BackYard Chickens - Learn How to Raise Chickens

Thanks! Do you hatch chicks?

Oh, yes!! I hatch lot's of chicks, lol.

I hatched the rooster in my profile pic.

He's beautiful! What kinds do you hatch? I hatch Easter Eggers, Golden Sebrights, Old English game bantams and silver duckwings and I used to hatch Golden Polish. I have a project I'm working on with Leghorn Easter Eggers too.

Mostly mutt's. but, i do have a 2nd gen olive egger project I'm working on. I also have Bb red old english bantam's I'm trying to hatch at the moment.

I love Bb Red's! I used to have a hen, but a hawk got her and I haven't been able to find any since that anyone want to sell!

I'm sorry you lost your hen...
I had a raccoon attack my 4 chicks, 2 weeks ago. It was so sad.
But, I have 4 eggs that made it to lock down! I hope they all hatch so they replenish the chicks I lost.

Thanks, oh no! I hope you get a good hatch!

I don't mean to be creepy or anything but somehow I stumbled upon this post. Anywho, sorry for you loss Mr yard farmer. I have had predator problems like you wouldn't believe but I haven't lost any yet.

This is due largely to the fact that you gotta catch them before they have attacked. You can tell this by putting some eggs out in your ckn area and see if they're gone or broken in the morning. (Most predators like eggs so it's a good bait, otherwise wet cat food works extremely well as the most popular predators are from the feline family) if they're broken you gotta set up some traps and/or a game camera.

I only say to bait them bc predators don't just show up at any given moment and spontaneously break in. They're like bank robbers of sorts. They will stalk your area for days if not weeks before they finally have decided they can pull it off.

Wow I'm lucky I haven't lost any or had problems except for hawks, snakes, and my cat.

Living right next to a creek doesn't help much either. Brings in tons of predators. The only thing I haven't had to shoot yet is a fox buy I'm guessing I will sometime

We have woods around us, but I have never had problems with foxes or raccoons or anything like that.

How long have you had chickens?

Well I have been taking care of them for about 4 years, but my brother had some before me.

Dang. That's really weird. Livestock is typically magnetic when it comes to predators. You might not have a problem because all the wild animals around where you live are well fed but if that changes issues might arise.