Access to Chickens - Denied!

The creation of tunnels through the snow for ease of transit combined with the removal of inoperable fence gates, has resulted in the need for some creative barrier making to keep the chickens and ducks protected from possible predators, namely the nasty neighbourhood fox and our only curious, but chronically poop eating, schnauzers.

The first and most important barrier for us to devise was a "fox blocker".  There is a red fox who lives in our neighbourhood with a special liking for fresh duck.  Two summers ago, this fox penetrated our chicken run and made a quick meal of many of our poultry.  The carnage was unimaginable to someone who had never before experienced a poultry massacre at the hands of a fox - bird carcasses lying all over the chicken run with eyes glazed over, bloody gashes on their breasts and feathers flying everywhere.  It was devastating; we lost two ducks and four chickens. RIP.

This is what the fox looks like.  Jerk.

The poultry massacre led us to find and block the hole in the old chicken run fence where the fox was sneaking through and additionally, build a smaller, more secure fenced-in chicken run inside the old fenced-in area that is complete with a new wire fence perimeter surrounded by electric fence to stop a fox from jumping over with chicken wire dug a foot into the ground to prevent a fox from digging under.  We also called in a trapper to try to catch the fox.  We never did manage to catch the devious creature and have seen him since roaming around the outside of the chicken run; however, we have not had any additional casualties since building the newer run.

The memories of the poultry massacre are slow to fade, though, so I was a bit apprehensive about removing the gate to the chicken run in order to gain access to the back door of the coop (which was otherwise inaccessible because of all the snow).  While this was necessary for me to be able to let the chickens outside and to muck out the coop, it was equally essential to build a fox blocker to stop anyone but me from gaining access to the chickens now that their usually impenetrable fence has a wheelbarrow sized gap in it.  So I created a fox blocker out of old rolls of metal fencing that I place in the gap when the chickens are outside to keep them safe from unwanted intruders.  It is not as secure as the gate but will hopefully do the trick until spring when we can reattach the gate.

Fox blocker.

Ducks and chickens protected by fox blocker.

 It was also necessary to build a less sophisticated, through still functional, schnauzer blocker to keep the dogs from roaming the tunnels through the gates that no longer close and into the chicken run.  While neither dog has a taste for fresh chicken (though they do like the dried chicken strip treats), they both have the rather disgusting and filthy habit of eating fresh chicken poo.  Seeing as the chickens poop willy nilly all over the chicken run, it is essential to keep the dogs separated from the poop.  Hence, the schnauzer blocker.  While nothing is stopping the dogs from leaving the tunnel and circumventing the schnauzer blocker entirely, they have not figured this out and seem happy to remain in the tunnels.  This may not be case as the snow melts and the tunnels become less distinct but hopefully by then the gates will close again and it will be a non-issue.

Schnauzer blocker.