This is my solution to raccoons, skunks, and other chicken eating nasties
The pole is from an old satellite dish and is 8'4" long, buried 3.5" feet deep with out cement the platform is 2x4 and plywood with an old truck canopy. I cover the bottom with straw and used 1.5"-2" saplings screwed to 2x4's like a ladder with a length of garden hose to hold it all together. The creepy crawlies can't climb the 6" diameter steel pole or jump the 5' up the the platform it has been in use for 6 months now and have not lost a chicken yet (crossed fingers). update feb 2012 I have not lost a chicken to predators. I think I will remove the plywood and use 2x4 wire fence for the floor, it will be more drafty but drier and in the summer I won't need straw for bedding.. I may remove the two small windows to provide extra entrances as chickens tend to block the entrance while they decide if they are going in. |