Predator Proof Housing
One of the requirements for adopting from Carolina Waterfowl Rescue is the ability to keep animals safely housed away from predators. Whether you are adopting waterfowl varieties, chickens, or other fowl, it is imperative for all animals to be safely sheltered with access to respite from the elements and supplemental heat when needed.
We are happy to review your pet housing with you! To request a review, you can send us photos of your current setup and any questions you have.
When Building Your Pen/Shelter…
rules to live by:
Rule #1: Build your pens to keep predators out, not to keep birds in! Birds are easy to contain but raccoons, foxes, coyotes, etc. are hard to keep out. Know what animals are in your area, and design the pen with them in mind.
Rule #2: EVERYONE has predators, EVERYONE! People tell us all the time they don't need to lock their ducks up because they live in the city where there are no predators. Trust us, there are raccoons and possums in the city. Coyotes are also being noticed in more urban areas and are responsible for taking pet cats and small dogs. Your slow, flightless duck won’t have a chance.
Rule #3: It’s not "if," it’s "when" your ducks will get eaten. It may take months for a predator to find your birds, but they will eventually. Once they do find them, they tell all their friends that you have set out free food!
Rule #4: A bad pen is worse than no pen. If you build a pen that isn't secure, you’re trapping the birds in, so they have no chance of escape while predators can freely move in and out of the cage. All or nothing! (To adopt from us, it has to be ALL.)
Rule #5: When you adopt domestic animals like ducks and chickens, it’s your responsibility to keep them safe. If you ignore the basic needs of these birds and decide to just shoot or kill wildlife that encounters them, you will lose a lot of birds, and you will be doing a lot of killing. If you set up a buffet for the wildlife, don't be upset when they come to take advantage of the free food. They only eat to survive, and they will take what's easy. Don't make it easy! Take your responsibility to your pets seriously, and provide them a safe, secure home.
Common Mistakes:
Pens must have a roof! A tarp doesn't count. It must be made of heavy wire or be a solid roof. Raccoons are very smart and can be very destructive. They can chew very well, and a piece of plastic will take them about ten seconds to rip a hole in. Tarps also accumulate water and can collapse, and they don't hold up long-term to the weather.
Chain link isn't predator proof; raccoons will eat your ducks right through a chain link pen. They work in groups and scare ducks to one side, where another raccoon pulls the duck’s head through the chain link. We have even seen them even swans this way. Four feet of hardware cloth needs to be around the entire bottom of the cage, or you can also use wood or other solid material. If you have a chain link kennel, it’s easier to zip tie hardware cloth along the inside.
You need a floor! Predators can dig and climb. The bottom of the cage needs to be enclosed, whether it’s a solid floor or wire buried under the ground. Raccoons can also lift chain link dog kennels up and hop underneath.
Secure door latches - raccoons can open doors and lift latches. Use a padlock or a carabiner clip to secure door latches. An adopter of ours had ducks inside her house, and a raccoon broke into the house going through two doors to reach and kill her ducks.
Three Types of Latches
This first one shows how a string can be tied through the latch, so you don't lock yourself inside. If you’ve ever been stranded inside your chicken or duck pen while you wait for someone to come let you out, you know how important this is! Points deducted for no clips to prevent raccoon entry though.
This send latch is great. Gold stars go to this pen for having all the key elements, including the right wire.
This is an example of the first latch but with a carabiner clip to prevent raccoons from opening the latch. Although points are deducted for chicken wire, which isn't predator proof.
Know Your Predators
Raccoons
The most common predators are raccoons. They are smart and agile. They can loosen boards and put them back. They also evaluate things, like aviary netting, for weaknesses until they find a way in, and yes, they are carnivores! If you find your birds dead with their head eaten, a raccoon is likely the culprit.
Opossum
While we have heard stories of opossums eating ducks, they mostly look for carrion (dead animals). They are slow and can’t really catch faster birds. In our experience, we have never had a possum kill anything, but we see them being blamed for cleaning up the mess that other predators leave behind. Raccoons will eat heads, but the possum would come along and eat the leftover bones, feathers, skin. That doesn't mean they can be trusted. This is where a bad pen becomes worse because even a slow animal can catch a duck inside a trap.
WEasels
We had the rescue in a new location for two years before we had a weasel get in and kill our seagull population one night. From research, we had been told there were no weasels in the area, and we hadn't seen one in our ten years of keeping birds prior to that. That was a game changer for us, since they can get into mouse hole-sized openings! They killed everything in the pen, but only ate one bird. The rest they planned to come back for later. This is why burying hardware cloth is so important.
Raptors
These guys are more of a problem during the day, but this is another reason you need a top on your pen. Great Horned Owls are efficient predators, and their grip is 50 times stronger than that of a human’s. They can lift a sizable weight, and air attacks are always a concern. Small birds can never be left out, as even the tiniest Sharp Shinned Hawk will take down birds bigger than they are. There are too many raptors to list, but to drive home the point, we know of someone whose swans were killed by a bald eagle! Bald eagles are not normally in our area but were passing over for migration.
Dogs & Cats
We get an enormous number of hurt animals in each year due to dog or cat attacks. Dogs can easily injure birds even if they are trying to play with them. Cats or dogs will chase or play with something that runs from it. They carry Pasteurella bacteria in their saliva, which is toxic to birds and most wildlife.
Foxes
These guys are tough. They are smart, they are fast, and some (e.g the grey fox) can climb like cats. They can also dig and get into things with great speed.
Bears, Bobcats, Mountain Lions
We are truly fortunate to not have to deal with these in our area of North Carolina, but these predators are strong and viscous when it comes to getting food aka your birds. If you live in mountainous areas, you often need very solid construction, and things like chicken wire or hardware cloth alone won’t cut it.
Here are some great choices in housing!
Ok, enough talking, let’s look at some pictures for pens and talk about the pros and cons of each style.
This duck pen was submitted by Janis. Her husband Todd constructed the pen frame by hand, but you could do this style by buying a premade carport frame. Frame covered entirely in hardware cloth. It has a solid base/floor that is two feet underground (so no digging predators can get in). It’s hard to beat the looks of this pen! The cost to build is $1000+ (in this economy), which may be the only "con" if you’re on a tight budget. Otherwise, it’s pretty much perfect in design.
This pen was submitted by Lottie. The birds have the building to roost in at night and have this nice predator proof place to roam during the day. So, they are protected day and night. The roof has 2“x4” wire on one side and metal on the other side. The bottom is all hardware cloth. Raccoons can climb on it, but they can’t reach into the pen. We don't have a cost estimate for this pen, but it would be easier if you already have an outbuilding. If you don't have an outbuilding, it may be pricey to buy one new or build one yourself.
This pen was submitted by Tiffany. It's an incredibly good example of two unique styles of pen with no expenses spared on safety. Pros on these pens is they have style and function and just plain look good! The black chain link on the left is a vinyl coated wire for smoother edges and nicer looking than regular chain link. The top is an aviary netting and the downside to that is you need to inspect it daily to look for chewing or signs of raccoon activity. The bottom is all hardware cloth. The wood pens to the right are solidly built and covered entirely with hardware cloth. Solid bottoms and tops. Cons to this is that you must be handy to build them yourself or hire someone.
These two pens belong to the rescue. The one in front is a fitting design, and the wood bottom makes it extremely safe. The front area however needed hardware cloth since hex chicken wire isn't predator proof. The pen in the back was all chicken wire and needed a lot of work to make it safe. We closed the panels off with a wire mesh window-type screening. That keeps snakes out and other predators’ little paws! The pros to these pens are they pop apart and can be moved. Cons are they do require some construction skills. We got them pre-made at an auction for a good price but had to spend time changing the wire out.
This is our pigeon coop; it is all hardware cloth and solid.
Another pen at the rescue. This one is chain link attached to a building. The bottom of the chain link is buried. Hardware cloth covers the entire bottom, and aviary netting covers the top. Birds have an indoor-outdoor run. Pros: this is a great pen that is huge and has plenty of room to roam. It wasn't super expensive to make either. Cons: the netting must be checked constantly, and you spend a lot of time with construction. Once it's done though, you have a nice easy-to-maintain aviary.
This is an 8’x13’ chain link dog kennel. The entire thing is wrapped in hardware cloth; the roll goes around the top and around the bottom, so it doesn't need to be buried. It’s filled with gravel and rubber mats. It’s easy to clean and affordable to make. The downside is it’s not the best-looking pen. This one was hidden in the woods, which is why such great measures were taken for security. Care must be taken for the area surrounding the door; it must be covered in wire with no exposed gaps.
This pen was submitted by Amanda. This is the outdoor run, and the birds sleep inside at night. Again, this is one you need an existing building for or will have to spend considerable money building. It’s great because it gives birds a safe outdoor area to play in and gives them complete security at night. If you have an existing outbuilding, this would be a great add-on to give you complete peace of mind.
We Showed You The Good, Now Let’s Look At Some Bad…
On the surface, this pen looks okay, and you can tell someone put thought into it. The doghouse for shelter, the pool for swimming, the ducks have it made right? Well, all these ducks were killed by a predator rather quickly. While the ducks will use a doghouse for laying eggs, they generally will not sleep inside and will rest next to the chain link and have their heads pulled through by a predator. The raccoons didn't need to stalk the ducks along the chain link because they had an easy "in" to the pen, which was just hopping over the top. Another issue is the gaps all around the door are large enough for a raccoon to squeeze in. The good news is this person started researching and reached out to other rescues and is now a licensed rehabber and duck rescuer! She very graciously allowed us to post a picture of her "lesson learned the hard way" in an effort to save more animals.
Although it should be common sense, please also keep adequate space for the number of birds you have!
This pen does not provide complete predator proofing. It appears to have a solid roof, but a wrap of the bottom four feet with hardware cloth would make a big difference in the safety of this pen. Chickens roost inside at night while ducks do not. If you have an enclosure inside the chain link housing for the chickens to get locked up at night, this would be alright as a daytime area. It’s hard to tell from the photos, but this pen does have an inside chicken roost that is secure at night, so we can’t be too quick to judge this for a chicken pen. It wouldn't work however for ducks. We want to point out that though most predators come out at night, they can and do hunt during the day (especially when they have young).
We love do-it-yourselfers, recyclers, and repurposers! That being said, this homemade pen still needs a few things. The wire openings are too large, and raccoons can probably reach chickens inside the roost. Additionally, a couple of raccoons could lift this pen up easily and get underneath. From a caretaking standpoint, a person can’t access the birds on the wire side without lifting the whole pen up and risking escapees.
The sturdiness and longevity of this pen is the primary concern. It does not appear protective against predators or during inclement weather events, both of which your birds should be sheltered from.
We love this idea out of an old shed! We do wonder however about encountering problems with heat in the summer, assuming these chickens aren't let out to free range during the day. Also, they needed to build with hardware cloth instead of chicken wire to make it completely predator proof but a nice concept nonetheless.
These are pre-made chicken kennels sold online. They can be a quick, uncomplicated way to make a pen if you are not handy with building things. This pen is nowhere near predator proof, but it provides you with a nice starting framework to build off of.
Note: We couldn't find the origin of some of these pictures. If you know who owns them, please let us know!
We can add more pictures as we get them. Send us your pen pictures, whether they are good or bad. Let other people learn from your mistakes because it will save lives. Lessons learned the hard way are an important chance to educate others.