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Our small barn sits by the edge of the pasture, in the woods, where it is shady in summer and mostly sheltered from the winter wind. Lots of wild creatures enjoy the same space. For 22 years we’ve had a cooperative agreement with the foxes living in the nearby fence line. We could spare up to three chickens a year for them when food was scarce, and they would do their best to keep the rabbits and mice under control.
We try to keep our chickens safe, locking them in every night and keeping the dogs outside to guard them when they are loose during the day. When we see a fox blatantly cruising across the pasture in broad daylight we are careful to only let the chickens range when we can watch them.
The last couple of years something has changed and the foxes have stopped being so neighborly. Their numbers have gone up and so have the attacks on our chickens. They’ve become more brazen. One fox grabbed a chicken not 20 feet from the porch while we were sitting there eating. I jumped up and yelled, "Hey! Let her go!" and the fox dropped the chicken and ran off, with the (now awake) dogs running behind. The poor hen was limp as a dish rag as I carried her to the safety of the barn. I lured the rest of the chickens in with some scratch and kept them locked up for days afterwards.
Then I lost 10 chickens in one day while home with the flu. The dogs were inside with me and I didn’t see what got them. I only found 4 bodies. The chickens were so scared that I had to search the bushes and lower tree limbs and carry them back to the barn one by one.
Finally, last winter it got so bad that we couldn’t let the chickens out to pasture at all, unless we were right with them. The foxes knew every time I picked up my rifle and wouldn’t come near my live trap. Now, coyotes have moved in.
My neighbor had to get trained sheep dogs and put up an electric woven wire netting to protect his flock. So, I decided to see if this fencing would work for chickens.
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| PoultryNet® arrives to your door as a complete roll with the line posts already built in. Just attach a fence energizer and it’s ready to keep poultry in and their predators out.
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Time for a Fence
In March, I ordered two, 48" tall by 164 foot sections of PoultryNet® electric netting. I already had a fence charger for our horse so I only needed to drive corner posts, lay the netting out on the ground, snug each section tight with my foot, and push the posts into the ground. (Learn more about netting installation on Premier’s website.) The fence is attached to the north end of the barn, goes into the pasture 140 feet, and loops back near the little chicken access door. It is visible from the house and big enough that with 40 chickens, two thirds of it stays grassy.
My 75 new chicks were finally big enough to mix with the laying hens and all the chickens were doing great, until one morning, when I woke up to a chicken ruckus out in the barn. I ran downstairs, slipped on my boots, and went flying out the door. I barely saw a small, dark animal squeeze out the top of the barn door and run away. When I got to the chicken pen I saw a massacre of feathers. Dead chickens were everywhere. It was horrifying. What animal could have done this? I had recently redone the chicken house with heavy duty, expanded metal mesh and tightened up the whole place.
The surviving hens were perched high on the roost, afraid to move or make a sound. I filled the wheelbarrow with dead bodies 3 times. What a waste. My Roosty was buried in one pile but he came to when I picked him up. I lost 26 chickens in the space of just a few minutes and I know it was not a fox. It must have been a weasel. I did not even know we had weasels around here! I have caught raccoons, skunks and opossums over the years, but never a weasel. I feel like such a bad mama.
I searched for an entry point and finally found a 2-3 inch gap where the wood had warped at the top of the big cleanout door, and I nailed it shut. It was hard to believe such a dangerous animal could fit through a space so small. To make extra sure nothing got in again, I moved the electric poultry fence so it surrounded the entire back and east side of the hen house. Then I laid chicken wire on the ground around the roofed run to keep animals from digging under.
I hung a wildlife camera and got one blurry picture of a fox getting zapped on the nose. That was gratifying. Over the next few months, I discovered that a fox walks right by the chicken house a few times every single night. Raccoons, opossums and wild turkeys occasionally cruise past, and my horse, Mara, steps into the barn about every 45 minutes, all night long. I thought she slept at night. I have not seen any pictures of a weasel or a coyote and I have not lost any more chickens in the last 8 months.
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| Chickens and ducks can now safely range without fear from ground-based predators.
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Twice this summer, when the ground was soft after a rain, I mowed and moved the fence over a few feet, to keep any long grass from shorting out the electric pulse. I used a fence tester to ensure I had plenty of voltage along the fence to deter any predators. The chickens could fly out of their fenced pasture, but they don’t. The ducks fly out to bathe in the water garden and seem to be quite aware of danger. They can take off fast and are always back in by dusk.
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