It is a fact that there are a large number of animals that can be found in the domain of poultry. In fact, the most number of animals are found in the poultry houses all over the world. But there is nothing worse than the predators attacking your animals or birds. The poultry predators like nothing more than having a delicious dinner i.e. the meat of the poultry. This problem of predation has always been around from the very start. In the olden days, people did use to keep the poultry animals in a number of different settings. In order to protect their animals, they did make use of a number of strategies and tips. Things can get more demanding for you if you are new to the business of poultry, as you might not be aware of the fact that what kind of animals might come to attack your poultry chickens.Furthermore, those who have poultry businesses in the cities do not care much about the attacks as they think that the animals might not come to attack the animals. But this over confidence from their side can indeed be misleading. So, for those who are in search of some tips for keeping chickens in the backyard then below are the 15 tips which might come in handy for protecting chicken from predators.
1-Digging a Trench
Try digging a trench around the areas of the entire coop. The Trench should be at least 12 inches in depth, so that the digging chicken predators might also not attack.
2-Train the Birds
Offer some sort of training to the birds and animals to return to the houses every evening. After that you should make sure that all houses are closed, otherwise it would be open chance for the predators for chicken to have a meal of their lifetime. If you have been raising chickens in the coop, then they would naturally come to return to the houses, but for some other animals you would be required to offer some sort of training to them.
3-Raising the Chicken Coop
Keeping the chicken coop raised at all times is one of the best strategies for offering your backyard chickens with some protection. Also try to make sure that the floor is always tight and durable enough to resist the attacks from the underside.
4-Use Welding Wires or Wire Fencing
Offer the chicken run with some covering and also make use of cross wiring in order to turn down the attacks made by hawks and other flying predators.
5-Meshed Fencing
Make the maximum use of meshed fencing materials, as there are some predators that easily cross the normal fences. Examples of these animals include racoons and many other dexterous animals.
6. Use Galvanized Hardware
Burying galvanized pieces of hardware and other clothing materials around the perimeters of the area where the chickens are kept. This strategy is also useful for those animals which have the capacity to dig into the place from underneath.
7. Use Night Lights
Provide the area with some night lights and motion sensors which might come in handy in keeping the predators away and keeping the chickens safe. You can also make use of a solar night guard which is specially designed for the detection of predators in the area.
8. Make use of Friendly Dogs
Offer some protection to your animals by making use of some friendly dogs.
9. Be Ready
Always be prepared for action as soon as you get to know that there are some predators around. This is another important measure in order to protect chickens from predators.
10. Use professional Help
Try and consult with the professionals in this regard. There are a number of companies that provide materials, devices as well as guidance for the protection of the animals at all times.
11. Mark a danger Zone
Always create a danger zone around the area where the animals are kept. The zone would be dedicated as a predator zone.
12. Plant Numerous Bushes around the Zone
Make use of as many bushes as you can, to offer some resistance to the predators that might come to attack the area.
13. Make use of Automated Chicken Coop Doors
This is useful to avoid the possibility of coop door remained open
14. Communication with the care takers
Communicate with the chicken sitters and people responsible for the protection at the night time and offer them all the above mentioned advices.
15. Keep the Trash out
Keep the Garbage and other smelly stuff away from the coop, so that urban predators might not come to smell them.