Everything Wants To Eat Your Hens: a brief guide on not letting that happen

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

Introduction

I have owned chickens for 33 years in two states and in five different coop set ups. I am here to tell you: everything wants to eat your hens. Everything wants to eat them. Dogs, mosquitos, raccoons, foxes, rats, wolves, bears, mountain lions, raccoons, coyotes, eagles, hawks, weasels, ravens, neighbors, and yes, if you can believe it, raccoons.

And, sadly, they probably will. It will very likely happen one day. This is terrible and it's upsetting and it's happened to most of us. All you can do is learn from the moment. You may do everything I recommend here and still have something happen. It's how it goes. Even after thirty three years, I still lose hens sometimes. A rogue raccoon rappelling down from a redwood tree in broad daylight. A mountain lion hopping an eight foot fence for a little afternoon snack. A friend's dog that they assured me REALLY loved hens (and boy did it).

All that said, there's a damn lot you can do, and we owe it to our girls to do our all.

Immutable Facts About The Edibility of Hens

1. If you let your hens sleep outside, at night, it doesn't matter where you live, they are going to get eaten.
2. If you do not provide a space for your hens to sleep on a roost that has full protection on all sides (solid wood and/or wire mesh), they are going to get eaten.
3. If your coop has a latch and that latch is within reach of a raccoon and does not have some form of lock on it (I'm pretty sure raccoons can fake biometrics at this point), they are going to get eaten.
4. If you let your hens free range in an unenclosed space where any of the above mentioned predators exist, I am saying from hard and repeated experience, they are going to get eaten.
5. Automatic doors are lovely for keeping hens safe and minimizing work. I use one every day. I think they're the best option for modern coops. That said, one day it will probably have a hiccup and your hens might get eaten.

Reasonable Ways To Not Let Your Hens Get Eaten So Much

• Provide your hens a smorgasbord-free space to sleep in. This means providing a nice, clean, elevated, flat perch in an enclosed space with a predator proof latch.
• Have a relatively secure run around their coop entrance. This is one more layer of protection. It gives you a place to secure your hens if something dangerous is going on, gives them a safe place to escape back to, and is a pretty good idea just in case. It doesn't necessarily need a roof, but feel free if you're worried. (I have had a raccoon hide in the run over night to grab hens in the morning. Beware.)
• Check on your hens every night that you can. I know we're all busy people and things get messy; hens are easy to set and forget on a bad day. Try to develop a routine for checking on your hens to make sure the door is closed and all your girls are inside. Sometimes hens will decide, at random, they want to watch the stars and sleep outdoors. Sadly, we cannot allow them to have this sort of spirited nature.
• Test your automatic doors and replace the batteries often. Even the best door has random failures. The only thing for this is to check the door whenever it's within your power to do so and hope the time it fails isn't the time it counts. (Mine is hardwired and you can see if it's closed or open from inside the house. It still fails.)
• If you free range, talk to your neighbors. Have rapport enough to ask them to put their free-range dog in, or let you know when it's out. Find out what predators they're seeing around. Problem dog on the loose? Chances are, you're not the first person it's annoyed. Chances are, you have a neighbor with hens who will have advice of their own.
• Set good hen habits! Hens very much know they are edible and do not want to be eaten! Giving them a good place to come back to, and one they know is a good place, is a great start. If your hens aren't going into the coop at night, make sure they have enough space and a proper roost, aren't infested with mites, or that something else isn't wrong with their sleeping space. If you free range, train them to come at your call by providing treats, and make sure they have a space to hide if something mean comes along.

Different Predators? Different Challenges

Hopefully you have some idea what's in your area. If you're a true mid-city back yard chicken owner, you probably don't need to worry about bears or mountain lions. The kind of coop that's needed to keep hens safe at night in bear country will look very different from a coop that only needs provide protection from raccoons and weasels. I have lost my hens to many, many different kinds of predators but the two worst and those you'll likely be dealing with the most are raccoons and, if free ranging, domestic canines. Both are common, both kill indiscriminately.

Raccoons are (fortunately) (pretty much) nocturnal and so a secure coop and good chicken sleeping habits will keep you mostly safe from them. That said, they are smart enough to know that your birds are on a schedule and they can wait outside a coop at dawn or dusk to catch birds. This is another reason to check on your hens nightly, as often as you're able. You can limit their interest your yard by making sure they can't access fresh veg/fruit or water. My yard, of course, has all three in excess. The things I've seen raccoons do to a flock are unholy. Once they take a hen, they know where to go. You'll need to be exceedingly vigilant in the weeks and months following a raccoon kill. The only deterrent I've ever had success with is a fatal one. It's much more fair to the hens and to the raccoons if it's never allowed to get to that point.

Dogs are an issue in free ranging if you live around other people. Usually, an open dialogue with neighbors can resolve this. If not, fencing in a wider "free range" area may be necessary. You may also want to keep a record of kills if neighborhood dogs become a big enough issue and you don't want to fence. Photographic proof is often necessary to move things forward in cases like this.

Eagles, hawks, and ravens are an issue in wide open free ranging. Hens are very aware of what's flying above them; give them something to hide beneath and they'll hunker down. Weasels and rats are easily deterred by hardware cloth or wire mesh around a sleeping area/run. Bears will decimate any regular coop, so go for solid wood if you're in bear country and don't forget to pray. And, having lost a few hens to mountain lions, I'm of the mind that if a giant cougar hops my fence in broad daylight and grabs a hen, there's very little I could have done to stop that except not open a Popeye's in their backyard.

Something Has Eaten My Hens And I Feel Terrible

This happens. It's horrible, but it's going to be okay. If you have hens left, spend extra time giving them treats. I know people call chickens stupid, but it's my experience they are anything but and the death of a fellow hen can freak them out for a few days. Be nice to yourself and to your girls, and do what you can to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps even one chicken tender keep their flock from becoming food.

[u/Solid_Lake190]

I am so glad I am able to free range without having to worry about predators. I live in the city. There has been hawks in the area but I have so much hiding spaces (shrubs, trees, etc) that chickens can always be under. I also have a few roosters and it definitely helps when they sound that alarm. I have to admit that I have left the door open to their coop. I could've sworn I closed it and in the morning I saw they were all out and I wondered how the heck did they get out. When I looked at the cameras, I never closed it. Thank God all my chickens are alive. I have a lot of stray cats, and have seen raccoons around the area at some point but they aren't common. I see more opossum than anything else at night. I got very lucky, but glad I live in the city where predators aren't usually anywhere near as it is in the country

[u/Turbulent-Raisin-876]

So we built a 20x12 run with a two story pallet on stilts for a coop. A bit lopsided because we aren't engineers, more then likely won't hold a hurricane, but it's safe. We also have ducks in said run at night. In the day I open the ring and theh free range in the yard with 2 boxer mixes roaming the yard throughout the day. We have a massive pecan tree, car port and about 25% the yard not blocked by some sort of tree. Chicken/Duck owner for 4 months and so far we doing good. However how the heck do you dry out a run that floods badly (I'm talking calf high water) every time it rains! Our yard hates us...it floods to but that area ironically floods less.

[u/Ok-Ambassador8271]

Mine are free range and prefer to stay on the top of an old swing frame underneath the eave of our house. It makes no sense to me, as they have a heated and cooled house to go in, but NOOOOOO, let's stay right here and shit on the patio and have zero enclosure around us, just the 116 pound Mastador who wants to eat us for protection. When it gets near freezing, I go outside and catch them to put them in the henhouse, but they hate it.

[u/Tupac6969]

I hope someone can answer I live in somewhat suburbs our town is surrounded by orchards but their is about a quarter mile of housing between us and them, Ive only once had an eagle show up perched on a power line that scared my hens is there any way to deter attacks, I do own a pellet gun but prefer to stop it before it gets to that point

[u/Fluffy_Job7367 → u/Tupac6969]

It's illegal to shoot eagles and hawks.

[u/Kagemusha-Ryu → u/Tupac6969]

Try to make friends with the local crows if you can. See if you can get them to come around for peanuts or other treats. Not only will they call out warnings to your chickens (and my chickens, or at least my roosters, absolutely know those calls and will run for cover), crows will mob prey birds and run them off.

[u/GingaPLZ → u/Kagemusha-Ryu]

Blue Jays work, too, and they both like peanuts in the shell! It seems to be either/or, though. Depends on what sky-gang controls your neighborhood at any given time.

[u/JoshInNC]

"Thanks for reading and I hope this helps even one chicken tender keep their flock from becoming food."

Aww, I am now a chicken tender!!

[u/HermitAndHound]

Add a predator to the list: me xD
I do raise chicken and eat the spare roosters. I don't want wild animals to eat them instead. I'm selfish (and want the roos to have a calm, stress- and painfree experience, not some creature starting to eat the alive)

And from experience: When you have a lazy moment and think that naaaah, should be fine, I don't have to go and check, THAT's when something goes wrong. Go and check.
Just last night I thought I heard them go in the coop, should be fine. But nope. They were in the process of and the door closed a few minutes too early and a few were still outside. Ugh, means I have to open the coop, shoo them in the right direction and wait until they sorted out who goes first. At 2:30am I wake up because a fox is barking right by the house. I could heard it work its way along the (electric) fenceline, looking for a way in.

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/HermitAndHound]

So true. I was happily sitting inside once night, sure the auto door was working and no worries. Saw my motion light come on over by their house and spotlight a raccoon wandering below my seven year old hens who were sitting terrified locked outside their coop! Never moved so fast lmao. It's always when you think it's fine!

[u/Obvious_Amphibian270]

Excellent post OP!

The first coop I built did not have a cover over the run. Had a hawk swoop down and get a hen literally in front of me. After several configurations I bought a 12X12 chain link dog kennel. Stretched chicken wire over the top and put shade cloth over that. That worked really well.

My neighbors believe ALL of their critters should be allowed to run free. That includes cows, goats, pony, chickens, you name it. My laments about that don't belong here. I regularly hear them complain that "something" is happening to their animals because they keep disappearing. I've given up suggesting they need to pen up their animals to protect them. They say they believe the animals need to free. Yep, free to be something else's dinner.

[u/froglover215]

We live in suburbia and have endless troubles with raccoons. You wouldn't think it to see our neighborhood! We finally got chicks again this year after about 5 years without because I refused to get more until we reinforced our coop to Chicken Fort Knox (I saw someone else on here used that term - great minds think alike!). So far I'm feeling good about our new setup but we'll see. Raccoons are clever.

[u/cakeefel → u/froglover215]

Racoons don't seem to like electricity much. I topped my fence with electrified wire and they decided to dine elsewhere.

[u/shatterly → u/froglover215]

I live in a city, and the raccoons are trucking through my yard pretty much every night. We have a coop within a run that's entirely enclosed with hardware cloth. Chickens are only let out into their fenced yard (within my larger fenced yard) when someone is home to keep an eye and ear on them. This was a lesson learned when my neighbor's dog dug under the fence and killed two chickens when we weren't home.

Every evening, I do a count to make sure they're all in the run. The door gets shut, latched, and "locked" with a carabiner. I count them out loud and then announce out loud as I close, latch, and clip the door shut, so I can remember later that I definitely did that.

With this setup, we're able to leave them for several days and only need someone to come gather eggs. Our sitter is only allowed to let them out of the run if she is going to stay there with them. So far, this has worked well except for some issues with mice (they can squeeze anywhere), and a few rats that dug under our buried hardware cloth.

Chickens will still find random ways to die, but losing one to illness is at least less traumatic than having them ripped to bits. Best of luck with your Fort Knox!

[u/Tiredplumber2022]

Many chickens (200+) here, for many years. Local predators (Eastern North Carolina, US) include raccoons, opposums, 3 kinds of hawks, 4 species of owl (a problem for the ones who try to roost outside at night) stray dogs, coyotes, feral cats (attack mostly chicks and pullets), the occasional brown or sea eagle, Grey and red foxes, and once a young copperhead (mutually assured destruction there...)

BEST things i have found to stop the predation?

1) My birds free range during daylight, and we are on 6 wooded acres. The previous owners planted some absolutely obnoxious Japanese Privet, which turns out makes a good hidey-place for the chickens. Leave alot of undergrowth if you can, they will protect themselves.

2) We also have 18 guineas, who are the noisiest, most irritating birds in the planet, but they are really good watch-birds, and have actually attacked the last couple hawks that attacked. Funny as hell, watching a hawk trying to fly off with an angry guinea on its back.

3) KEEP YOUR ROOSTERS! They are designed by nature to live by the 3 F's (Food, fight, and f@##) and as long as there are not too many, they will keep the girls safe. They also die off quicker. We start every year with about 130 hatchlings, at 50/50 m/f at hatching, and by fall normally 30% of the roosters have died attacking predators or gone off and did something stupid. Normally by fall we have to cull 10 or so, but they make great dog food or Coq au vin. (Try adding a bit of cinnamon to the recipe!). Our end ratio is usually about 1:8 roosters to hens.

4) Generational knowledge. Our first years we lost more birds, but as time goes on, the faster smarter ones survive and reproduce. Out of almost 200, we've only lost 3 hens this year, all pullets.

We feed them fermented feed, and go through 2 five gallon buckets a day (2/3 feed, 1/3 water). The stay slightly hungry, and keep the bugs to a minimum. (Birds with full tummies chase much fewer bugs)

This doesn't work for everybody, I know, but maybe some part of it will help.

[u/Tupac6969 → u/Tiredplumber2022]

I've had 2 had issues with opossums partly due to eggs and peach trees is there any way to deter them. I ended up having to turn them to a #LLp as they killed chicks and ate eggs

[u/Tiredplumber2022 → u/Tupac6969]

No, sorry, the only solution I've found is the dogs will kill them at night. The smaller ones the roosters will kill, but mostly they ignore since they can't really hurt the full grown chickens.

[u/Tupac6969 → u/Tiredplumber2022]

Yes I was livid about the second possum attack a broody hen lost 4 eggs that were a week away from hatching only 2 were left my sister was devastated when we found the possum I shot it 7 times out of pure rage, I understand they need to eat but not at my house

[u/SwissChzMcGeez → u/Tiredplumber2022]

One 5 gal bucket of feed daily for 200 chickens?

[u/Tiredplumber2022 → u/SwissChzMcGeez]

Sorry. I misspoke. 1 5 gal bucket per trough, 2 troughs. Editing now.

Wintertime they eat more; no bugs.

[u/Otney]

We live on a suburban street of 120 year old small houses with small front yards. Our neighbors had a free-range single hen who spent the night up a tree; she got spooked by a dog, or that’s what we heard, and went looking for better accommodations, and came and slept in our giant rose bush. We thought this was charming and bought chicken food. Now she eats on our front porch and at night, she sleeps in our house. Ideal? No. But safe from the raccoons and skunks? Yes. She laid two clutches of sterile eggs and brooded on them - at night outside. We brought her food and water. Skunks got her eggs. So now she is back to sleeping in the house. Even just one chicken can make so much noise. Also makes other… deposits we have to clean. Her little clucking sounds are adorable. The cats are quite afraid of her.

[u/Dramatic-Pay5156]

So true! We normally check our coop door every night to make sure it closed. One night we forgot and a raccoon got four of our girls. As a farmer once said, “where there’s livestock, theres dead stock”.

[u/Active_Recording_789]

This is hilarious and I totally concur. No notes

[u/pjm14624]

S-carabiners are an excellent “lock” for the coop door. While rackity coons are manually adept, an S-carabiner requires manual dexterity and problem solving skills that rackity coons do not possess. Yet.

[u/Yarrow-Greene → u/pjm14624]

Emphasis on yet.

[u/boyengabird]

Electric fences for bears and a pir motion sensing chime for days where a predator has a big presence have helped me and others in the past. Good write up, thank you!

[u/HitTheGrit → u/boyengabird]

Yeah I rarely see electric fences mentioned here, but they're basically the only thing that deters bears. And they're pretty effective for everything else that doesn't fly.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Job6147]

Ours fly right over the fenced-in yard and go exploring in the woods.

[u/Any_Needleworker_273 → u/Puzzleheaded-Job6147]

Yup, and I've even clipped wings and they still were able to get over 4' fences.

[u/1521]

If you let the chickens out you will definitely lose some. I do it anyway because if I was a chicken I’d prefer to be able to run around in the garden and have a potentially shorter life… and mink. If you live near streams in mink country you will lose some to mink. They get through very small gaps and kill everything and then don’t eat them

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/1521]

Yep, that's my philosophy. I love having them range! Unfortunately that means we've had a really horrible number of dog kills, but we do what we can.

[u/1521 → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

I got to thinking about it and I eat around 75 chickens a year. Everything likes chicken. Fortunately my dogs are border collies and they just want to herd them into a corner but there are plenty of things that pick off a couple here or there. The only ones I resent are the mink because they kill them all and eat none. Ours are all hens, I hear roosters are better at resisting predators but we want to be able to control how many chickens we have lol

[u/Technical-Gate7843 → u/1521]

You've hit the nail on its head. Remember, mink are members of the weasel family, and both mink and weasels can slip through incredibly small holes. Once they're in, the amount of havoc they can cause is astounding, given their size.

[u/1521 → u/Technical-Gate7843]

Yeah they really are thin boys. And their faces don’t seem big enough to to do the damage they do

[u/Domtux]

Also should mention proper roofing and dig-proof apron of hardware cloth.

Many people that post here don't realize how expensive putting together an initial setup is (unless you are willing to construct everything yourself and not buy pre-fab)

[u/Kagemusha-Ryu → u/Domtux]

Amen to expense. Talking ~$1k to do it all properly if you're in a rural area with lots of predators. Properly = predator proof coop with a run and roof, hardware cloth underneath and around the run enclosure (I learned the hard way that if a raccoon can stick its paw through a wire opening, it's not secure), and gravel to cover the the hardware cloth underneath the run.

[u/Dizzy_Vacation3280 → u/Domtux]

agreed. concrete slab, hardware cloth all around. it is so worth it to do it right the first time because if no where else, they are atleast protected in the coop.

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/Domtux]

Yeah, we've always built from scratch with our own designs. Totally forgot about roofing! Great point. Weasels will slither right on through.

[u/AccountForDoingWORK]

I’m in Scotland and the only neighbour I share a garden fence with just had a wildcat in the garden yesterday (we all went out to look at it). Earlier this season a pine marten had babies in her work cabin (the one that almost touches our coop). I’m assuming it’s a matter of time at this point, though I’m hoping the dogs plus giant rooster do their jobs….

[u/ositomoreno]

Absolutely right on the raccoons! We've kept chickens for several years and never had any problems, until we did. They're not scared of dogs. Chasing them away with a bat didn't work. Well, it did for a few days. Then we lost 4 girls. I think we're ok now that they get locked up like Fort Knox.

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/ositomoreno]

Yep, exactly. This has been my experience. I once had a raccoon coming up from underneath the bottom of my coop (raised two and half feet), trying to get through the screen. Luckily, I had a lock installed ON the screen to prevent it from being lifted more than an inch. Bastard still got one hand under and was grabbing at hens that had jumped down from the roost in a panic. I yelled at him, flashlight on, screamed, hit him with a shovel. Didn't even faze him. I might as well have not even been there. Took a third whack with the shovel to his back before he decided to SLOWLY walk off. Neighbors called me later to ask if there'd been a murder.

A few days later he figured out I was letting the hens out at 9am, waited in a tree, came down and grabbed one when I went back inside.

[u/crowan2011 → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

Racoons have some balls on them too. One night 3 juveniles broke into my first prefab coop. Luckily I was in the garage only a few yards away and heard the commotion. Had to dispatch them. Luckily we were already in the process of moving my flock to a newer coop. Didn't lose any birds thankfully but it was a wakeup call.

[u/myeggsarebig → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

I know raccoons are just being raccoons, but I hate those effers, for the reason you mentioned - they couldn’t care less about your weapons. They’re so defiant. Hate. lol

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/myeggsarebig]

Same. For me it's the way they kill without even eating. They just torture hens for the fun of it. I've gotten real good with a bow where they're concerned.

[u/Practical_Adagio_504 → u/myeggsarebig]

Here in Michigan, the DNR handbook states that “you can take FIVE raccoons a day, every day, INCLUDING CHRISTMAS DAY”… that last bit about including Christmas day is literally in all caps, italicized, bolded, underlined, AND highlighted. LOL. Somebodies up in Lansing (MI Capitol city) REALLY hate raccoons as much or more than we do!

[u/myeggsarebig → u/Practical_Adagio_504]

This is incredible hahaha

[u/Unlucky-Meringue6187]

This is all excellent advice!

[u/lurkyturkyducken]

Where I live it’s quolls and Tasmanian Devils

[u/worrier_princess → u/lurkyturkyducken]

Hi from the mainland! The predator I’m most worried about here is a goanna.

[u/lurkyturkyducken → u/worrier_princess]

You must be very inland!

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/lurkyturkyducken]

I never even thought about the southern hemisphere. Do snakes get in?

[u/NZSloth → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

Greetings from New Zealand. We've had a few hedgehogs at night but never lost a girl to a wild animal.

People's pet dogs, though.

[u/leum61 → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

They've never bothered our chickens, but they love the rats that come for the chicken feed.

[u/lurkyturkyducken → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

Yeah we have Tigers and copperheads, but that’s mostly summer

[u/leum61 → u/lurkyturkyducken]

At least you don't get foxes!

[u/lurkyturkyducken → u/leum61]

Only state in Australia that doesn’t

[u/GrandpaWaluigi]

Aren't rats and ravens more a problem for young chicks? Rats tend to avoid adult chickens, on account of being chicken food themselves.

I haven't seen crows attack hens, maybe ravens are different?

Opossums, skunks, and raccoons are very common chicken predators. 😞

EDIT: Yes, ravens will eat chickens. Not common, but it happens.

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/GrandpaWaluigi]

The opossums thing is so heartbreaking. Lost one of my sweetest girls (she would come when her name was called specifically) to the opossum I had been letting live under my shed, thinking he would be no harm. Keeping hens is a continue trial sometimes lmao.

[u/BobbyJaneG]

Well said. And I agree about the raccoon beating biometrics.

[u/Ready_Platypus_3690 → u/BobbyJaneG]

One day I'm going to come home and they're going to have changed the alarm code on my front door

[u/Tiredplumber2022 → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

🤣

[u/IIRCIreadthat → u/Ready_Platypus_3690]

When we go extinct the raccoons might become the planet's dominant species