How to Protect Baby Chicks From Predators

By eHow Pets Editor

Instructions

Step 1:
Allow chickens to maintain their natural social structure. Roosters naturally protect the hens in their flock, and hens naturally protect their chicks. Baby chicks taken from their mothers are at a disadvantage, as are flocks without roosters. If you have a flock with chicks, keeping the chickens together in a predator-proof enclosure is safest.
Step 2:
Keep the baby chicks indoors until they grow their adult feathers if you purchased them or if they are orphaned. A crate in your home, garage or barn with a heat lamp affixed to it works well. Be sure that the crate is big enough for the chicks to move away from the heat if they need to.
Step 3:
List the predators you have in your region so you can understand who you need to protect your baby chicks from. In almost every region, stray cats, snakes and birds such as crows, magpies and raptors are common chick predators. Predators like foxes and stray dogs may attack both adults and babies.
Step 4:
Move your chicks to an enclosed flight pen with an attached chicken coop once their adult feathers are growing in. Use a narrow mesh for the coop and cover the top of the pen with the mesh as well. Consult your list of predators to understand who you need to protect the baby chicks against.
Step 5:
Cover the floor of the flight pen and coop with fine mesh poultry screen and affix it to the walls. This prevents burrowing predators and snakes from gaining access to the chicks.
Step 6:
Check the structure every day for holes or tears of any sort. Repair them immediately if you find them.

Tips & Warnings

Acclimate the baby chicks to their outdoor life gradually if there's a pronounced difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures.
A hen who wasn't raised by her mother may not have the best mothering skills. If she doesn't seem to be taking care of her chicks, move the entire family into an enclosed area away from the other chickens.
Even if you keep chicks inside, fully enclose their structure to protect them from injury and from possible predators such as household dogs and cats.

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