# Chicken moat/how to keep safe from cats?



## Mountaingirl (Jun 7, 2020)

Hi,

We recently built a chicken coop that is 8 feet long by four feet high on the tall side and 3 feet high on the short side and the roof slants. We are keeping our chicks secured in the coop while they are small so they have access to food, water, and the heat lamp. We do not believe predators, including our pet cats and the neighborhood cats and the skunk that frequently comes by can get into the coop so the chicks are safe for now. However, we placed the coop right up against our garden fence (which is 4 feet high). The garden is approximately a 50 foot by 50 foot square. The coop has doors, but it does not open into the garden. We plan to build a second fence all the way around the garden for the chicken run (I saw a chicken moat idea online and I thought when they get big enough they would enjoy catching grasshoppers which would help protect the garden and give them lots of room to run). We have 200 feet of fencing so far, so we could easily build the moat around 3 sides of the garden, and maybe partway along the 4th side too. We have a cat who is quite the hunter (who shows an unhealthy interest in the chicks even though she can’t get at them). She can easily jump up on the nest box and then jump on to the coop roof, so it seems likely that she would try to enter the chicken moat at some point. I do not want her to be injured, and I do not want her to injure or kill the chickens. We will wait to let the chickens out until they’re bigger, of course (the chicks don’t even have all of their real feathers yet), but do you have thoughts on this? Does the moat need to be covered with something (and if so, what would you recommend that is light weight)? Long term we will most likely keep a rooster and about a dozen hens for egg laying. We are hoping the rooster will offer some protection but I just don’t know... Thanks for your suggestions and for adding me to the forum!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, I'm reading chicken moat and you have to know what I was thinking, a trench with water in it. 

I would cover it even if the cat wasn't part of the question. You have other predators, hawks in particular, that can and will go after the birds. 

Here's the fun part though, I'm guessing your fence is four feet high? Get the shortest person to run that moat to get any recalcitrant birds into the coop at night.


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## Mountaingirl (Jun 7, 2020)

Thanks for your response. 

My husband was doing some reading (not sure where, but of course the internet would never lie, right?) and that website said if we keep the moat fence fairly close to the garden fence (say 4 or 5 feet), then hawks and deer don’t like the two fences so close together...I don’t know if that is true or not. The fences are 4 feet tall, so a deer could definitely jump it if they did feel comfortable with 2 fences close together but we are hoping they won’t bother since we are also getting a puppy who will hopefully deter some deer when he is big enough to be outside... For a hawk, their level of comfort would likely depend on their wingspan. We mostly have red winged hawks around here, but others are possible, too. 

The chickens will be in the coop at night, but during the day we were going to open the chicken door and they could choose if they want to be in the run or in the coop when they get bigger (speaking of which, how big/old is big enough for outdoor exploration? It’s been about 7 years since we last had chickens and we did not have a hunter cat back then). We have some Rudd’s Rangers, Rhode Island reds, and New Hampshire reds. The Rhode Island reds and New Hampshire reds are all female but the Rudd’s Rangers were a straight run so we don’t know yet how many roosters we will have...they sometimes flap up like they are play fighting (no one actually gets pecked), so I think some are male.

If we don’t cover the moat, what do you think a rooster/cat outcome would be if such an interaction occurred? We can use landscape staples every so often in the ground to stake the fence down, but if there’s anywhere she can squeeze through, this cat will find it and try to get in underneath, too. The cat is a reliable maker of poor choices, but we love her anyway.

If we do cover it, what would you recommend using since it will have to be pretty light?

And yes, the moat idea does conjure up images of trenches with water. Maybe we’ll do a duck moat around all of it next summer, haha! Quite honesty, I just thought it was a good idea for grasshopper patrol (and it gives the chickens a very large area to explore), but again my husband consulted the Google Oracle and informed me someone already thought of my brilliant plan first and it has a name: chicken moat. It’s fun to say, even if I am not the originator of the idea!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Not true about hawks not liking the four foot span. They fly into pens with three foot doors that are open so a four foot isn't any kind of deterrent. I can't answer the question about the deer. I guess you get to find out. 

Right now the chicks are a play toy to the cat. Chances are it'll change once they are full fledged big birds. I would have some concerns if any are bantams but again, the cat may lose interest once they no longer sound like little mice. 

I would just use poultry netting. It will keep climbers from being able to get through the wire, like dogs, coyotes and *****. 

It really depends on your temps. If it's like it is here, in the 90's they could probably check out the outdoors before they're done with needing the light. Don't shove them out, let them decide if it's safe to go exploring. But be prepared to have to round them up when it's bedtime.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

HI! Welcome. You have a lot of information here and I would like to respond to a few things.
First...4 foot high coop? trust me, you won't be happy with that, My husband built my first coop like that and I'm 5'7 so getting in there to clean it, get the cobwebs out, collect eggs from the back corners because one of them has decided "forget nests! I like the corner" etc....yeah, no. It's terrible. The coop is already built so you don't have much choice but if you ever build another (chicken math is a thing), keep that in mind.

absolutely cover the moat with hardware cloth, (hardware cloth is more expensive but it's much more sturdy to withstand a predator bird trying to get in and if a cat decides to take a stroll along the moat) if you have the moat then you won't need a run. The covered moat will solve the bird predator issue and the cat issue. You can and probably should, cover a few sections of the moat with a silver reflective tarp so that they have some shade now and then when it gets hot and also provides dry spots on rainy days. 
As for making the moat, just running wire with no structure would not be a good idea, you would definitely have issues there. If you google for pictures of chicken moats, they all are made with a framework of some kind or another whether it's pvc pipe bent over or 2x4's made into "picture frames" or what have you. The pictures that do not have structures or framework are just not safe. You do know that chickens can clear a 4 ft fence, right? Most chickens can just barely clear it but they can, my wyandottes and australorps EASILY clear my 4 ft fence. (believe me, my neighbor will vouch for that fact since she brings them back home a few times a month)


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