As someone who has a lot of chickens (there are about 700 on the farm right now!) I often field questions about chicken keeping from friends and customers. There's a common query that often begins with the lament that a fox or a weasel or even the neighbor's dog has just killed several chickens and the question is: how do I protect my chickens from predators?
Please note that this is written from a North American perspective, so your predator species will vary depending on where in the world you live. However, most of this advice is applicable no matter what species of predator you're dealing with.
Animal Psychology
Another comment I hear a lot after a predator attack is, "nothing like this has ever happened before!" Many first time poultry keepers enjoy a "honeymoon" period when they get their first birds that can last several years! During this time, the local predators have not yet realized that your backyard is hosting a flock of easy meals. With this illusion of safety, folks will often let their chickens free range with no consequences.
Typically, the longer it has been since anyone kept livestock on your land, the longer it takes for predators to figure out what's going on. But it's only a matter of time until they do. So it's important to realize that just because nothing has ever killed your chickens before, it doesn't mean it won't happen.
As for dogs, remember that the majority of household pets are not trained to ignore chickens and your birds might be the first chickens a wandering dog has ever encountered. Birds are inherently very exciting to dogs, since they move quickly and make noise. An excited dog can kill or injure a chicken even if it's not being intentionally aggressive.
Most cats leave adult chickens alone but cats are very capable of killing chicks. They may even kill them in large numbers since the combination of movement and noise excites their predatory instinct and they can easily kill more than they will eat.
Even some wild predators are known for this tendency to overkill. Animals in the weasel family such as mink, ermines and fisher cats can kill your entire flock, even though they will actually consume very little of it.
My dog Caraway and I unfortunately caught this mink in the act of killing pullets one winter. This was the day after a snow storm, so I had not yet dug out the electric fence, thus it was grounded out in the snow and not able to deliver a proper shock. Like many weasel family predators, mink will overkill. This one killed about a dozen young pullets in just a few minutes.
Electric Fencing
There is no better way to protect outdoor chickens than electric net fencing. It does require the initial investment of fencing and an energizer but it will last for years and will protect many generations of chickens. I have never lost a chicken to ground predators if they were within a properly electrified fence (I'll address aerial predators in a moment...).
There are many companies that make great electric fences and energizers. Premier1 Supplies does an especially good job of explaining both the pros and cons of electric net fencing, as well as helping to understand the different types. Here's a great article if you want more details.
Sometimes, larger animals like foxes, coyotes and dogs can learn to jump electric fences to get to your chickens. The best way to prevent this is to make sure the fence is very "hot" (high powered), especially for an animal's first encounter with the fence. I personally use energizers that are at least 1 joule. Watch out for very low powered solar energizers (some are as low as 0.17 joules!), as they can be very hard to keep hot enough to discourage predators.
If you already have a local animal that's learned to jump the fence, a good solution is to bait the fence with something tasty and smelly like bacon. This encourages the animal to make contact with the fence when it tried to sniff and eat the bacon. The moisture in the bacon makes it very conductive and so should give the critter a negative association with the fence that will discourage it from getting close enough to jump.
I like to say that all our local predators are "fence trained". They won't even try to jump a fence because they have had early negative experiences with them and thus give all net fences a wide berth. This is also a great way to live harmoniously with the local wildlife. If your poultry are protected from predators, those predators are less likely to be hunted or trapped as nuisance animals.
An important part of an electric fencing system that many people forget is a fence tester. With a tester you don't have to guess if the fence is hot, you know for sure. Many times I have been alerted to a fencing issue because I tested the fence and found the voltage to be unusually low. The issue could be anything from a metal fence post grounding out the fence to just forgetting to turn it back on! (Check out the electric fencing guide linked about for more details about fence testing.)
Trapping and Hunting Predators
The problem with trapping and hunting predators is that it is most often a short term solution. If your property is good raccoon habitat and you shoot all the raccoons trying to eat your chickens, sooner or later, new raccoons are going to move in. The same goes for any wild animal!
Even though we don't always see them, our property hosts an abundance of raccoons (tracks above), foxes, weasels and more. All of them would love a chicken dinner, so it's my job to make sure my livestock aren't an easy meal.
Even live trapping and releasing has its issues, since you are then making that animal someone else's problem. You also could be releasing it into another animal's territory, which could bring them into conflict, while some animals will make great efforts to return to their original area, no matter how far away you take them.
Keeping Feed Secure
Animals like bears and rodents are often attracted more to chicken feed than to actual chickens. This is why it's important to have secure feed storage. Remember that rodents can chew through wood and plastic, so you will need something like a metal trash can to keep them out.
A metal trash can also helps contain the smell of the feed. Did you know that a black bear's sense of smell is estimated to be seven times greater than a bloodhound? A secure barn, shed or garage is the best way to keep feed away from bears. They can be deterred by a hot electric fence but they are very capable of breaking into coops and tearing chicken wire.
If you suspect a bear or rodent problem, locking up all feed, including chicken feeders, overnight is a good idea, along with cleaning up any feed spilled on the ground. Bears will eat chickens if given the opportunity but they are usually first attracted to your coop by feed.
While small rodents like mice can't hurt chickens, rats can decimate young chicks. Though typically attracted by the feed, they will also kill chicks and store them in dark corners or even in the walls to eat later. Fighting a bad rat infestation is a larger topic than I will tackle here today but securing feed is a key aspect of prevention!
Aerial Predators
And now the bane of my chicken farming career, hawks and eagles. Obviously, electric fencing does not stop aerial predators, though it can still be helpful for keeping chickens a little safer from above.
Chickens ranging within electric fencing are still much safer from hawks than free ranging birds. The electric fence keeps the chickens closer to the shelter of the coop, so that when they see a hawk, they have a chance to run for cover.
This juvenile broad wing hawk (my best guess anyway) got tangled in the electric fence while trying to catch a chicken. I was able to untangle it and release with, as far as I could tell, no harm to the hawk or me! We also see Northern Goshawks and even Bald Eagles in our part of world.
Chickens are prey animals and thus are very observant, you may even see your chickens running for cover when they see a crow or an airplane. Sometimes it takes young birds a little time to learn that danger can come from above. That's why I often like keeping a couple older hens or roosters in the flock. These experienced birds will lead by example and show the young ones what to do.
If your chickens aren't able to make it under cover in time to avoid a hawk attack, consider making the electric fence enclosure smaller, at least until the chickens learn to be more alert! If you are able to have a rooster, they can be helpful in sounding the alarm for the hens, since they usually spend less time foraging and more time watching the skies.
Playing talk radio or making a scarecrow are also good strategies. Make sure you move your scarecrow around regularly or the hawks will get used to it and realize it's not a threat. I do still see occasional losses from hawks even when employing these strategies but to me its an acceptable number. The only way to keep chickens 100% safe is to never let them outdoors and that would be a sad life for a chicken.
Livestock Guardians
When people start having predator problems with their chickens, I often see the recommendation to get a livestock guardian animal. The most popular suggestions for chickens are geese or dogs.
Geese are a pretty small investment but it's important to remember that geese are also prey animals. While they can be helpful for alerting the chickens to hawks, they will do nothing to help them against foxes, coyotes, weasels, raccoons, etc.
A livestock guardian dog (LGD) is a much bigger investment. For starters, you can't just put the family dog out with the chickens and expect it to do a good job. LGDs have been bred for generations to guard livestock but this doesn't mean that they can do this job with no training. Even a well trained dog usually can't be trusted with poultry unsupervised until about 2 years old.
Adult LGDs that are already trained need to have specific training with poultry to be safe around chickens. Just like any dog, LGDs can injure and kill chickens, especially when still in the puppy and adolescent stages. On the other hand, a properly trained dog is the best protection a flock can have. You just need to consider if it's worth investing in a dog for the size flock you have.
Domestic Dogs
In my experience, dogs are some of the easiest animals to protect chickens from because electric fencing works every time. If your own dog has never encountered electric fencing before, keep in mind that getting shocked can make some dogs want to run quite a distance! Usually they will run straight home or to another safe place, so if you have a new-to-you dog, it's probably best to let them settle in a bit before introducing the scary, biting fence.
You should also never force a dog to touch an electric fence. If the grass is damp and the fence is strong, a sensitive dog may get enough current through the ground that they will naturally steer clear of the fence line. Some dogs need a good zap to the nose to really figure it out (some denser dogs need two zaps!) Even though they will probably yelp and run away, remember that electric fencing doesn't do any lasting harm.
Farm dog Caraway only needs about one reminder a year that electric fences are not to be messed with. But also she is very trustworthy around poultry, despite a very high prey drive, since she was exposed to them as a puppy.
If your dog can be trusted with free range chickens, that's great! But in this day and age when fewer people have the opportunity to expose their pets to farm animals when young (which is the best way to get a chicken safe dog), it seems a bit unfair to expect every dog in the neighborhood to ignore free-ranging poultry.
So rather than inviting disputes with the neighbors when a dog inevitably kills some free-ranging chickens, I keep them securely behind electric fence. If you have a dog who's a fence jumper, fence baiting works just as well for dogs as it does for foxes and coyotes (I recommend bacon). With dogs you can also bring them over for an on-leash training session after baiting the fence. Once they are consistently avoiding not just the bait but the fence altogether, the work is usually done.