What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[TP2008]

Hello All-

Some of the posts are so amusing! "Raccoons are so cute...." "I have not seen a raccoon..." "Are raccoons the animals with the cute bandit masks..."

We here in the US have a serious raccoon issue....We love our Cube and the WIR. The run was not designed to protect attacks from raccoons. They are amazingly dexterous with their little thumbs (they have a pincer grasp like us). We lost three of our sussex to a family of raccoons judging by the bloody footprints on top of the coop. Completely a newbie mistake as we did not lock them inside the coop. They were dragged from below though the wires as pullets.

If a three year old can figure it out, so can a raccoon!

We live in an urban area in St Paul, MN and have quite a few raccoons around as well as hawks and the very occasional fox and coyote. However, raccoons are the real threat with this run. We cannot have roosters in the city, so no ability to have a warning sound for predators!

We have the cube now enclosed within a walk in run.

After speaking to our local DNR (Department of Natural Resources) I thought I would let you all know what I have done here to protect the girls against raccoons.

I have CABLE tied (exhaustively) the upper level of the run and covered with half clear/half shade vinyl tarp. The sides of the run I placed green 1/2 inch vinyl covered hardware cloth that is two feet high. I also have an internal predator skirt as the run sits on the grass. Just some 12 inch hardware cloth cable tied to the edge.

Raccoons can rip through pretty much everything but the outdoor uv treated cable ties are raccoon proof (according to the Naturalist).

The areas where the roosting bars on also have a piece of hardware cloth on each end so the raccoon cannot reach in from there.

Overkill? Perhaps... but we are all much more relaxed. The girls are locked in the coop every night now but raccoons here in the fall and winter can be very aggressive and hunt during off hours.

This is NOT a design flaw on the part of Omlet as I have read on other posts. The run and coop are amazing.

 

 

[Patricia W]

I lived in Canada for a couple of years and came to realise the fantastic dexterity of raccoons when we camped in Georgian Bay Ontario and had a raccoon open the tent zip.  We lost our food! 

Cable ties are great. I battle rats so have covered the top of the WIR with weldmesh, and clear covers.  Otherwise I love the Mk1 cube and Classic.  

Keep us posted about your chicken adventures!