We invite you to join Kimberlee and her family on their homesteading journey. Having a few laying hens in the backyard has almost become the icon of todays self-sufficiency movement. Keep your hens safe with these 24 features youll find on a predator-proof chicken coop. If its just a tunnel between the garden you'll let them used when you're out there only then you can probably get away without them. This protective enclosure for the garden uses chickens as an effective garden pest control along with a moat to protect your crops. To have a predator-proof chicken tunnel, youll need wiring that is designed to protect your chickens. Be sure to add a roof. The wire mesh, corrugated plastic, J-clips and a pair of J-clip pliers add about $115 to the cost of each frame kit (and you will have lots of wire mesh and plastic leftover). We've got one of the best predator proof chicken coop plans. Make sure to pay close attention to the corners where you attach the seams of the fencing material together. Especially in conjunction with hardware cloth, this can be an effective approach. They will be stress free and this helps to keep your flock healthy and happy. I had a few raccoons that werent affected by the Predator Guard for some reason (they were chill raccoons, I guess), but the deterrent spikes I placed on top of fences where they were coming from helped 100%. The hoop coop structures have the option of being a dual purpose building - livestock and vegetable production. Some predators seek out chickens from the air and others hunt on the surface. Chickeneers put their thinking caps on and come up with some unique ways to incorporate chunnels in a backyard, around a garden, up and over existing chunnels, and even underground passes. , Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures. Unless you plan to use this system with meat chickens or, as in our case, your chickens are still young, you could expand upward. But youre smarter than they are. Movable chicken runs, such as a chicken tunnel (also called a chunnel) for garden pathways, or a round fertilization station to go around fruit trees, solve many of these problems. For more information, call Circo at 877-762-7782. Its intended for three or four hens, costs only about $100 in materials and can be assembled in a few hours from standard welded wire fencing. This portable chicken coop plan includes an inexpensive plastic doghouse, slightly modified, to shelter the chickens. Do's for Protecting Chickens from Predators. Greedy little pigs, thats not very likely to happen. By making these simple changes, you can help keep your birds safe from harm. But there are hidden challenges with free ranging. Your chickens could even decide to range on top of your car, in your garden, or in the middle of the road. You dont have to step over tunneling with this subterranean corridor by providing your chickens an underground connector! Whether you already live on a homestead, are transitioning onto one, or are only thinking about it, 52 Homestead Skills will help turn your dreams into a life worth living. Also, its important to realize that raccoons have paws that work a lot like human hands and theyre very smart when it comes to opening your chicken coop door! To create the roof of the movable coop, lay two sheets of plywood side-by-side to create an 8-foot square. It certainly cant hurt to let predators know theres a dog nearby! His discussion of worm composting bins beneath the aisles in his hoophouses (which serve as winter chicken houses) is also fascinating. The less space you allow, the more prone your chickens will be when a predator reaches in to grab your chickens. You can then wire your inner fence to your outer one, as shown in the detail drawing. are hens less friendly when they have a rooster? It will also sit on a 4-by-10-foot raised garden bed. Coop & Run - Design, Construction, & Maintenance. For some chicken keepers/gardeners, this can be an excellent solution a win win for both the flock and the garden. Create your own DIY chicken coop using a truck frame and some basic carpentry skills. This is one of many cheap chicken coop ideas we have to offer. Bonus! Chicken wire was designed to keep chickens in but not predators out. Hubs built door on run fence so we can close off in spring and summer after we get gardening, then we will allow access to garden after our harvest. I grew up with backyard chickens and I can't imagine living without them. A simple way to accomplish this is to cut a piece of string 4 feet long, use it to create the curve, then trace and cut it out. Not to mention, keeping food put away will keep the rats out of your chicken coop. You are using an out of date browser. Predator-proof the run. To prevent predators from reaching in and grabbing your chickens while they are in the chunnels, we recommend using a ", 23-gauge predator-proof wire. , Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures. If you plan to move the chunnel, I recommend cutting a minimum of three 2-foot cross pieces from the optional 8-foot 1-by-3 board in the materials list, and fastening them across the bottom of the frame to keep everything solid. Hands down, my favorite way to prevent animals from burrowing under my chicken coop and run is the predator apron system. Chunnels provide chickens a way to free-range within a controlled environment. Because your chickens have the area to roam within the tunnels, they are not bunched together, where disease loves to thrive. So, my husband, Jrmie, came up with another solution a circular fertilization station that surrounds a tree so the chickens can keep the grass at bay while providing their fertilizer services. Raccoons are so smart that they can open any lock that a 2 year old child can. 3 Methods for Heating Greenhouses for Free. Building your own coop out of quality wood materials is the best way to ensure your coop is predator-proof. We chose to build ours 12 feet long, so we used 12-foot 1-by-3 boards and 12 feet of wire mesh. Definitely not going to end well!). If youre interested in knowing how to use the chicken manure from your coop into the garden, check out our article, Best Manure For The Vegetable Garden. Between the chicken tunnel and manure, youll have an incredible growing space! She is a board-certified entomologist and volunteers for USAIDs Farmer to Farmer program. Tiny invaders like mice may be able to sneak under without a shock, since the very bottom string doesnt always touch the ground. Leg problems. When chickens are overcrowded it makes them susceptible to bad behavior such as feather picking and diseases and illness. DIY Home Biodiesel Production: Make Your Own Fuel. For tips and ideas on building a chicken run, see our guide here. How to keep sparrows/wild birds out of run!? Birds kept in a portable chicken coop on pasture provide delicious, inexpensive eggs, and eggs from birds that get plenty of grass, bugs and seeds to eat are better for you than store-bought eggs (read the results of our egg nutrition testing in The Good Egg). Some predators dig, while others burrow. I will definitely send this post to him. Use pressure treated wood. So, what exactly are the benefits of using a chicken tunnel? Are you ready to explore all there is to know about this thing called a chicken tunnel? If you open windows to provide ventilation for your coop, make sure you protect them with scraps of leftover hardware cloth or wire mesh. Install a predator apron around your chicken coop to deter burrowing and digging predators. The area just in front of the bottom of your fence lines is wasted space. Get the hard wire, and bend it so it will make a little more than half a circle. Learn tips for creating your most beautiful (and bountiful) garden ever. Center it over the ends, and affix it to the top of each end cap with a large washer and a screw. I believe that simple living leads to a better life. Consider adding these features to predator-proof your chicken coop. Theres no way animals can rip the seam apart this way. Construct a Chicken Moat for Effective Garden Pest Control A. The double line of defense discourages most possums, ground hogs and rabbits from trying to harvest free vegetables. All were shrink-wrapped. Unfortunately, the runs unframed wire mesh walls are not strong enough to prevent large dogs from smashing them down and killing the chickens, as Long sadly learned. Consider planting taller perennials to pull double duty as forage and cover from predators. They may even try to range themselves right into your house because those chickens are no fools; they know where the food and treats come from. Circo offers a discount of 30 percent on orders of four kits or more. A floor made of solid material, such as concrete, will make it difficult for predators to dig their way in. We've got one of the best predator proof chicken coop plans. A chicken tunnel, also known as a chunnel, is an extension of the chicken coop/run. Keep your feed under lock and key! In days gone by, rulers of kingdoms would protect themselves by ordering a few thousand serfs to build a moat around the family castle. This coop is so secure that you dont need to lock the birds in the shelter at night. Alternately, you can bury a predator apron just below the surface of the soil, parallel to . When an animal tries to dig underneath your coop, theyre not going to dig at the outskirts of the apron. It seems that everything wants to eat chickens: neighborhood dogs, raccoons, foxes, weasels, and even chicken hawks. Their natural desire is to protect their ladies. Pre-drill a hole through each pair of wooden stops for a locking screw. Do you have a plan to keep your flock safe during a storm? If you built apredator-proof chicken coop that is. This portable coop with a welded iron frame is solid and predator-proof indeed, and it will last forever, but Long reports the steel frame makes it too heavy for some people to move easily (and youd have to find a welder to build it for you if you dont have that skill). Consider diggers. Some chicken owners have gone to great lengths to create a maze of tunnels that are underground, above ground, and even include towering bridges above the yard. I may also earn a commission when you buy through other links on my site. When chickens feel safe, they will be more productive with their egg laying. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. What is the material covering the ground in your outside run? (Just make sure your predator you trap isnt a skunk! The Garden Ark chicken tractor is an open-floored mobile chicken coop, perfect for housing a small flock of backyard hens. Follow when to start seeds indoors, zone 6 tips, and a calendar for your successful indoor seed starting. Over the years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has offered several DIY chicken coop plans, particularly designs for portable chicken coops. It also allows your chickens to get up off the ground to higher levels of safety. Kimberlee Bastien is a homesteader and author who traded her suburban life for a century-old farm where she and her husband challenged themselves to learn 52 homesteading skills in a year. Official BYC Poll: How Often Do You Clean Your Coop? A friend of mine raises chicken. Add outside roosts and perches. Smooth out the temperature range in your greenhouse by adopting one of these strategies for heating greenhouses. The second layer of protection could be an expertly designed predator-proof chicken coop (Amazon), which is a secure enclosure that keeps chickens safe against predators. The chicken moat provides a clean edge around the garden, keeping down the migration of unwanted grasses, weeds and insects into our plot. However, some dogs will go after chickens themselves, so you need to train them not to chase and play with them. The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Another option for securing the bottom of the coop is to use a singleelectric wire near the ground so that a predator such as a rat or a raccoon will get its nose shocked when it tries to burrow under. As long as you have a decent-sized backyard and a little bit of free time and patience, you can enjoy raising chickens and their delicious eggs. Just like with the eggs sitting in the coop overnight, food scraps could work as a predator attractant. Its a super strong engineered wood product and has the extra advantage of being waterproof. I suspect they may work at first, but once nothing happens, predators will realize theyre harmless. The critical part is to make sure the perimeter of the curve is 4 feet long to match the width of the wire mesh when you wrap it over. To see how you can quickly build a predator apron, watch the video below (or keep reading). Thats half the fun of raising chickens) make sure you clean up any scraps they leave behind. Something to consider when building your chunnel is that the frame and covering should be durable enough to withstand predators standing on it or reaching through. Visit the homestead skills page to learn more about this series. The open floor has lots of advantages, the main one being that your flock can graze directly on grass and veggies or scratch around in the soil. Undaunted, Long next designed an ultra-sturdy coop, MOTHERs Mighty Chicken-Mobile, in 2011s Build an Affordable, Portable and Predator-Proof Chicken Coop. Make sure you head out and gather eggs daily so theres less of a temptation for predators to visit your chicken coop. This lip will act as a support for the other large plywood semicircle, which youll screw on when putting them together to create the roof. This will allow the lids to rest flush with the plywood. Try motion activated lights to spook predators away. Having the chicken tunnel fence act as the third support wall of the tunnel, you spend less money on materials. Thank you Pasindu! To make a secure chunnel, youll start with a 4-foot-wide roll of 16-gauge, galvanized wire mesh. What kind of fencing? Some people have commented they thought theyd have to choose between their chickens or their garden but this solution accommodates both! That's why we want you to save money and trees by subscribing through our earth-friendly automatic renewal savings plan. The design is simple and utilizes materials that are long lasting, recyclable, and biodegradable.