Читать книгу Hobby Farm Animals - Chris McLaughlin - Страница 54

It’s no fun—for you or your birds—when hungry midnight marauders visit the chicken coop. The best way to thwart potential predators is to lock your birds inside a safe, secure chicken coop at night. Another approach, if it’s legal in your state, is to humanely trap and relocate bothersome nighttime marauders.

After sundown, block or screen in every door, window, and any other crack or portal in the outside walls. To be effective, screening must be small-holed and made of strong material. A mink or weasel can easily slip through 1-inch chicken wire, and larger species can simply rip it down. Choose ¾-inch or smaller mesh galvanized hardware cloth for screening windows and building outdoor enclosures to save your chickens’ lives.

To discourage chicken-swiping predators, install concrete block foundations into coop floors, set at least two rows high. In addition, bury outdoor enclosure fencing at least 8–12 inches into the earth. Make sure the buried fencing is toed outward, away from the fence line. If winged predators, such as daytime hawks or nighttime owls, pursue your birds, cover the outdoor enclosure with chicken wire; for this purpose, it works nicely.

If your birds range freely and you live where chicken-thieving hawks wreak havoc, think camouflage. For example, don’t choose a white-feathered breed. Plant ground cover—bushes, hedges, and flower beds—so that your chickens can hole up in the greenery when predators soar above.

If predators are simply getting into your feed, secure container lids using bungee cords. The key word is secure for both your chickens and their feed.