We live in an area with many chicken predetors. Many of our neighbors have said it to be imposible to keep chickens alive. Our solution has been to not let them roam free and to keep them protected at all times. This posses a bit of a problem when the chickens kill or eat up all the grass in their pen, so I built them a new yard addition this weekend!
This yard is still covered, but is a bit more temporary in nature. It isn't as safe as the other two yards. They were built as a permenant structure with heavy wire on all sides and even buried into the ground. This new yard is just to give the hens a place to go while I re-seed the other yards.
This yard is just a one layer chicken wire fence with a net top - sufficient for daytime problems like dogs and cats, but not good enough against night time foes. Because of this, I built a vault door between the main coop and this yard.
I will lock this door down each night and open it again in the mornings, which will keep out any curious coons or their ilk!
The chickens are very happy with their new door and yard!
I can't wait for the seed to grow now in their other yards. That shouldn't be a problem with as much rain as we're getting again this week. Unfortunately that further delays my garden bed construction.
At least my girls are happy again!
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