know a convenient time to call you on, (*All time slots are available in CDT zone.). It’s up to you to protect your chickens from predators, and it all starts with your chicken coop security. Thank you for choosing this service. Here are some tips for coop construction and care that will help keep predators at bay. There has been evidence of a second attempt but they were unsuccessful and haven’t been back since. Our coop had been surrounded by board fencing and chicken wire for years, even though I knew it was not the best choice. A gander’s hiss and threatening wings can chase off stubborn wildlife. After the attack we attached a second layer of welded wire fencing to the outside. Always give your chickens a place to hide while out in the pasture. We have friends that use an electric fence around their raised garden beds to keep the rabbits and deer out and it works well for them. Provide a night light (motion-sensor-activated) that will flood the chicken run with light after dark or install a set of Nite Guard Solar predator-deterrent lights (see advertisement inside front cover). For these reasons, I used heavy-duty hardware cloth with 1/2″ holes around the entire coop. Protecting Chickens from Predators. Although dusk and dawn are the preferred hours to hunt for predators such as fox and coyotes, it’s not uncommon to see them in broad daylight. Note: Occasionally when chickens stand on wire floors in chicken tractors for long periods of time their feet can get cut, so check their feet regularly for cuts or sores. All it takes is a coop door left open after dusk or a damaged hole in the fence. Check out these 10 tips for keeping chickens safe from predators. Some will be very protective of the flock itself such as a rooster or a well trained guard dog. This way will enable you to easily see when the hawks are coming. Live traps like this one on Amazon are relatively inexpensive and pretty easy to use. I folded it in half so it went up the fence a couple feet and then also embedded the other half in to the soil to inhibit digging. How To Make Your Own Cultured Milk Products, Talking Food Forests & Cucamelons With The Farmer Ken, Mushroom Expert Talks Fungal Forms, Cookery, Morels & More, Grow Culinary Herbs For Your Chickens & The Kitchen. Free ranging always leaves them vulnerable to attacks, even if you live in the city and think you're safe. The first step to protect your flock from roaming predators is to recognize that no matter where you live, there’s a predator waiting. Read instructions carefully as you’ll need to hang the light at the right level for certain animals. Hawks are diurnal, so they hunt during the day. Your email address will not be published. One guy for 10 girls is a good ratio. 1. Let’s identify the the many different types of chicken predators based on what area of the world you happen to live. Raccoons can reach through a fence and grab a bird if they don’t have enough room to get away. Secure this food in airtight containers or in buildings that are sealed up to not allow the odors of those foods to drift away off the homestead for a passerby to notice and come investigate. 3. Be careful of meat and food scraps thrown away in an outdoor garbage can. Sharon Biggs Waller, a freelance writer and hobby farmer in northwestern Indiana, is a contributor to many magazines, including Hobby Farms, Urban Farm, Hobby Farm Home, Horse Illustrated, Horses USA and Veterinary Practice News. Before going this route be sure to know the game laws in your area and never target an endangered species. The beautiful hawk, soaring majestically, is a sight to behold. If the hawk continues to attack, you may have to forgo free-ranging altogether. Protecting chickens from predators is accomplished at three different levels:eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'countryfamilyhomestead_com-box-3','ezslot_8',103,'0','0'])); We’re going to take a more in-depth look at each of these three steps with strategies, tips and tricks for each. Copyright © 2020 EG Media Investments LLC. How to Protect Your Chickens from Predators. This site is owned and operated by Focus Prose LLC, a limited liability company headquartered in Michigan USA. This situation though should not be allowed to get out of control because even if the predators don’t come for the chickens they will come for the rodents. Do Guard Geese Protect Chickens from Hawks. The small chicken door to the run slides in a track and is difficult to open unless pulled straight up by a cable that runs to the outside where we can open and close it easily. Electric poultry fencing is an even better option to protect against ground predators. Read more: Identify the predators on your land by the tracks they leave. If you have a serious problem with hawks and owls, consider covering the chicken run with hawk netting. Another good reason to own a tractor with a loader and backhoe. Do not allow food scraps to linger. What they are doing is looking for movement. You can still work in harmony with your resident raptors. To finish off the coop security, I covered then entire top of the run with bird netting to keep the owls and hawks out. PoultryDVM presents an infographic which provides tips for protecting backyard chickens, ducks, and other poultry from predators. Or at least minimize those attractants because just owning livestock is an attractant in itself. Corey is an antique tractor enthusiast, woodworker, and general fix-it or build-it guy. It’s important to have predators on your land to keep prey such as rabbits and voles from causing crop damage and contamination, but a hawk sees rabbits and chickens as the same thing: food. For free-rangers, don’t let the pasture grow so long that the chickens can’t see what’s creeping up on them. When you finally decide to add chickens to your homestead, there are a ton of questions you’ll have to answer. The holes in the fence are 2″ by 4″ which is big enough for a raccoon to reach into or even for a rat to fit through. If nothing works, you may have to set up a humane trap or call a company that specializes in trapping and releasing animals. Tips for Protecting Your Chickens from Predators. Don’t leave any food outside and nearby your flock. A rooster will hustle his girls inside or under cover as soon as a threat appears. The next way to protect your chickens from hawks or other predators you can consider is to increase the visibility. Modified: Aug 17, 2020 by Mary Beth. In this video, I provide some tips for keeping your flock safe and happy. Dogs are also a danger to backyard flocks. Focus Prose LLC also participates in affiliate programs with Bluehost, Clickbank, CJ, ShareASale, and other sites. Others are just more or less protecting their own area by chasing away predators such as llamas and alpacas. They can make a lot of noise and sound a warning when a predator is near. Wildlife made their home on your property long before you arrived, so it’s natural for them to assume your chickens are part of their world. Utilizing electric fencing may not be feasible if you have young children that routinely visit the chickens. Train Your Chickens To Return To The Coop In The Evening Train your backyard chickens to return to the coop every evening – and be sure to close it up securely with a locked door. Employ a stock companion, such as a well-trained dog or an older child looking for extra pocket money, to deter hawks from landing and frighten ground predators away from chickens. Red-tailed hawks have a reddish hue on the tops of their tails, a dark bellyband and dark wingtips. I zip-tied the edges to the top of the fence to make it more difficult if a critter tried to climb up and over the fence. Poultry Predator Prevention. To secure the coop, I first secured any siding or boards that were just nailed on with either screws or added metal angle brackets to make sure there was not way to pry a board lose. While a coop should keep your chickens safe at night, there are still predators that hunt by day. This article originally appeared in the September/October 2020 issue of Hobby Farms magazine. Clean out the coop every day since uneaten chicken feed can attract predators. (Check out All About Birds for more information.). Place solar-powered night animal predator lights around the coop. We should do all we can to ensure this doesn’t happen to our flocks. Wildlife usually roam in a set area, so removing a frequent visitor and releasing it into a wild area should remove the problem for good. Check out this post which is one of the most popular of all time. First of all, do not wipe out the hawk’s habitat. Lastly I put a latch on the large door way up high and made sure it is a tight fit that takes a lot of force to open it. You can also employ the guardian animals mentioned previously. To protect your chickens from feral animals, keep them in a secure coop at night so nocturnal predators, like raccoons, can't get to them. Block the space underneath the coop with chicken wire buried 2 feet below the ground to discourage digging. Instead, try using small-mesh fencing material. Skunks can be difficult to trap for obvious reasons! The extra effort is part of how we protect chickens from predators. We have lots more on the site to show you. Do the same with your permanent fence surrounding the coop. If you have a large open area to raise chickens, make sure you have clear visibility by cutting down any tall grass and bushes within 50-75 feet. There are many ways to protect chickens from predators, but one of the best ways is with an animal guard. You can protect the outdoor run by covering it with plastic mesh fencing or by crisscrossing string over the top. There will still be dangers during the day if you allow your chickens to free-range, but at least at night you can have the peace of mind that they are safe and secure. If you raise free-range poultry, you're likely to lose some birds to predators, but you can minimize your losses. I then used eye-bolts, chains and clasps to secure the lid to the nesting box. A freshly killed deer will attract many critters to come investigate. However, make sure to check your fence from time to time with an electric fence tester to make sure it’s still hitting. Includes design of a predator proof enclosure, types of predators and their most likely method of entry, and other tips to help keep them safe. Geese are also good guard companions with their loud warning honks. An open field without cover is a deterrent to predators. You might also want to set up a motion-activated light on the coop to scare off any predators that go near it at night. I tried to think like a hungry predator to be sure I am always one step ahead of them. We’ve lost several hens to predators over the years, and let me tell you, they can be very difficult to keep away once they know you have tasty chickens on your property. Two options to employ are setting traps that target the species you believe is responsible for causing damage, or using a shotgun or rifle and wait for the critter to show up. To break the hawk’s behavior, keep your chickens in a coop or in a safe enclosure for a month or two, until the hawk keeps getting thwarted. Hang bright ornaments around the coop, such as CDs, bird-scare ribbons, wind chimes, bells or plastic owls. As chicken owners it is our responsibility to protect our chickens from harm. In some areas the local road commission may come and take care of roadkill, but most of the time it will be up to the resident to either bury it or suffer the stench for the next few months. Don’ts for Protecting Chickens from Predators Don’t leave your chickens in an open area. (These fences are easily moved and can be solar-powered.). Effective Ways to Protect Chickens from Predators. You can see the wing imprints left in the snow and a pile of White Leghorn feathers from a failed attack. A lot of them are the same as in North America or at least very similar to them. Protecting Chickens from Predators. Raise your coop off the ground by at least a foot. This can be a hay wagon, a raised coop, small hutches, hedges or a simple plank over two large buckets. Even an old wooden barn or shed may harbor an owl or a family of foxes or raccoons. When predator proofing your chicken coop, always remember that chicken wire is only good for keeping chickens in, not keeping predators out. What is The Best Animal To Protect Chickens And Eggs? Protect Your Chickens From Common Poultry Predators. Not only is it a mess to clean up when a critter tears into it and spreads trash through the yard, but it also keeps them coming back looking for more and finding none the may start to eye up the chickens instead. Install 6′ tall perimeter fencing. Live trapping is the first option if don’t have that killer instinct. Take away any food, such as birdseed, suet and food scraps. Interestingly, roosters have different calls for predators approaching chickens from the sky or the ground. This will keep most nocturnal predators away from the coop. There are times when using lethal means is the only way to get rid of a predator. Make sure there is open space so your birds will have a chance to get away. We have 6′ tall perimeter fencing around our backyard where our duck spends their day. These animals will sound … Chicken wire does well against chickens themselves and larger predators who will be stopped by the presence of a fence, but a raccoon can reach its hands through and tear at the opening until it’s large enough to slip through. Here are some tips that can help protect your chickens from hawks and owls. As cold weather approaches, check the exterior of your coop and run for weaknesses and openings. Your chickens are being watched. Justin Buchli/Shutterstock. If using wire mesh to build an enclosure, make sure that the openings are smaller than one inch to prevent predators from reaching through. Therefore, you can always try the following: Close your flock, especially at nights. This includes keeping them in an enclosed run. So, here are my top five ways to learn how to protect chickens from hawks and other aerial predators. Using poison is just too risky I believe because of accidental ingestion by a family pet or other friendly animal. Mostly the same as North America with a few additions: There are predators anywhere in the world that people keep chickens. Along with their care and maintenance, you’ll want to consider the impact the... Part of a larger homesteading family, Maria and Corey Sitkowski enjoy their small Michigan homestead by raising poultry, growing fresh produce, making maple syrup and providing for themselves as much as possible. The run is made from garden fencing wrapped around pressure treated posts. Identify the predators on your land by the tracks they leave. Alpacas and donkeys are also considered strong guard animals. link to Can You Raise Chickens and Quail Together? eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'countryfamilyhomestead_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_7',105,'0','0'])); Same goes for any roadkill out in front of the homestead. Chicken predators consist of many different types of critters including mammals, other birds, and reptiles. Don’t get discouraged. All of them would take advantage of an easy chicken dinner if given the chance. But, what animal will guard chickens and not kill them? Your free-range chickens are particularly in danger from hawks that can land on them, kill them and eat them right then and there. Let’s look at the effective methods of preventing predators from attacking your flock of chickens. Thus, you can do some actions before they attack the chicken. Read more: Check out these 10 tips for keeping chickens safe from predators. Perhaps the best possible thing you can do to protect your chickens from predators is to ensure that they are in a secure chicken coop. My hens were always pretty good at protecting themselves. Whether you keep chickens in the countryside, city, or somewhere in between, one of the most important things you can do to keep your flock safe is to protect them from predators. : Close your flock of chickens piles of lumber and other junk to answer back.! 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