20 Ways To Protect Your Chickens From Predators

20 Ways To Protect Your Chickens From Predators

It can be gut-wrenching to come out to your flock in the morning and find that one of your chickens is missing or dead. Protecting your free-range chickens is vitally important to maintaining the health of your flock. There are so many chicken predators looking for an easy meal even if you keep chickens in an urban environment. 

Nobody ever wants to find pillaged eggs or dead chicks, or that their favorite hens have become an afternoon or midnight snack to a chicken predator. You can do lots of things to keep your chickens safe! We’ve got a full list of 20 ways you can keep your chickens safe from predators.

Add The Right Fencing To Protect Your Chickens 

The first line of defense against chicken predators is a strong fence! You need the right fencing to protect your free-range chickens from the most common predators like dogs, foxes, coyotes, and raccoons. Chicken wire is not strong enough to keep out predators! Installing the right chicken fencing, in the right way, will protect your birds.

Why Doesn’t Chicken Wire Protect Chickens? 

Chicken wire is too thin and flimsy to keep out most chicken predators. Dogs, coyotes, foxes, and raccoons will break through chicken wire very quickly to get to their desired prey. Chicken wire also features holes that are usually 1” big and weasels can easily fit through those holes. The only time chicken wire may be helpful is covering the top of your chicken run, it will prevent aerial predators like hawks and owls from swooping in and getting at your flock. 

Predators like bears especially can easily tear through chicken wire and sometimes even hardwire cloth or welded wire. If you want to bear-proof a chicken coop, chicken wire will not do the trick.

What Type Of Fencing Is Best To Protect Chickens?

Welded wire is typically the most popular choice for protecting your chickens from their natural predators. This type of fencing is generally used for kennel fencing, but welded wire dog kennel fencing is great for a variety of other uses! Welded wire is strong enough to stand up to the attacks of dogs, coyotes, foxes, and raccoons. It is what you should use to cover all the vents and windows of your chicken coop as well as the walls of your chicken run area. 

How To Use Electric Fence To Protect Your Chickens

An electric fence is a great option for fencing to protect your chickens. Adding an electric fence can be a bit more pricey at the outset but if it keeps predators out of your chicken run then the investment is probably worth it. 

If you’re going to use an electric fence we suggest installing it in a very specific way. You should install the electric fence as the outermost barrier protecting your chickens, then leave about 1 ft of space and install regular welded wire and a protective top like netting or chicken wire. Taking these specific precautions should discourage most predators from getting at your birds. 

Bury Your Fence To Protect Your Flock From Digging Predators

Welded wire fencing is also sometimes called hardware cloth. No matter what you call it, using it as a strong line of defense for your chickens is a good strategy. One important thing you need to do if you’re going to use welded wire is you need to bury it 6 inches to 12 inches deep under the ground. This discourages foxes, dogs, coyotes, and other digging predators from excavating their way into your chicken run. 

Cap Your Fence To Prevent Climbing Predators

One problem you may have is a raccoon or a weasel climbing your chicken run fencing and getting into your chicken’s pen that way. There is a great solution to this problem though! You can “cap” the top ⅓ of your chicken run fence with thin sheet metal or metal siding to prevent any of these crafty, climbing predators from getting a grip on the fence at the top to be able to climb over. This will protect your chickens from predators that can climb. You can also add an electric wire at the very top or maybe some razor wire to further protect your chickens from predators that climb.

Add Netting To Protect Your Chickens From Aerial Predators

Protecting your chicken flock from owls and hawks is a very real consideration you need to be focusing on. Hawks and owls love to prey on chickens and will have no problem swooping down into your chicken run, taking what they want, and leaving without a sound. Owls hunt mostly at night while hawks will hunt and kill prey any time of day. 

The best way to protect your chickens from aerial predators is by installing a covering of some kind to the top of your chicken run. You can use netting, chicken wire, brightly colored cloth draped across, basically anything that confuses the hawks and owls enough that they either cannot get to your flock or do not feel confident swooping in to attack one of your chickens. 

Build Or Buy A Completely Enclosed Chicken Run 

Another way to ensure the safety of your birds is to either build or buy a completely enclosed chicken coop and run. We’re talking framed out, covered in welded wire, impenetrable fortress-style chicken run. Now, the only danger with a prefab chicken coop is that the run part of it may not have a floor. If this is the case you can either put down your layer of welded wire (some reports of chickens cutting their feet on welded wire flooring. The other solution is to bury welded wire between 6” deep and 12” around your chicken run, this will greatly discourage digging predators.

Check Your Chicken Run Regularly 

This can be a hard one to remember to do regularly but checking your chicken fencing for any holes, weak areas, or signs of digging is very important. Checking it weekly or bi-weekly is a good idea to make sure you find any vulnerable spots in your chicken fence or chicken run before predators do! 

Clear Your Chicken Run Perimeter

Clearing the entire perimeter of your chicken run or chicken fence is very very important. Any tall grass, bushes, brush, or anything else provides cover for predators to stalk close to your fence and remain hidden for as long as possible before trying to attack your chickens. If you clear a 25-foot or 50-foot perimeter all around your chicken fence this will make it very hard for any predator to sneak up on your birds unannounced. 

Set Up Outward Facing Lights To Scare Off Chicken Predators

This is a great nighttime defense strategy if you want to protect your chickens from predators overnight when they are most vulnerable. You can set up lights on all 4 sides of your chicken run (if it is in a square or rectangular shape) or at regular intervals if your chicken run is in a circular or oval shape. 

You can get motion sensor lights that will snap on when their motion sensor is tripped or you can also get special solar-powered predator control lights that are specifically designed to deter predators at night. Whichever decision you make on lights to protect your chickens at night, they’re sure to help you in your mission to protect your chickens from attack. Motion sensor lights can go a long way in helping you fox-proof a chicken coop as well.

Add A Rooster To Your Flock To Protect Your Chickens

Adding a rooster (or 2 roosters, provided they get along) is a great way to add extra protection to your flock and protect your chickens. Roosters are tough birds and often become very protective of their hens. They have been known to fight off predators and very aggressively defend the flock. Some roosters will be just as aggressive towards you so make sure that you do your research and choose a breed of rooster that sounds right for you and your hens.

Make sure you check with your local municipalities, there are often restrictions on owning roosters if you live in too suburban or urban of an area. Not everybody wants to be woken up at the crack of dawn by one or more of your zealous roosters. If you live in the country chances are it will be no issue owning a rooster or two.

A Trustworthy Guard Dog Will Protect Your Chickens 

A guard dog is a very strong defense against chicken predators like other dogs, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, and possums. The problem with getting a guard dog to protect your chickens is that you have to get a dog with a low prey instinct. There are some breeds of dogs that are just made to protect flocks. For a list of 9 Dogs That Are Good With Chickens, check out this article we found from K9 of Mine. 

A lot of dog breeds have an inherent prey instinct meaning that because they’re descendants of wolves they still want to catch and kill prey. This is why dogs are one of the most dangerous predators to your chickens. Any neighborhood dog could be wandering around and find your chickens and get very excited to chase them around and maybe kill one or two. You need the right breed to be a guard dog that will not see your chickens as prey but rather as a flock to protect.

Will A Donkey Protect Your Chickens?

Believe it or not, yes! Donkeys are known to be very territorial animals and if you have one in your barnyard or on your property they will protect your chickens. Donkeys are a great addition to a flock or country property where chicken predators could be a problem.

Elevate Your Chicken Coop

If your chicken coop is sitting on the ground then your chickens may be in trouble. Elevating your chicken coop off the ground is a great way to protect your chickens. This will make it far harder for predators to access your chicken coop should they get into your chicken run. 

Ensure Your Chicken Coop Has Solid Flooring

If you have one of those moveable chicken coops that get placed in different places on your property daily, weekly, or monthly then you may have a problem. Often, those coops do not have a floor built into portions of them. This is a real problem because a predator could easily dig their way under the chicken coop and get at your chickens to attack them. 

You need to make sure that your chicken coop has a protective floor even if you have to install it yourself after the fact. But this is a very easy area to eliminate a vulnerable spot by adding a strong floor to protect your chickens from predators. 

Put Your Chickens In Their Coop At Night 

This may seem like a no-brainer tip for keeping your chickens safe from predators but it is very important. Your chickens should not be left out in their run or roam freely at night or even after dusk. Most chicken predators hunt nocturnally (at night) and are on the prowl for easy meals overnight. Keeping your chickens safe inside a well-constructed chicken coop with a strong door and strong floor is a good way to keep your birds safe from danger. 

Collect Your Chicken Eggs Everyday – Eggs Attract Predators!

Often we think of chicken predators as being dangerous to our flock or maybe their chicks but in reality, chicken predators can be just as dangerous to our chicken’s eggs. Snakes, opossums, skunks, rats, and weasels are all known to be partial to an easy meal of one or more chicken eggs. They all eat chicken eggs differently as well. If you want to know how different chicken predators eat chicken eggs check out this article.

Collecting your chicken’s eggs every day without fail does 2 important things for your flock’s safety. First of all, it removes the draw of eggs in the hen house which decreases the likelihood of a predator specifically coming after your chickens for their eggs. Secondly, removing the chicken eggs every day makes you a regular presence and scent in your chicken coop. 

How To Protect Your Chickens From Aerial Predators

Hawks and Owls have excellent eyesight. They are master hunters and make a living preying on animals that live on the ground. If your chickens are in a chicken run, more open fenced-in yard, or completely free-range they are very susceptible to aerial predators like hawks and owls. 

One way to protect your chickens from aerial predators like hawks and owls is to provide some form of shelter for them. Hawks most often hunt during the day and in the evening before dark and owls most often hunt after dark. So night and day your chickens are vulnerable to attack from above if they are not inside their chicken coop. 

Provide cover for your chickens to hide in should they see a hawk or other bird of prey circling high in the sky looking for a quick bite to eat. This cover can be man-made structures, plastic barrels cut in half and turned into tunnels for your chickens to hide in, or naturally occurring shrubs and bushes. Anything like that can give your chickens a quick place to hide if they cannot make it back into their coop.

Another great way to protect your chickens from aerial predators is to hang some kind of netting or mesh covering over the top of your chicken run or chicken yard area. This will make it difficult or impossible for birds to swoop in and take one of your precious flocks. Chicken wire is another option for covering your chicken run and although it will not keep out animals like raccoons, coyotes, or similar predators it will deter birds of prey from getting at your chickens.

How Automatic Chicken Coop Doors Can Protect Your Chickens

You may not believe this but some chicken predators are smart enough to open pop-chicken doors or bolt and latch chicken coop doors. Raccoons are especially intelligent and are known to let themselves right in if they can make it through your other chicken coop defenses. Raccoons have been known to work as a team as well to capture and kill chickens. Sometimes you need more than a latch or bolt-shut door to keep your chickens safe.

To safely secure your chickens you either need to begin using a padlock, a carabiner, or an automatic chicken coop door. Padlocks will keep any predator out with no problem but they are a pain to unlock every time and that can be very frustrating 2 or more times a day. 

Automatic Chicken Coop Doors are the safest option for protecting your chickens. If you want the best chicken coop door to protect your chickens then you need an automatic chicken coop door. Made from metal and coated with polycarbonate, these doors are completely predator-proof. And with the controls on the inside or your phone, no raccoon will ever be able to open one of these doors. 

Did you know we offer DIY kits to install on your coop door? These kits come in three different lengths to fit your specific door and will make your door automatic!