High coop entrance that raccoons and rodents can't climb

[noodleroo]

2 weeks ago I was working in the garden, heard a noise behind me and turned around to see a rat snake wrapped around a rat sticking out of a small space in my eves! It was about a 5' snake and a pretty big rat and I have no idea how either one of them got up there! Racoons and rats can climb really well; make your coop as secure as possible and hope for the best. I still like the idea of putting dog hair around the coop to discourage these kind of predators.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Well my 2 cents worth. I spent 200.00 and a weekend building a coop for my 6 week old chicks using ideas from here and thought it would be semi portable wrong again. Now I already have a large coop (really 3) already made but the roof needs fixing and we decided to do more work so I could do deep litter bedding ect....now that coop keeps possums out raccoons out foxes out but mice like it but it will not keep anything out without a new roof. WE did learn what not to do now that I'm building portable tractors and the first baby coop is still good to use just not the way we thought it would work. My suggestion is to try your ideas I did have a back up plan as I have 2-12x12 horse stalls that can work. I live where without good protection my chickens would be toast sounds like that is your case too. I would start very small and then add after you learn what works for you. The first priority should be the absolute safety of your animals they do cost more than you think to raise them up. Good luck it should work out if you start small and learn as you go.

 

[merryberry]

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Its not cruel to do less than 1000% protection for animals, but it is cruel to subject them to conditions which others have already warned you will cause said animals undue/unnecessary stress.

 

[Lumenos]

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They can climb wood because they can sink their sharp claws into it, just like a cat. A climb-prevention barrier must be, not only smooth, but a hard enough substance that a claw can't scratch or bend it. Metal or strong plastics are used.

Either that or it can't be fixed to something where a claw might bend or puncture it. For example, on the Raccoon's Can't Jump site, they are using a thin piece of sheet metal, but it has no backing so a raccoon should not be able to bend or puncture it with a claw.

 

[Lumenos]

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That would be a truism wouldn't it?

What evidence is there that a brown leghorn will be highly adverse to flying up to a perch? I have heard of heavier chickens flying up to roosts at least 5 feet off the ground, maybe 6 or 7. And that is almost vertical.

Regardless, this part is easy to test with little risk to the birds. First, see how high they will fly. Angel does this when she sees me above her brooding pen. Maybe all I will have to do is put her in consecutively taller boxes with the top open. Or I could put fresh corn on a table with a rubber mat on it. Raise table an inch. Put her back on the ground (in box). In my experience, when she wants to be up somewhere, if I put her back down she flies right back up.

If that works, then I raise the coop and find I cannot get the chickens/muscovies to go in at dusk, I will come to the same conclusion as you, and no harm done.
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Is the pressure when the birds see a raccoon/dog outside the coop and so might go towards the raccoon, and then jump to the ground where the raccoon is?

-- There is nothing more about poultry beyond this point --

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I know what a theory is; I was a research biologist for years before 'retiring' to momhood and chickenkeeping

If I was suggesting that a generalization was certain (like you are) I would call it theorizing. When I explain a hypothetical plan for the purpose of learning what is wrong with it, I call that speculation. But yes, the words can be synonymous so we'll say you win that point.
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In what way am I relying on anything, by asking a question or presenting a hypothesis for peer review? Is this not a good scientific process: Discuss hypotheticals, form hypotheses, test hypotheses...?
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Choice-optimization involves theory but that doesn't mean they are equivalent. Choice optimization is a means of planning for multiple possibilities when you don't know what will happen. If your theories are so unquestionably certain that you can predict animal behavior in any relevant situation, then you have no need for a choice-optimization strategy.
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Surely you do not expect a written brain-dump of every event and instance of each person's entire experience with poultry and predators. In addition to being difficult for you to absorb, it would be ridiculous to expect anyone to type in page after page of "I saw this, I saw that, this happened, this other thing happened."

What's ridiculous Pat, is that you think I'm suggesting people write page after page. I gave specific examples of what I was suggesting. Ironically, we are writing page after page about the definition of a theory, etc. It is much easier than research.
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I do find much of it useful, jeese! I have been saying so and changing the plans as a result.

 

[Lumenos]

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I've heard of turkeys roosting in trees and I think I have heard the same of muscovies.
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Well that's refreshing. Many people here are so much more compassionate toward animals than what I am used to. I wonder if that is why they became poultry farmers or if this is the natural reaction of the average person who sees when the animals are suffering or happy. Our highly specialized culture turns the horrors of war, prisons, sweat shop labor, and animal exploitation, into pleasant commodities with no hint of a past.

I'm not sure if you know what I am planning or not. Chickens are in a coop. Raccoons come. Chickens see raccoons through a wire window. Chickens are stressed? How does this situation differ whether the coop entrance is protected by a "climb-proof" barrier or a door?

I suppose I could test a climb-proof barrier without using poultry as the bait.
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This might seem a bit self-serving but I think if you really wanted to help my livestock you would help me to do so. They could have ended up in some rich kid's Easter basket only to be discarded when they lost their cuteness.

 

[Lumenos]

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I love my birdies and I don't want to cause them any unnecessary stress. How many people use very thick 1/4" hardware cloth on a window to help the animals know they are safe?

What should I do different? Have a wood floor instead of wire?

 

[mightieskeeper]

This is the worst thread ever. I would delete it.
Weld wire fence. The best insurance is a good fence.
My run has a roof and wire underneath it. Ryan

 

[gibsonbuzz]

I once had a electrical helper that was a laid off computer engineer that thought becoming an electrician was a piece of cake. He over analyze everything he did, instead of using the proven methods that have been used since the dawn of electricity. The same could be said here, There are lots of coops here that are inexpensive, yet predator proof. Just look around.

 

[patandchickens]

How many people use very thick 1/4" hardware cloth on a window to help the animals know they are safe?

Uh, many, possibly most, of the folks on this forum.

Lumenos, you've not managed livestock real much, have you?

This is not an engineering or computer-modelling or product-design question.

If you think what's needed is "research" rather than ears and eyes, and "Let's see what we can induce an individual to do a few times, or what animals do in one type of situation, then use that as a design parameter for a complex system that will operate under much different conditions"... hey, go for it, spend your time and money, get your chickens eaten.

Done with having tried to help you,


Pat​