Chicken Cage project(s)

Healthier4u&me

Hello all, new here! We are on our second chicken cage; size is about 12 feet square and 10 feet high, all covered with the wire that is less than 1" squares (maybe 1/2" squares). We have squirrels that can get into chicken wire and eat the eggs, we have badgers that bury under and we have chicken hawks that attack from on high. The predators are fierce where we are. So we've gotten serious. Same for the garden. The first cage will now be the garden. Challenge accepted and conquered.

Torey

Welcome to TGN's forum @Healthier4u&me.

How many chickens do you have?

LaurieLovesLearning

@Healthier4u&me Chickens are my thing. I've been breeding jersey giants & French black copper marans for many years. I have experience in a few other various breeds & birds as well.

You've picked good wire if you've chosen 1/2" welded wire otherwise known as hardware cloth. Chicken wire is only good to keep poultry in as you know. It keeps nothing out...and it rusts quickly.

I always think how very lucky people have been if they have bigger holes in their choice of wire. It amazes me how non-chalant they are and brag about how "proofed" their coop or run may be. 😬 It's just a feast waiting to happen. Even if you have the best guard dog or dogs around, things can still happen. Build wisely, and the only issue you might have will be weasels. Those are really horrible and are next to impossible to guard against.

You are correct, that predators dig. Our main ones here have been foxes, weasels, mink, & skunk, but bears & great horned owls could be a possibility. The coyotes have a taste for beef, thanks to our neighbor's deadstock pile, so they leave our birds alone.

Have you considered installing a skirt all around the perimeter of your run? Most of our pens have dirt floors, so we have 2' of hardware cloth laid down all around each pen. You can alternatively dig it into the ground vertically, but laying it down is so much easier! Grass will eventually grow through & hold it down unless you want to put gravel or other plants in that space. We put down bricks or something kind of heavy until we are comfortable with the growth through the wire. As that dies, it also naturally gets matted underneath. The idea is that predators hit a wall of sorts and then will dig down. It's recommended that 2' be either the width or depth.

We have tightened heavy tarps over our pens. Did you do wire over yours?

Pictures are always welcomed! 😉

Monek Marie

All great plans.

I also have about every predator born that roams my property. Minks and fishers are the worst. the one fisher rolled my one pen over. It looked like a bear attacked it.

I did what @LaurieLovesLearning did with hardware cloth to keep the beasts from digging in. I also have a roof on my pen. I tried tarping it, but snow weighed it down too much.

I finally gave up and fenced my garden area this last season too.

And welcome to TGN @Healthier4u&me

LaurieLovesLearning

@Monek Marie A fisher. Oh. That's like a mink. No mercy. It's interesting that it would destroy a pen like a bear might.

Hmm...I forgot to mention raccoons, however, they haven't gotten to our birds.

Monek Marie

@LaurieLovesLearning I have raccoons too. I have to keep an eye out of them before they get brave and try to come around. I had one scale the coop and try to rip out the small air vent. It did rip out the vent but it was small so it could not get in that way. I discovered it at 8:30 pm, right before sunset and had to find a piece of hardware cloth to cover it. Eight foot above ground and I am working on it in the dark on a shaky ladder! Needless to say, all coop vents had another layer of hardware put on top of any vent.

Fishers in this area are like a skinny looking bobcat, ugly and mean. They attack anything around here including cats and small dogs. They can rip wire out of pens and and I found out even roll smaller pens. They like creeks so I have to watch for them too.

LaurieLovesLearning

Fishers ate all the cats in my parents' area one year. They are in a wetland area.

They do like wetter areas. Mink do too. We've had two of those. The first one was killed by our dog at the time. We came home to a very happy dog with blood on her front and a big hole in the backyard, somewhat close to the birds. No birds lost. She didn't even have a scratch. The mink...wasn't so fortunate. 😁

Monek Marie

@LaurieLovesLearning You are lucky the dog did not have injuries. Minks are very nasty and mean.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Monek Marie We knew then (really, it was confirmed further) that we had a great dog. It was a Norwegian Elkhound. They work animals differently than other dogs and fighting is different and only done a last resort. She figured the mink out & figured out how to defeat it with no damage to herself.

As well bred purebreds (not all are bred anymore for the hunting excellence they are historically known for), these are a top breed for us.