I'll probably catch flack from animal rights folks but I understand everyone's priorities are different. Between roaming cats, semi-domesticated coyotes and other preditors it's hard to have chickens around here unless they are kept in strong pens with tops. I'll share my method of slowing predation for those that might be interested. Some years back I tired of turning chickens out then closing them up at night and still losing some so I bought some game chicks with intent of letting them free range 24-7. I reared them in a movable tractor pen that is electrically isolated by rubber tires when parked. I connected an old 12 volt livestock fence charger to a wire on insulators mounted to outside of pen and copper rod driven in ground. I watched the pen pretty close first few days and witnessed cats attempting to catch meals and their reaction. When chicks were about feathered out they cleaned grass in the tractor and had to be moved daily so I started letting them out. Grass hoppers were pretty bad at the time and the chicks must have liked their taste because they spent a lot of time chasing them. A couple of cats were stretched out in front of shop napping when some chicks came around the shop chasing a grasshopper. Those cats couldn't have jumped higher and left faster had they saw a pack of dogs coming. I figured anything else that had tried getting them from pen would act the same so I let them roam a will. About 3 months later I found feathers near the timber that looked to have been lost in an encounter. I figured the varmit would be back so I hauled the the tractor and charger down there and placed a hen caught roosting in a tree in the tractor for a few days. Over the years I've had to use the electrafied tractor and a pen several times to educate predators. I don't always find nests but I get all the eggs I want. I've ran accross nests full of rotten eggs but broody hens hatch more than enough to sustain a flock so I capture or shoot roosters before they are old enough to fight amongst themselves plus older hens from time to time. I've put the charger beneath wife's bird feeders a time or two to discourage cats. I showed her how to identify doves and she's seeing fewer mourning than others recently.
