Official BYC Poll: How Do You Protect Your Chickens From Predators?

How Do You Protect Your Chickens From Predators?

  • I have a cement floor so they can't dig from underneath

    Votes: 55 11.3%
  • Their coop is raised off the ground

    Votes: 213 43.6%
  • Their run is covered

    Votes: 315 64.5%
  • I have secure latches on all doors, including nest boxes.

    Votes: 310 63.5%
  • They are fenced in with hardware cloth

    Votes: 269 55.1%
  • I have bushes and other hiding places for my chickens to hide under during the day

    Votes: 199 40.8%
  • I have one or more roosters on guard

    Votes: 224 45.9%
  • I've installed an electric fence around my perimeter

    Votes: 48 9.8%
  • I have a motion-activated light near the coop

    Votes: 111 22.7%
  • I have a game cam installed

    Votes: 71 14.5%
  • I have a properly trained guard dog

    Votes: 65 13.3%
  • Predators aren't much of a problem around my area

    Votes: 64 13.1%
  • I hang CD's and other shiny objects around to deter aerial predators

    Votes: 33 6.8%
  • Other (please elaborate in a reply below)

    Votes: 80 16.4%

  • Total voters
    488

BYC Project Manager

Moderator
BYC Staff
Project Manager
Premium Feather Member
13 Years
Feb 22, 2009
1,171
7,453
581
Predators are one of the greatest fears a chicken farmer has. They can be cunning, fast, and very sneaky. Your chickens will be drawing in predators from the next county over! Well, maybe not that far, however somewhere back in these predators' ancient memories they have eaten wild chickens at some point and will come snooping around for a meal day and night. So keeping them safe from predators should be on every chicken keeper's top priority list.

How Do You Protect Your Chickens From Predators? Place your votes above (you may select more than one)

Feel free to share any other ways you keep your chickens safe in the comments section below.

official byc poll (20).png


Further Reading:

Top 10 Chicken Predators
A Checklist To Avoiding Casualties In The Flock
Predators & Pests


(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)
 
Last edited:

BDutch

Natural
7 Years
May 19, 2015
4,286
15,620
817
the Netherlands
My Coop
My Coop
Where I live there are no raccoons , so I don’t need complicated latches. But we do have foxes now and then, and polecats, marters are a possible threat too (in the night). And sometimes we have birds of pray too. Mainly buzzards but I spotted a sparrow-hawk in the pear-tree near the run once too. Because my Dutch are really small this a real hazard.

I keep the chickens in a coop with much hwc and a run with strong netting and hwc (also buried in the ground). Between the coop (quit safe) and the run (less safe) I have an automatic pop door to keep the chickens safe at night.

They stay in the run most of the day and if nobody is at home. But for their health and joy i let the chickens free range too. There wings are not cut. My Duch are good in escaping to safe places. They fly easily on top of the run or over the hedge to the neighbour whenever they spot a dog.
 

Artichoke Lover

Free Ranging
Premium Feather Member
Jul 27, 2020
2,842
13,096
656
Southeast US
My coop is elevated with a lock on the people door. The chicken door is very heavy I’d say around 20 pounds and very hard to lift from the bottom so we don’t have it locked. The run is just a chain link dog pen with a tarp over the top. No wire under the sidesor anything. We have very few daytime predators so the run is less of a concern. Also all gaps in the sides of the coop have hardware cloth to prevent snakes from coming in.
 

RebeccaRN

Songster
Feb 23, 2020
704
1,711
236
NE Oklahoma
My coop is very secure for night time, but during the day they free-range. I have a very large, loud rooster, a huge deck they run under and holly bushes along one side of the yard that they have hiding places in. I also have a large dog who is in and out all day long. The only predator I've ever seen was a small red hawk but the rooster made such a ruckus it scared it away.
 

Abriana

Spicy Sugar Cookie
5 Years
Apr 26, 2017
5,119
57,266
1,227
Lothlórien
I have a lovely rooster who is actually very on-guard, even though he's not much of a fighter (my boy who passed this summer was both! He attacked hawks several times). I also have an electric fence. It's been almost five years and I have had no ground-predator attacks ever, except for one girl who got out of the fence. I've had a LOT of hawk attacks, this year especially, so I installed twine above my fence. Works like a charm! I have a thread about it floating around here somewhere, it's called "Finally got the twine up!" If anyone wants to look at some pictures of it.
 

21hens-incharge

Moderator
BYC Staff
Premium Feather Member
8 Years
Mar 9, 2014
28,270
116,414
1,742
Northern Colorado
I have the following security measures in place:

Solid wood floors on all coops
Covered runs
Motion activated light (originally intended to give me light while my hands are full)
Hardware cloth on all windows and vents
Predator resistant anti-dig apron
AND to keep pesky human predators out there are padlocks on all coops and runs. Yes I have had human intruders.

As I am in town and close everyone into the coops at night I am ok with chain link on my big run, cattle panels and chicken wire on the hoop run and 2x4 welded wire with chicken wire on my bantam run.
 
Sep 27, 2020
526
836
156
Northern California
Predators are one of the greatest fears a chicken farmer has. They can be cunning, fast, and very sneaky. Your chickens will be drawing in predators from the next county over! Well, maybe not that far, however somewhere back in these predators' ancient memories they have eaten wild chickens at some point and will come snooping around for a meal day and night. So keeping them safe from predators should be on every chicken keeper's top priority list.

How Do You Protect Your Chickens From Predators? Place your votes above (you may select more than one)

Feel free to share any other ways you keep your chickens safe in the comments section below.

View attachment 2517029

Further Reading:

Top 10 Chicken Predators
A Checklist To Avoiding Casualties In The Flock
Predators & Pests


(Check out more exciting Official BYC Polls HERE!)
Other: I have hardware cloth dug in a 2 ft skirt around the coop.
 

ackie

previously jwehl // dogs & cats & squirrels oh my!
Nov 3, 2020
5,155
15,997
566
Atlanta GA
My coops are definitely lacking on security, but when I have losses, I set up live traps to deal with whatever the problem was. During the day, my birds have a zillion places to hide and I dont think I've had many daytime issues. My biggest risk is broodies on hidden nests.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Top Bottom