Free ranging in predator country

[KRack]

I have similar predators minus the wild hog and add hawks and eagles. In my experience, my chickens are very alert. I had one gimpy chicken who we lost to an eagle, but the rest have free ranged since we’ve gotten them with no incident. They have several big bushes to hide in, one of our porches that they love and I’ve just given to them, and their coop.

I homeschool and am here all the time. When I notice predators watching them I’ll keep them shut in their fenced in area for a few weeks, then let them back out.

 

[David61]

Get a farm dog.
Great Pyrenees will take out most of your 4 leg problems.

 

[1cock2hens]

One dog isn't going to do any good against pack animals.. we have mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, snakes and predatory birds of all kinds. We have live traps out 24/7 as well as 3 dogs always on guard and I still get an occasional fox visit or stray dog wonder over trying to stir things up. My animals have 15 acres of woods with very little grass and seem to do well. Almost all of the 20 or so chickens I have now were born here from 3 hens and naturally raised. They are mostly American gamefowl × Dominique with a few having cochin in them. The moms got picked off by raccoons when they were just a few weeks old and they raised themselves out in the wild, needless to say they are very self efficient, I'm afraid if I didn't have traps and dogs they would be wiped out in no time.

 

[Folly's place]

Good advice so far, and you will have losses, sometimes many at once! Electric fencing helps for ground predators, and fencing would be necessary to manage those three madly expensive guard dogs too. Having a large as possible predator proof run may be your best option here, especially if there's really not a lot for your birds to eat when ranging.
Our losses to raptors happen occasionally, one bird at a time, and then the flock is locked in for weeks so that bird (hopefully) moves on. This year we lost wo nice hens to probably the same Coopers hawk, so everyone is locked in, most likely for a month.
Years ago we lost ten nice hens to a fox one afternoon, and a couple of years ago one of our own dogs escaped (fence failure!) and killed 21 birds in about an hour! She's a rescue from a very bad situation, and apparently a very strong prey drive. One hour out!
So, you might be fine most of the time with birds out, but then a disaster may happen, in a short time.
Mary

 

[centrarchid]

I do the "impossible" with free-range chickens having minimal losses so I'm an advocate of letting them run. I also have a handle on the value of forages and the ability to exclude predators from an area large enough to support a flock of chickens. If the "safe zone" is not a least a large part of the area the chicken's range in, then it is time to supplementally feed they chickens or confine them and feed a complete diet that meets all their needs.

 

[Matejka]

I used to free range, never lost a bird, and there is a neighborhood feral flock.. About a year ago, someone dumped a dog. Immediately, the feral game flock count declined, one by one. That flock had run wild and free for over 10 yrs. I managed to catch the 4 survivors and put with my flock, they no longer free range. I seldom see the dog, but he's still around. I have let my flock out 3 times in the last 6 months, one time for less than 2 hours, every time -i lost a chicken.....

 

[David61]

One dog isn't going to do any good against pack animals.. we have mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, snakes and predatory birds of all kinds. We have live traps out 24/7 as well as 3 dogs always on guard and I still get an occasional fox visit or stray dog wonder over trying to stir things up. My animals have 15 acres of woods with very little grass and seem to do well. Almost all of the 20 or so chickens I have now were born here from 3 hens and naturally raised. They are mostly American gamefowl × Dominique with a few having cochin in them. The moms got picked off by raccoons when they were just a few weeks old and they raised themselves out in the wild, needless to say they are very self efficient, I'm afraid if I didn't have traps and dogs they would be wiped out in no time.

Great Pyrenees will and has take out packs of coyotes, wolves or what ever comes on the property. Mountain loin is no match. They are legendary in their ability to kill predators

 

[1cock2hens]

Great Pyrenees will and has take out packs of coyotes, wolves or what ever comes on the property. Mountain loin is no match. They are legendary in their ability to kill predators

Most packs are just 5/7 but with the random packs of over 20 running around here they stand zero chance by themselves. Solo pyrenees can scare off and fight a few but they just are not as powerful as they are made out to be, no one dog can win a 20 vs 1 fight

 

[imacowgirl2]

I don’t have the bobcats and mountain lions you do…we have hawks a plenty, coyotes ( but I rarely see them out during the day), raccoons, and occasional neighborhood dog. There are also fox in the area but I’ve not seen one during the daylight in years.

That being said, I free-range my birds most of the time. I work from home, but am not outside during working hours for the most part (though in nice weather I run outside and do random chores on breaks). We are in a wooded area in Central IL, with a lot of brush and tree cover, so likely more cover than you have. We also have a flock of (mostly) brown/black hens that blend in to the surroundings very well…we have 6 white birds too, but so far have been lucky with them (and they are also the fastest and flightiest, so that probably helps their survival)

Everyone has a difference in their toleration for losses…I personally am ok losing a bird here or there, and have lost I think 3 to hawks or something else this past year. However, we raise plenty of chicks each year so have plenty of replacements as needed. If we suspect a hawk loss, we keep the flock locked in the run for a couple days just to try to prevent my flock from becoming an unending buffet to the hawks…so far it has worked to limit our losses, but if that changes in the future I will change my management plan.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I do extreme free ranging in a predator-thick environment. My 40 acres is in the middle of a few thousand acres of wider swamp and pine flatwoods. I have bobcat, coyote, black bear, red and grey fox, stray domestic dogs, coons, possums, skunk, 7 species of birds of prey, lots of large rat snakes, and probably more I can’t think of at the moment. I expect most of my birds to tree roost. Many of my hens brood their nests on the ground.

I lose very few chickens to predators. Its 60% the genetics of the chickens, which have varying percentages of gamefowl and junglefowl in them, and the remaining 40% is the presence of free range dogs combined with the chickens choosing to stay close to where the dogs patrol.

My other poultry (turkeys and guineas), on the other hand, get devastated. Mostly because they roam and nest far from the homestead where the dogs spend most of their time.

I am in the process of starting a new game flock in a remote part of the farm far from where the dogs regularly roam. This is the core habitat for a large bobcat that I’ve fought with for several years. He’s one of the biggest I’ve seen, roughly the size of my female hound. Here’s the main area for my new flock, and here is the bobcat’s pond about 50 yards behind the new flock area:

I will kill this bobcat if I can. Most of the mammal predators can’t catch the games, but I consider this individual bobcat to be an elite predator, having patterned me pretty darn well and avoiding my attempts to hunt or live trap him. I am in the process of getting a permit to use leghold traps (illegal in Florida otherwise) to catch him on this log he regularly uses to cross water.

Free ranging in predator-dense environments can be done. But you got to start with chickens that have a lot of their wild survival instincts intact.