Are you looking for ways to predator proof your chicken coop? Have you had a close call with a raccoon or fox? Are there mice or rodents stealing your chicken’s food? Maybe crows or jays stealing their eggs?
There are so many ways these uninvited animals want to get at your girls, their food, or their eggs. Short of trapping and relocating animals, there are other ways to make your coop far less easy – or desirable – for anything except your chickens.
Identify the Predators in your Area
Everybody wants to get to your chickens it seems! From mice and other rodents to raccoons, skunks, foxes, hawks and corvids, bobcats, snakes, coyotes and mountain lions. It isn’t enough to protect your girls from just one type of critter, you have to think of them all. Because even if you don’t have one of these predators now, you could in the future – especially if they find that your girls are easy pickings for a gourmet meal.
Your chickens, of course, need both a coop and a run, and possibly also a forage space. The coop needs to be the most secure, with the run second most secure. The coop is the area where the chickens spend their nights, unprotected by their one and only natural defense: their natural skittishness.
When a chicken goes to roost at night, they go into a kind of stupor. They have no night vision, but on top of that, even the feistiest of hens will turn into a sack of potatoes at night. Many predators like raccoons and skunks are nocturnal. This combination makes unprotected coop chickens easy prey.
The run area also needs to be secure, especially if you leave the connecting door between the run and the coop open at night. The forage area, if available, is the place where you will be monitoring your chicken’s activity. Therefore this is the area which does not need to be nearly as secure. However, you do need at minimum a perimeter to keep the birds in and diurnal animals out.
Knowing which of the animals are likely to be around your neighborhood and what their habits are is key. This will help you prioritize your fortifications for both your coop and run. Talk to your neighbors, compare notes, and then do as much research as you can.
Read on for some ideas on how to predator proof your chicken coop.
Protect from Digging Animals
This is one of the more common breaches which can happen to backyard coops. There are so many kinds of animals that are able to dig to get at chickens and chicken eggs. Of all of the recommendations on this page, probably the most important considerations are to protect from digging animals, because there are so many of them.
Diggers often dig at night, hindering identification and capture. Rats, mice and raccoons in particular can be tenacious. When you think you have addressed one spot, they will come back day after day trying new vulnerable areas.
The coop area should have no space underneath the floor. Or, if you do have space, it should be a minimum of a foot high. Enough for you to easily see under. This is enough to make it an unpalatable hiding place for smaller burrowing rodents. If there is any more narrow space, mice, rats, gophers or chipmunks could build a nest there. It is a good location from the burrowing rodent perspective, because of the close proximity to the chicken’s food.
Once the dirt around the coop is compromised by small diggers like gophers, mice or chipmunks, it then becomes loose, easier to dig, and more easily accessible by larger predators who also dig, like foxes or skunks. A coop apron will resolve digging by large predators outside your coop. However, there are plenty of other animals that could penetrate a simple coop apron, as I discuss below.
Digging around the Chicken Coop
If you are just building your coop, think about the floor. Of three types of floor: dirt, wood and cement, the cement will obviously be the very safest, preventing any animal from getting in at night when the girls are at their most vulnerable. If a solid cement floor is not an option, there are a few ways to fortify a wood or dirt coop floor.
Dirt Floor
If you are planning to have a dirt floor for your coop, it is best to lay down a base of hardware cloth below the entire floor, topped by several inches of dirt. You should not use poultry netting, as that is too thin and will rust through within 3 years. (This is the same as for your raised vegetable beds). Hardware cloth is much sturdier.
The hardware cloth should extend out from the perimeter of the coop by at least 6 inches. The reason I recommend laying the hardware cloth on the inside as well as around the perimeter is that gophers, moles and voles can easily circumvent the hardware cloth apron when placed only on the outside of the coop.
Many people will then reinforce the hardware cloth by securing it to a second layer of welded wire. The welded wire is very sturdy and will not rust. This will add structure to the hardware cloth and protect the edges and the seams. You should also overlap any seams of the base layer hardware cloth by about 6 inches.
Wood Floor
If you have a wood floor under your coop, first inspect the wood to ensure there are no mouse holes or cracks which could be chewed into little rodent access points to your coop. Once you have secured or replaced the wood floor, you need to address the perimeter. A mouse could easily dig from the outside under the coop and then chew a hole in your floor. Trust me on this – it happened to us. While mice aren’t the worst animals to have near the coop, they certainly are a nuisance and will eat through our chicken food much more quickly than the hens would. They may also damage or steal the eggs.
The fastest retrofit for an existing coop is to line the outside with bricks. This is also a good option for the inside of a run. Face the bricks perpendicular to the coop so that you have a protected area of at least 6 inches from the coop. Alternatively, you could also lay the bricks lengthwise but in two rows.
Another method for the perimeter is to pour concrete. You’ll want to dig a trench around the coop 6 inches deep by about 6 inches wide. With this method I can almost guarantee you won’t have any more digging problems. Another option is to just pour base rock (or large gravel) around the outside of the coop about a foot wide and several inches deep. This last method is not foolproof, but it is pretty effective as diggers generally do not like to meddle with the bigger rocks.
Digging around the Run
You also need to think about protecting the run area from diggers, too. In many instances, once nocturnal digging animals penetrate the run, they can then more easily gain access to the coop. Even if you close the connecting door at night, an unsecured run invites predators who’ve discovered the gap to gain access at many times during the day.
Also, your girls will like to dust-bathe and often like to do that near the run’s perimeter. They themselves are actually digging the gaps to allow predators in. You want to make sure your chickens build their dust baths away from the perimeter to prevent compromising their own security.
First, line the perimeter similar to the options above for protecting the coop: with brick, cement or base rock. Brick and cement can be used either on the inside or outside of the perimeter, but base rock should only be used on the outside. Otherwise, the chickens themselves will scratch and remove the base rock.
Also consider building your girls a raised dust bath area away from the edge of the run. You could build a simple raised box, or just use a kiddie pool filled with dirt. This will encourage them to dig away from the run’s fence line and further predator proof your chicken coop.
Visual Deterrents and Plantings
I also really like the idea of putting one or several 2×8 or 2×12 piece of wood along the base of the run. Primarily, this acts as a visual deterrent and many larger animals will not attempt to dig near the wood. However it also prevents raccoons from reaching in through the chicken wire or hardware cloth. It is surprisingly common for raccoons to snap a chicken’s neck right through the run wire. The wood deters this raccoon behavior while still giving the chickens a view and sunshine.
We put down a layer of hardware cloth lining the ground with the 2×12 board on top of the hardware cloth.
I also advocate planting around the outside perimeter of the run. As the plants get bigger, they act as both a visual deterrent and space cushion from predators. Plants gives the chickens something natural to look and peck at, and is pleasant for you as well.
When planting, use evergreen plants that will not get too tall. You still want to be able to see inside. Rosemary has worked very well for us, growing dense and only about a foot tall with trimming. Not only drought tolerant, but the aromatics make it unpalatable to deer and mask the scent of the chickens.
Protect from Overhead Predators
Most commercially available chicken coop/run combos come with overhead protection for the hens. However, some newer chicken owners building their own might not realize that chickens are also vulnerable from overhead predators, too. Hawks, vultures and owls are all known to carry chicks and even full grown hens away – especially smaller breeds such as bantams and silkies.
Additionally, opossums are great climbers and would love the underbelly of your chicken as a tasty gourmet dinner. They could easily climb fencing and get in from the top of an uncovered run. Even corvids such as jays and crows will swoop in to attack your coveted eggs.
Both your coop and run should have secure roofs on them with no gaps between the walls and the eaves. You can often retrofit a run by sinking 4X4 posts and adding 2×4 cross pieces. Metal sheets are easy to install on top of your framework. Just make sure there are no gaps; or, if there are, just cover the open area securely with hardware cloth.
Another option is to cover the top of the run with hardware cloth. If you choose to go this route, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the chickens should have some shade to protect them from excessive heat during the hottest summer months. If you are not building a solid roof, you should site your coop under some shade like a mature tree or grove. You could also plant a vine, however keep in mind that mice and rats like to live in some vining plants, such as ivy or grapevine.
Second, make sure the wire roof has plenty of support. Climbers will get up onto the roof and unsupported wire will sag under their weight at best. The animal could fall through the roof right into your run at worst. Lastly, always overlap the edges of your wire to prevent small rodents from getting in through the seams.
Close all Small Gaps
Rodents and snakes can fit through some extremely small gaps. Some of the more likely spots will be at the door frame, where the eaves connect to the walls, or small holes in the hardware cloth. These all need to be identified and addressed.
One highly effective trick to protect doorways is to add a fence board across the inside of the door opening, as in the photo below. The chickens have no problem hopping the fence board when the door is open and they are allowed to forage. But it effectively prevents against snakes and rodents getting through the doorframe.
Another tip for a quick fix to make ongoing repairs easier is to use gap filler for any aged or warping boards.
Regularly inspect the eaves. Just because you did not have a mouse hole last fall does not mean you won’t have a hole in the spring. Look for sawdust and dirt trails around the joists where the rodents have to go around the framing. These are tell-tale signs of rat activity. Use a piece of metal (like a tuna fish can top) to seal any hole too large for gap filler.
Create Wildlife Corridors
A wildlife corridor is a path that many animals take to travel, usually at night. Many different animals often travel the same paths because they all want to go safely through an area with the least resistance. Examples might be between or behind houses, away from traffic, and wide open areas where they don‘t feel like they will get trapped.
If your property is smaller, it can be fenced. Especially if your coop is inside the fence and away from the perimeter of the exterior fence, this is the safest setup. Smaller predators like raccoons and opossums can climb the exterior fence, so you still need to predator proof your chicken coop. But larger predators such as mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes will not likely penetrate the exterior fence.
Larger properties, ranches and homesteads are far more difficult (and costly) to fence. So we think in terms instead of diverting predators away from the coop and instead to a more acceptable part of your property.
Channel Wildlife away from the Chicken Coop
If you do not have an exterior fence, or your coop is on the edge of your property, a good strategy for further protecting your brood is to channel the wildlife traffic away from the coop. You can do this by creating your own wildlife corridor. This method is not about eliminating wildlife, but instead moving their common routes to another area which is more acceptable and in less conflict with your hens.
This is an effective method for all livestock animals, not only chickens. Rabbits, goats, and other farm animals will all benefit from a wildlife corridor away from their enclosures. This in itself should not be your only method to predator proof your chicken coop. But when used in combination with a secure chicken coop it can be quite effective.
You may think that deer are harmless to livestock. Think again. Where deer travel, coyotes and mountain lions are bound to follow. Just because you have not seen a large predator on your property does not mean they are not there. Even in urban and suburban areas, large predators like cats and even bears are regularly being captured on video doorbells exposing how prevalent they really are.
Many mountain lions in my area are radio collared. When you start tracking them, you might see that they have extremely large ranges. They might only visit an area once a year, but several nights in a row. The first night is often to scout and the subsequent nights are active hunting nights. This is similar to coyotes who move their roaming territories frequently based upon available prey.
By discouraging deer from passing by your coop and encouraging them to travel another pass, you are also discouraging larger predators. If you like seeing the deer, you can still have them pass by or through your property. Just channel them to a different area of your property away from the coop.
To encourage deer and other animals to other acceptable areas, plant foods they would like to eat. Keep the area clear. Position obstacles or visual barriers where you do not want them to travel. If predators have what they need in the sanctioned wildlife corridor, they will not spend as much time finding the gaps in your coop security.
There are many ways to predator proof your chicken coop. No one method is the only right way to protect your hens. However the more layers of protection you can add, the longer you will keep you girls safe.
