Some Safety Measures for the Coop

It's not pretty yet...but you can see it's protected by high tech weapons.....

I’ve got my stories of predator attacks and reasons for my neurosis’s…well, the chicken one anyone..the rest I’m still trying to figure out:) I’ve had racoons, coyotes, and a few foxes visiting my ladies. I worry by nature, I got that curse from my Grandmother. I worry so much about the ladies sometimes that I have actually thought about getting rid of them. My husband has talked me out of it because he knows that I would just find something else to worry myself sick about. I open the coop in the morning and lock it down at dusk. I don’t know what I’d do if I ever got to go on vacation. They may actually be OK in the run, but then what would I worry about?
When I got my ladies I just had my third child and I really had a hard time getting out to do much work..especially since I went right ahead and got pregnant with my fourth daughter shortly after that. I say that because it’s my excuse for taking the easier way out on some of my coop work. We don’t like to admit laziness without a good excuse. I read that I was supposed to dig down around the coop to bury the wire. I was in no mood to dig. Here are some measures I took to save me a bit of work but keep my ladies safe.

• I used paving blocks I had from a failed project that I placed all the way around the outside of the run. They are 12″ and make it impossible to dig into the coop unless they start digging that far away. I guess a tenacious animal could dig through a foot in, but no problems in 3 years.
• I use a nice wooden pallet for the entrance to the run (also so I don’t get muddy).
• I use key chain hooks on my back doors..the kind you have to pinch in to open. I also have two places that they hook so a racoons would have a very hard time prying the door from the bottom.
• I have the run surrounded by garden solar lights. This only works for a while after it gets dark, but that’s when I have mostly seen the racoons and foxes. (not always..as I will tell you when I upload my video)
• Unfortunately I don’t let my ladies run the yard all day any more.I only let them run the yard when I’m with them or at least have the deck door open. Otherwise I let them stay in the tractor I built for a few hours every day.

After wrestling Jumpers out of the jaws of a coyotes at 4 in the after noon I stopped letting them run totally free. OK, maybe “wrestling” is too strong of a word. I’d better say chasing and screaming like a crazy woman on fire is more like it. It worked..Jumpers literally got out of it’s mouth and ran to me and jumped into my arms. She is named Jumpers for a good reason. I have since promised my husband I will never chase coyotes again.
I hope any of this can help someone. I would love to hear your ideas on what you do to help keep your hens safe.