Chicken color and free ranging

Poop Cleaner

In the Brooder
Dec 13, 2015
147
3
43
California
Have those who free range their chickens on acreage noticed a higher tendency to lose white or certain colored chickens? I am curious if coloring has anything to being more visible to day time predators.

In my google research I have read that white is highly visible as well as white confuses predators.

Or does color not really matter, and awareness matter more?
 
Yes - certain patterns/colors lend better camouflage for birds than others and this makes the less fortunate a more likely target for predation. IME white is not confusing to predators and is much more of an attractant.....this is why you often see seasonal plumage/hair coat in wildlife with a brown/patterned coloration in summer to blend with their habitat and a white coloration in winter when they need to blend with snow covered surroundings.
 
Last edited:
Yes - certain patterns/colors lend better camouflage for birds than others and this makes the less fortunate a more likely target for predation. IME white is not confusing to predators and is much more of an attractant.....this is why you often see seasonal plumage/hair coat in wildlife with a brown/patterned coloration in summer to blend with their habitat and a white coloration in winter when they need to blend with snow covered surroundings.

X2 on Ol Grey Mare's post.
 
So RIR or barred rock would be a better pick than Delawares? Aus the black white contrasting barring even more visible to birds of prey?

Or maybe I could get a white rooster so he is the most visible lol.
 
In south carolina, hawk capital of the world( i think at least), my BR and easter egger( very brown,blk, and white barred) never get a second glance from the hawks. My white birds may as well lay down on a platter for them.
For aireal predators busy pattern birds are harder to see, in my experiance any way. Good luck to ya
 
In my American Gamefowl feral colonies I always noticed that the black ones lasted better. The ones colored like a wild bird, (camouflaged) were the first to go. Hawks are programmed to see a wild color and go for it. They are also programmed to see a solid black bird and assume that it will be hard to catch, not much good to eat once caught, and might have a hundred buddies that love to mob hawks waiting just a few caws away.

I have also found that big fluffy barnyard chickens are less appealing to hawks than say, bantams, they prefer to be able to easily subdue their prey and maybe even fly away with it.
 
We lost our ameracinas hen (Gonzalls) to a bald eagle we have 3 nesting pairs in the area this is the first bird we have lost all of our birds free range and im worried now beacuse we have 10 new birds
 
She had a very hawkish face and more red brown coloring than black in her plume. We got our first 10 chickens from the previous owners of the farm and they were more pets than egg layers I think that only 4 or so of the original 10 are layers and I'm going to give it till late spring to see if the others start to lay then it's time to take a drive to the neighbors farm.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom