Hawks, owls and the daylight problem

The rest of this hub is about a door, a latch and a wire apron - the machinery of keeping a coop shut overnight. Aerial predators break that model completely, because they arrive in the middle of the afternoon while the birds are outside doing exactly what you got them to do.

It is also the threat where the folk remedies are thickest and the physical fix is simplest. Cover the run.

Why nothing else transfers

Owls are the exception that proves the pattern: they hunt at night, so a properly latched coop handles them the way it handles everything else. It is the daytime hunters that need the structural answer.

Cover the run - the options in order

1. A solid roof. Best outcome, most cost. It also keeps the run drier, which helps with mud and with litter tracked into the coop, so it is one of the few security upgrades with a second benefit.
2. Welded mesh over the top. What the steel walk-in enclosures on this page ship with. Strong, permanent, and it stops climbers as well as fliers.
3. Aviary or garden netting. Cheapest by a wide margin and genuinely effective against birds. It sags, it needs re-tensioning, and it does not stop a raccoon that climbs - but for hawks alone it does the job.
4. Partial cover plus dense shelter. If a full cover is impossible, cover part of the run and give the flock somewhere to bolt to. A hawk needs an open approach and an open exit.

Cover that is not a roof

Free-ranging birds cannot be roofed, and the answer there is cover in the landscape sense: shrubs, a low table, a lean-to, anything a bird can get under fast. Flocks with dense cover to bolt into lose far fewer birds than flocks on open lawn, because a hawk's approach depends on an unobstructed line.

A cockerel changes the odds too - the alarm call and the watching behavior are real, and it is the traditional reason for keeping one with a free-ranging flock. Whether you can keep one is usually a zoning question rather than a husbandry one; see permits and zoning.

What does not work

• Reflective tape, old CDs, scarecrows and plastic owls. All work briefly and stop working once the bird learns nothing follows. Deterrents that depend on novelty have a short half-life.
• Noise makers, for the same reason, and they annoy neighbors long after they have stopped annoying the hawk.
• Anything that involves harming the bird. Hawks, owls and eagles are federally protected in the United States, and killing, trapping or relocating one without a permit is illegal. Exclusion is the legal answer and it is also the one that works.

The picks

Two covered steel enclosures and the mesh you would use to cover a run you already own. All three solve the same problem from different starting points.

Top pick · Shedding snow and rain off a run

VEVOR Metal Walk-In Run, Spire Roof

43 sq ft under a spire roof - the pitched cover is the reason to pick it over a flat-topped run.

What the numbers say

Published footprint43 sq ftHonest count10 hensMaker claimsno claim

78.72in x 78.72in = 43 sq ft of whole-unit footprint, which includes the attached run and is therefore generous. At 4 sq ft per standard hen that is 10 birds. The maker publishes no bird count of its own to compare against.

Figures from VEVOR published specifications (Amazon listing) · 78.72"L x 78.72"W x 78.72"H · High-carbon steel

43 sq ft in a perfect square, which is the most efficient shape for a given perimeter of frame.

The spire roof is the differentiator. Flat-covered runs pool water and collapse under wet snow; a pitched cover sheds both.

No bird count is claimed, which is correct for an enclosure.

Good

• Pitched roof sheds snow and standing water
• Square footprint is frame-efficient
• Security lock included

Not so good

• A run, not a coop
• Cover material will degrade before the frame does
• 6.5ft square is smaller than it sounds once a henhouse is inside

Skip this if: you get heavy snow loads. A spire helps, but no fabric-covered run is a substitute for a rigid roof where snow sits.

Check price on Amazon

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Pick 2 · A metal run that will not rot

GOJOOASIS Metal Walk-In Coop with Run

31.7 sq ft against a claim of ten, so seven hens - but the steel frame outlives every fir coop on this page.

What the numbers say

Published footprint31.7 sq ftHonest count7 hensMaker claims10

117in x 39in = 31.7 sq ft of whole-unit footprint, which includes the attached run and is therefore generous. At 4 sq ft per standard hen that is 7 birds, against a claim of 10.

Figures from GOJOOASIS published specifications (Amazon listing) · 117"L x 39"W x 39"H · High-carbon steel with polyethylene cover

31.7 sq ft is seven standard hens. The listing says ten, which is three past what the ground area supports.

The 39in height is the bigger problem than the claim. It is described as walk-in and it is not - 39 inches is a crouch, and you will be doing it daily.

What you are buying is the frame. High-carbon steel does not rot, does not host mites in its end grain, and does not need re-treating. For a run, that is the right material.

Good

• Steel frame will outlast any fir coop here
• Nothing to re-treat, nothing to rot
• Long enough to give birds real running distance

Not so good

• Ten is three birds past the floor area
• Described as walk-in at 39in tall, which it is not
• Polyethylene cover is the weak point and will need replacing

Skip this if: you believed the walk-in description. At 39 inches you are on your knees, and this is a run rather than a coop - there is no insulated house in it.

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Pick 3 · The single most important predator purchase

Amagabeli 1/2" Hardware Cloth, 48in x 100ft

Half-inch aperture, 19 gauge, hot-dipped galvanized after welding. This is the specification that actually keeps raccoons out.

What the numbers say

The manufacturer does not publish the dimensions this calculation needs, so we do not print a number.

Figures from Amagabeli published specifications (Amazon listing)

Half-inch aperture is the number that matters. A raccoon can reach through 1in mesh and a weasel walks through 1in chicken wire; half-inch stops both.

Galvanized AFTER welding, not before, is the second specification to check. Welding burns the coating off, so mesh galvanized beforehand rusts at every joint - which is exactly where it needs to hold.

19 gauge is the practical minimum for a coop perimeter. Thinner mesh sold as hardware cloth exists and bends open by hand.

Good

• Half-inch aperture excludes raccoons and weasels
• Hot-dipped galvanized after welding, so joints do not rust first
• 48in width covers most run walls in a single run

Not so good

• Cutting it is hard on the hands and on your snips
• 100ft is more than a small coop needs
• Edges are sharp and need capping or folding

Skip this if: only if you already have half-inch hardware cloth. Do not substitute chicken wire - it is a containment material, not a security one.

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Both enclosures are runs rather than coops - there is no henhouse in either, so roosting is still yours to solve. Metal coops and runs covers what that means in practice.