Chicken Theft

Any ideas on keeping chickens safe from the despicable humans who steal them?

We recently lost 9 of our best friends, the first and only chickens we've had.
Someone forced the locked door with a crowbar in the middle of the night.

We currently don't have chickens, as we don't want to experience that pain again.

In the event I ever kept them again, I would have to invest in a bunch of stuff to keep them safe from humans.
Making a list, any help would be nice.

The chickens are 1 km from our house. They were kept outside in 100sq meters all day with access to the inside coop for laying eggs. We would let them out into the 2.5 acres when we were there.
William

Dogs aren't just to keep four legged predators away.

You c an put out motion sensor lights, and if you or someone you know is good with wiring you can attach a siren to the motion detector as well.....that would do it, but would require electricity....

That's horrible! Can you report it to the police? You might not be the only one losing chickens to this miscreant.

Solar powered motion sensor lights are a possibility. Geese or dogs are useful for dissuading humans. We've also had great results with llamas scaring off unwanted humans.

Sending good thoughts in your direction. Sorry for your loss.

R Ranson wrote:That's horrible! Can you report it to the police? You might not be the only one losing chickens to this miscreant.

Solar powered motion sensor lights are a possibility. Geese or dogs are useful for dissuading humans. We've also had great results with llamas scaring off unwanted humans.

Sending good thoughts in your direction. Sorry for your loss.

Thanks!
Geese recently were be-headed on a farm near us and taken away, so I don't know how well that would work. I know they traditionally are used in place of dogs.

As for dogs, we've never really wanted them. Extra mouths to feed and dogs need companionship that we might not be able to offer. Chickens tend to have they're own thing happening, so they take care of themselves.

Yes - alarms cameras and standard security measures. We could get solar panels for electricity to run them.
William

You may want to talk to the effected neighbors, see if there is a day of the week that this is happening. If there is a pattern to when these offences are happening you have more power to focus your efforts, even to the point of staying in the hen house that night for a few weeks. A face to face intervention would go along way to making them think twice....

I feel for you. We went out to a drive-in movie earlier this year, and when we came back someone had stolen all 10 chickens we had. I made a chicken coop on wheels and put it on the far end of our property for the replacements, but this is inconvenient and they are more vulnerable to non-human predators.

I would recommend an IR trail camera. If you aren't familiar, they are very popular for deer hunters who want to scout an area prior to hunting it. They are motion activated and can be set on a video mode. I'd pick up a noisy rooster off craigslist for free or next to nothing. Use it as bait for the intruder to catch them on camera. Just a thought... Good luck and happy hunting.

How to make a gypsy omelet: First, you steal a chicken...

I know a gal in TN that had her flock stolen twice within a few weeks.

(She lived in town, chickens were rural. Property had a circular driveway. The 3rd time they came, they broke their truck in the 3 foot deep trench that 'somebody' had dug on the exit half of the driveway. LOL)