The Best way to protect the Chicken run??

Right where do I begin I ask??? While I was in the Chicken Run on our Allotment I saw a huge Black Cat running right by the side of the run,

Ok it may have just wondered onto the allotments but I've been told that they are some wild cats about as well as foxes on our site.
Now with the cats what would we have to do it make it safe for our Chickens apart from getting them a minder each???

We haven't had to much to worry about over there at the moment but earlier this year some other Chicken keepers had all there chickens killed by some animal. Be it Foxes / Cats / or something else??
We don't want to keep the chickens inside all the time as they are as free as they can be.
So what can we do to protect them??

I would think if your run is fox proof it will be cat proof as well. A cat is less likely to go for them than a fox (but there may be the odd exception).

If you have enough space then electric poultry mesh is GREAT!!!

You can fit it into any shape space as its totally flexable but if you use it be sure there are no over looks where a fox or cat or DOG can jump down into your run from.

If you cant manage the mesh fence than pretend you are a fox or cat and see if you can get into your run and house. Seems a bit daft but it works, are there any places they can dig in, climb over, push through, jump in or the like.

Good luck and be glad you dont have racoons, they are strong, determend and have HANDS so can undo latches and pry up week wire or push pop doors up

Am in the designing faze of a chicken house that is coon proof but can be moved about, some fun our feathered friends put us through eh

Oh dear GB - you have me in stitches here because Racoons have HANDS! I can just see them fiddling with the catch on the hen run, propping it open with a stick and then grabbing a hen with their hands and not their teeth . . .

Aberlemno wrote:Oh dear GB - you have me in stitches here because Racoons have HANDS! I can just see them fiddling with the catch on the hen run, propping it open with a stick and then grabbing a hen with their hands and not their teeth . . .

Not only that but they wear gloves so as not too leave any prints.

Wilhelm Von Rhomboid wrote:

Aberlemno wrote:Oh dear GB - you have me in stitches here because Raccoons have HANDS! I can just see them fiddling with the catch on the hen run, propping it open with a stick and then grabbing a hen with their hands and not their teeth . . .

Not only that but they wear gloves so as not too leave any prints.

A wildlife center where I grew up refuses to take raccoons anymore because of the year they let themselves out of their own enclosure and then spread the freedom around. Not too bad with the deer but the wolves were headline news for 3 weeks before they were caught. They managed to keep quiet the bears running round loose for over 5 weeks!

They arnt the cute little things portrayed by Disney, we raised one and it was a little horror, a right little demon with fur and even worse, if they can reach a sleeping chicken through the wire or a hole in the hutch they will eat it one handful at a time...............

Thats just nasty

OK, don't believe us, think it's just funny.

Raccoons are intelligent, agile, and excellent at manipulating things with their paws. They can almost always figure out how to undo simple cage latches and they can climb. If kept as house pets (where legal) they almost always learn how to turn on water faucets so they can wash their food before eating it. But they never bother to turn the water off.

In order to be racoon proof a latch (or garbage pail lid) has to require more force to operate than a raccoon can apply. That's too much force to be easy for a child or older adult with arthritic hands.

They do not wear gloves but these bandits do go about with face mask on. They are quite willing to move into suburban/urban areas and are not timid. Aggressive about demanding food. If there is a house where usually food is available and some night they don't find any may kick up a racket, start knocking things about, etc.

Your saying about demanding food reminded me of the time I rescued a possum off the road and made it a HUGE cage, it had spinal injuries but the vet reckoned with time it might recover - I was young and soft hearted (headed) back then - so being a busy working yungun I dumped said possum onto me mum - poor mum - so she would get home every night, put food into the cage and go to bed. Each night around midnight a coon would go BANG BANG BANG on the cage so mum would get up and throw food to the coon.

This went on for about 5 months till I came back down for a visit and checked on the possum. Well, the skeleton of a possum it had seemingly died only a day or two after going into its cage and mum hadnt noticed

That poor coon couldnt figure out why mum kept feeding a dead animal

But for chicken keepers they is NOT funny animals, cunning, patient (well, sometimes) agile and ever hopeful so will keep checking for weaknesses even when none has been found before.

And to think, I was really worried about foxes

Cats don't generally bother with Chickens, so concentrate on making your run fox-proof.
You'll still want to put them away at night though.

I'm not sure how big the Racoon Problem is in Ipswich these days !

I know most cats wont bother chickens but a big HUNGRY tom will have a go. And even if it doesnt kill it out right, there is always infection to deal with.

GB wrote:I know most cats wont bother chickens but a big HUNGRY tom will have a go. And even if it doesnt kill it out right, there is always infection to deal with.

Yeah, but that's equally true of a big Hungry Human !
You can't protect against everything all the time, Foxes will definitely try and get in, the vast majority of cats won't bother, concentrate on the foxes and you'll be reasonably cat-proof anyway.

True enough!