13 Ways to Protect Your Chickens from Predators
13 Ways to Protect Your Chickens from Predators
When we first got our backyard chickens, my biggest concern was how to protect them from predators. The only way to keep your flock safe from hungry wild animals is to keep them locked in a predator-proof chicken run and coop. But I knew that I wanted to free-range them to keep them happy and healthy, so I had to figure out ways to keep them as safe as possible.
If you’re keeping chickens in an urban area, don’t assume you won’t have to worry about predators. While it is true that rural areas do have more predators to worry about, urban area chicken owners also need to prepare for them.
As chicken owners, it is up to us to keep our feathered friends safe from predators. After we lost 4 chickens and 9 guinea fowl in one summer, I knew I had come up with other strategies to keep them safe while free-ranging. Even just employing one or two of these can significantly reduce your risk of missing birds.
13 Ways to Protect Your Chickens from Predators
- Predator-proof your run and coop
- Keep your property clean
- Scent deterrents
- Decoys
- Fencing
- Roosters
- Guard dog
- Motion-activated lights
- Predator eye lights
- Only let them free range at certain times of day
- Use a chicken tractor
- Lock them up at night
- Put up cameras
Before we get into more detail on how to protect your backyard chickens from predators, let’s look at the most common predators that our chickens will face.
Most Common Predators
Whether you’re in rural or urban areas, the most common chicken predators are foxes, coyotes, raccoons, and birds of prey.
While foxes are most active from dusk to the early morning hours, they will attack chickens at all hours of the day. Foxes are smart, sneaky, and extremely patient. They will watch your flock over several days or weeks to notice any routines you have developed with your backyard chickens. They will learn when your chickens are most vulnerable and a fox attack will usually leave no trace. They will grab the chicken and take it to their den or a secure spot and it’s there where you will see a pile of feathers.
Coyotes are also nocturnal animals, but they will hunt during broad daylight if they have pups to feed. They are like foxes in that you won’t see any trace of coyote attacks. However, coyotes will dig under pens and fenced areas to gain access to what they want. They can also jump over fences as high as 6 feet.
Raccoons are nocturnal and will hunt your chickens at night. Raccoons typically go for the easy kill and attack while the chickens are sleeping. If you use chicken wire on your coop and run, a raccoon can reach through and grab a sleeping chicken and pull its head or body through the wire. To learn more, check out this article.
Weasels are also nocturnal and hunt sleeping chickens, or free-ranging chickens that are out later. Weasels usually enter a chicken coop through a small hole and can take out an entire flock of chickens. If you can fit a quarter through any opening, a weasel can also get in.
You can identify a weasel attack by finding your chickens with neck injuries. Weasels usually bite the neck or head and drag the body away. A few years ago, we found a trail of blood leading to the body of one of our chickens with its throat ripped out. It was devastating.
Birds of prey including hawks, eagles, and owls will attack free-range chickens if given the chance. A clear sign of an attack from one of these aerial predators, is scattered feathers left behind. The first summer I had chickens, and they were free-ranging, I heard a chicken squawking loudly. I looked out the window and saw a hawk attacking one of my ladies! I immediately ran outside and scared the hawk away. Thankfully our hen, Big Ticket was unharmed, but her feathers were everywhere!
A few other less common predators, but ones to still take note of, are opossums, cats, snakes, wolves, bobcats, mountain lions, and bears.
Now that we know what predators chicken keepers need to be aware of, let’s look at 13 ways you can protect your feathered friends.
PREDATOR PROOF YOUR COOP AND RUN
The best way to make your chicken coop and chicken run predator-proof is to wrap the entire run in ¼” hardware cloth. Hardware cloth is a woven hardware mesh that forms a metal fabric, making it much more durable than chicken wire. As I already mentioned, raccoons and large predators can bend, break, and reach through chicken wire, to pull chickens through. They are not able to do this with hardware cloth.
In addition to wrapping the sides in the woven mesh, you want to also add it to the top if you don’t have an actual roof to protect against raccoons and aerial predators. We put the hardware cloth on top of our run and then covered it with plywood for additional protection and shade.
To prevent predators such as coyotes from digging under the run, make sure to bury a 6-12” apron of hardware cloth around the perimeter of the run. We originally thought we were going to bury hardware cloth on the entire floor of the run but opted just to bury a 6” hardware cloth apron.
One final inspection to make sure your run and coop are predator-proof is to see if you have any weak points or can fit a quarter through any small hole. If a quarter can fit through an opening, so can smaller predators, so add hardware cloth!
KEEP YOUR PROPERTY CLEAN
By eliminating easy food sources from your property, you won’t unknowingly attract scavengers that could harm your flock. Eliminate any food scraps or pet food and store your garbage bins inside your garage or barn. If that isn’t an option, make sure your garbage can lids are secure and cannot be easily opened by hungry wildlife.
If you have any tall grass, keep that mowed down. We have a small area behind our chicken coop that is a prairie area that we didn’t mow very often. But after losing so many birds, we realized that predators were hiding in the tall grass and waiting patiently until a chicken came close enough for a quick, easy meal.
SCENT DETERRENTS
Using scent deterrents is an easy way to discourage predators from coming onto your property. Most wildlife has a strong sense of smell so spraying the perimeter of your property with wolf urine is a great way to deter foxes, coyotes, feral cats, weasels, and even bears!
Human urine works as well. Hehe! I’ve given the green light to my husband and stepson to pee around our property to help with our fox and coyote problem. Luckily, we live in a rural area where we don’t have neighbors that are close. If you live in an urban area or have close neighbors, I wouldn’t recommend this. However, you could store urine in jars and spread that around your property.
If you have a raccoon problem, they hate scents like garlic, peppermint oil, and Epsom salts.
Birds of prey can be repelled by using peppermint oil as they find that scent overwhelming.
DECOYS
We have used a fake owl to scare away hawks, snakes, and raccoons. If you use a fake owl, you will want to move it around every few days. If the decoy doesn’t move, the animals will learn it is harmless.
FENCING
Installing electric fencing or a regular fence with plastic fence spikes that is at least 6 feet tall can help to deter some predators. Coyotes are good climbers, so adding some barbed wire may help. If you live in an area where bears are a concern, the only thing that will stop a bear is an electric fence.
ROOSTERS
After we lost over half of our birds, we introduced a rooster into our flock to help protect them. Once a rooster is established into his flock, he will give up his life to save his ladies from a predator. Since we got King, our rooster, we have only lost one chicken while they were free-ranging, so he has been a good guard animal.
GUARD DOG
There are dogs that have been bred to protect livestock, typically called Livestock Guardian Dogs, or LGD’s. A few examples of LGD breeds are Great Pyrenees, Sheepdogs, and Shepherds. However, I think with proper training, any medium to large-sized family dog can be a great way to protect your backyard chickens. If you want to know what the best guard dogs are for chickens, check out this article.
When I let my chickens free-range, I like to have my dog, Bailey out. She is about 35 pounds and a mix of Beagle and Husky. Many predators like foxes and raccoons will avoid conflict, so just her presence alone will scare them off. Another bonus is that coyotes hate loud noises, so if Bailey saw one, her bark would scare them off.
MOTION-ACTIVATED LIGHTS
Motion-activated lights are an effective way to keep predators away. When these lights detect motion and turn on, they will scare away many different predators. We have motion sensor solar lights on the front and back of our chicken house.
PREDATOR EYE LIGHTS
We have 4 predator eyes lights around our chicken run. Predator Eyes are a device that you attach to your chicken run with red flashing LED lights that turn on at dusk and turn off at sunrise. Nighttime predators see these flashing lights and believe them to be the eye of another animal, so they stay away. I have never had a night attack, or any attack for that matter, on my birds while they were locked up in their predator-proof run.
ONLY LET THEM FREE RANGE AT CERTAIN TIMES OF DAY
When I first started letting my chickens free-range, I had an automatic chicken door that would let them out as soon as the sun was up and would close as the sun was setting. But once I learned that most of these predators start hunting well before dusk to well after dawn, I took the batteries out of the automatic chicken door and kept it closed.
Now I only let my chickens free range in the middle of the day for a few hours, or when I am out there to supervise.
USE A CHICKEN TRACTOR
A chicken tractor is a portable pen covered in chicken wire that you can use to contain your chickens and move around your yard. This will give them the benefits of free-ranging without the risk.
Your chickens will quickly burn through the grass in their run, so it’s beneficial and mentally stimulating for them to be able to forage in real grass. Just make sure there is plenty of room for each chicken, so they aren’t cramped like in the pic above.
LOCK THEM UP AT NIGHT
With most of their predators being nocturnal, an effective solution to keep your chickens safe is to keep them locked up at night. When chickens roost and sleep, they go into a trance and become easy prey. If they are locked up in a secure coop, then they will be safe while sleeping and vulnerable.
Just make sure there are no small holes that small animals could get through!
PUT UP CAMERAS
If you notice that parts of your chicken run or coop look like there has been some predator activity, it would be a good idea to put up cameras to see what animals are trying to get in. By seeing how and which animals are trying to get in, you can get ahead of them and put appropriate measures in place to keep your chickens safe.
I had one of my cameras pick up a cat circling my chicken run. The cat didn’t attempt anything, but I felt good knowing my chickens were safe in their predator-proof run.
By following some or all of these protective measures, you can sleep well knowing that your chickens are safe from predators. If you are always trying to stay several steps ahead of these hunters, then your feathered friends will be well protected.
Related Posts:
Choosing the Best Guard Dogs for Chickens
Do Raccoons Eat Chickens?
16 Ways to Keep Chickens from Leaving Your Yard
Can Chickens Eat Dog Food?
Do Black Chickens Keep Hawks Away?
What Animals Kill Chickens Without Eating Them?
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Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular article! Its the little changes that produce the largest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Thanks for reading! I’m so happy you found it helpful!