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My chickens are only out when we are home and we are outside with them most of the time with a livestock guardian dog protecting them 24/7 and barn cats with some extra precautions. Letting chickens loose with nothing would obviously get them picked off, I wanted to raise them in a...

Many predators could have the determination to come back, yes. But it wouldn't matter if they can't catch the chicken in which case they would realize they are wasting their energy and give up. As you stated, they can fly to the barn, house, tree, etc. A fox can't jump into the trees my chickens...

I know chickens will be instinctually predator smart most times because it's in their DNA but they tend to be smarter if exposed to the outdoors sooner in life. Chicks start exploring away from mom (not completely but they aren't always under her) when they are 3 days old so from that point...

Also, I am free-ranging them to get use to the outdoors. They aren't just eating grass if that's what you are imaging. They have 24/7 acess to food, water, grit, shelter, and heat. If you are trying to give advice, I am curious about how you said free-ranging young chickens doesn't make them...

I started a new thread in the predator category: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/free-range-chicks-disappearing-and-becoming-wobbly.1576954/

Someone did an experiment on BYC and found out chicks raised outside thrive better and gain better life skills. They compared their adult free-range flock to their indoor raised adult flock and their free-range flock never got picked off by predators while their indoor raised flock did. Also...

I know free-ranging has risks but I've read that the younger the chicks get used to the outdoors the better the chance they have to survive when they are adults. Also, please keep this discussion on topic. I am trying to find what is taking the chicks and I don't want to argue about what the...

I know that it likely is a predator and I don't have any rat poison or traps (I have cats for that). I think it might be a poisonous bug or spider since the cats have't eaten it. One of my brown leghorns also became paralyzed for a minute and was flapping like it was dying but after a while he...

I have 5 - 10 week old egyptian fayoumis and brown leghorns chicks who free-range. I've heard these breeds are suppose to be great free-rangers but some have died without any sign of sickness, attack, or anything. I let them roam around when I'm outside but if I turn my back for a few minutes...