A new chicken owner from South Africa

[JulesRSA]

It looks like I will need some luck with the local hawk population. The amazing thing was all the chickens darted for cover and I really had to look closely before I could see even one of them. They are brown and blend in well with the earth and our neighbour has said they have had a few encounters with a hawk. They have now built a small enclosure with a roof to protect some of their younger birds.

Hi there!

You’re definitely going to need some predator protection - us Western Cape chicken owners get a variety of raptors who enjoy chicken snacks! Being very close to the forest, my biggest problem is African Goshawks, but even raptors as small as Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawks and Black-shouldered Kites will try for pullets / chicks and bantam adults. Sadly, even if they don’t actually manage to kill and carry a bird away, the injuries they inflict are usually fatal.

Bird netting over the top of your enclosure should put a stop to the escapes and save your girls from the neighbourhood aerial predators!

Best of luck with your girls!

 

[LuckyJim]

We have had the original 4 chickens for over 1 month now and are pretty sure we have 1 rooster and 3 hens. They have now virtually stopped coming out of their enclosure free-ranging in the garden. 2 of the hens haven't escaped at all in the past 3 weeks. The rooster and his favourite hen were still escaping occasionally, but they only go out once or twice per week now and come back if we come to the enclosure with treats.

We are still not sure of the hen's pecking order, but it seems that the lowest ranking hen is the rooster's favourite. The other 2 hens are quite dominant and both chase the rooster, with Olive fighting with him more. I think the dominant hen is Olive and she seems to have some Auracana features - white feathers that stick out on her head. The other 2 hens have a pretty similar appearance, but one is larger than the other. The larger one is very food motivated and fights all others in the flock when treats are on offer, but I still think she has a lower status than Olive. She and Olive both sometimes gang up on the rooster. The little hen is the rooster's favourite girl and she is the one who initiates escaping from the enclosure. When the chickens were smaller they could fly to the top of the 1.2m high fence and fit between the wires that were above the fence. They are now too big to do this easily. What Tilly does is fly onto the top of a compost bin then hops up onto the wall between our garden and our F-I-L's garden. She walks along the wall until the end of the enclosure and hops down into our garden outside the enclosure. The rooster then sometimes follows her and sometimes leaves her to free range on her own. This hen also climbs into the tree that is in their enclosure and has flown down into the enclosure from 4-5m high. Tilly has also once jumped into my F-I-L's garden and I had to wait until the twins came home from school before we could catch her and return her to the enclosure. Luckily she didn't seem happy next door and has only went there once, as the wall meant she couldn't see the other chickens and she was always trying to call them.

This free-ranging behaviour is the same as what their mother did - she went free-ranging and found a quiet place to hide her eggs. She then disappeared for a few weeks before returning with 12 chicks and that was the first our neighbour discovered that this hen had hatched chicks. She then repeated the procedure after we got our hens and they now have an additional 18 younger chicks! Sadly they found the mother hen dead one morning about 2 weeks ago, with no signs of injury. Maybe her body was just worn out looking after all the chicks and not being able to feed properly. The 18 chicks were too small to look after themselves, so one of the daughters is looking after them in her room until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

 

[LuckyJim]

I'm not sure what the names of all the raptors are in our area. We've definitely seen African Harrier Hawks and Spotted Eagle Owls in the garden several times even before we had the chickens. I'm not that worried about the Owl, as we hear them calling after dusk when the hens are their coop and they've seen in the garden between 10PM and midnight. The other raptor we've seen in the garden is smaller and probably some type of Falcon. The Hawks are much more frequent visitors and we see them flying in the area on virtually a daily basis. My wife keeps Cockatiels, Budgies, Canaries and Finches. Any discarded seed from these birds are thrown under a Coral Tree to provide some free food for pigeons and squirrels. Sometimes over a dozen pigeons are feeding in the garden and we've seen a Hawk hunting them. Hopefully the Hawks get enough pigeons to leave the chickens.

It isn't going to be easy to install bird netting above the wall/fence to close the entire enclosure. Their outdoor run is roughly 8m x 4.5m with the coop itself making up one of the 4.5m long sides. The coop is roughly 2.5m x 2m and the structure itself is roughly 2.4m high, with a raised floor just over 0.6m above the ground. The wall between us and my F-I-L's garden is 1.5m high and we have a 1.2m high 50mm mesh fence. Above this there are 3 lines of steel wire to try to deter the chickens from hopping onto the top of the fence and jumping out of the enclosure. We built the coop under a mature tree, that is near the boundary wall and virtually in the middle of the 8m length of the wall. This tree provides shade for the coop and roughly half of the outdoor area. We were trying to give the hens the choice of sitting in the sun or stay in dappled shade. There is access under the coop if they want full shade and shelter from the rain. The 50 x 50mm mesh is around the coop on 3 sides, with access underneath being nearest the wall. I still need to fit a gutter to the coop and a rainwater tank. If Hawks cause problems then I could fully enclose the part under the coop and the entrance - this enclosed area would only be about 4m x 3m, but we could let the chickens out into the main outdoor area when we are spending time with them.

 

[JulesRSA]

I'm not sure what the names of all the raptors are in our area. We've definitely seen African Harrier Hawks and Spotted Eagle Owls in the garden several times even before we had the chickens. I'm not that worried about the Owl, as we hear them calling after dusk when the hens are their coop and they've seen in the garden between 10PM and midnight. The other raptor we've seen in the garden is smaller and probably some type of Falcon. The Hawks are much more frequent visitors and we see them flying in the area on virtually a daily basis. My wife keeps Cockatiels, Budgies, Canaries and Finches. Any discarded seed from these birds are thrown under a Coral Tree to provide some free food for pigeons and squirrels. Sometimes over a dozen pigeons are feeding in the garden and we've seen a Hawk hunting them. Hopefully the Hawks get enough pigeons to leave the chickens.

It isn't going to be easy to install bird netting above the wall/fence to close the entire enclosure. Their outdoor run is roughly 8m x 4.5m with the coop itself making up one of the 4.5m long sides. The coop is roughly 2.5m x 2m and the structure itself is roughly 2.4m high, with a raised floor just over 0.6m above the ground. The wall between us and my F-I-L's garden is 1.5m high and we have a 1.2m high 50mm mesh fence. Above this there are 3 lines of steel wire to try to deter the chickens from hopping onto the top of the fence and jumping out of the enclosure. We built the coop under a mature tree, that is near the boundary wall and virtually in the middle of the 8m length of the wall. This tree provides shade for the coop and roughly half of the outdoor area. We were trying to give the hens the choice of sitting in the sun or stay in dappled shade. There is access under the coop if they want full shade and shelter from the rain. The 50 x 50mm mesh is around the coop on 3 sides, with access underneath being nearest the wall. I still need to fit a gutter to the coop and a rainwater tank. If Hawks cause problems then I could fully enclose the part under the coop and the entrance - this enclosed area would only be about 4m x 3m, but we could let the chickens out into the main outdoor area when we are spending time with them.

Your enclosed run sounds like a good idea, and would be more than big enough for your birds, plus a few more

You’re unlikely to have too much trouble with harrier hawks except with very young chicks - there are lots of urban legends about African Harrier Hawks going after pets, including cats and small dogs, but as a keen birder I can confirm those are just myths. Harrier Hawks are specialized foragers and their preferred prey includes bats, lizards, small rodents and nestlings, which they fish out of nests / holes and crevices in trees and cliffs. They have been known to take adult weavers/sparrows and even one record of a fully grown squirrel, but a grown chicken is almost definitely beyond them, given that they don’t have the short, powerful legs and stooping flight of a “true” raptor.

There’s actually a breeding pair of Harrier Hawks in our street, but but they’ve never taken an interest in the girls - the juveniles have given me a few frights though, as they look a bit like buzzards (which are major chicken predators) before they get their grey plumage

Sparrowhawks and Goshawks (and one very determined Genet!) are my main predators, and a few people in the neighbourhood have lost birds to them. One of my neighbours even lost some runner ducks to the local Goshawk female before she built fully enclosed runs for her birds.

If you do have a rooster, that will also be a big help once he matures - roosters can be excellent flock guardians and will sound the alarm to get everyone under cover if they spot danger. Some will even fight off predators like hawks!

Are you planning on adding to your flock? Sounds like there are some babies who will need homes soonish, and chicken math is definitely real

 

[triciayoung]

Welcome. I had to look up shutterply boards. I have a hawk problem and one tangled with my rooster -thankfully I was there in 10-seconds, so he didn't get hurt. Hawks are protected here and we cannot kill them. I am completing a full net top and sides enclosure of my backyard. It has taken a few weeks to do when I am not working - and a lot of zip ties. My backyard already looks ridiculous, but my chickens will be safe.

 

[LuckyJim]

Your enclosed run sounds like a good idea, and would be more than big enough for your birds, plus a few more

You’re unlikely to have too much trouble with harrier hawks except with very young chicks - there are lots of urban legends about African Harrier Hawks going after pets, including cats and small dogs, but as a keen birder I can confirm those are just myths. Harrier Hawks are specialized foragers and their preferred prey includes bats, lizards, small rodents and nestlings, which they fish out of nests / holes and crevices in trees and cliffs. They have been known to take adult weavers/sparrows and even one record of a fully grown squirrel, but a grown chicken is almost definitely beyond them, given that they don’t have the short, powerful legs and stooping flight of a “true” raptor.

There’s actually a breeding pair of Harrier Hawks in our street, but but they’ve never taken an interest in the girls - the juveniles have given me a few frights though, as they look a bit like buzzards (which are major chicken predators) before they get their grey plumage

Sparrowhawks and Goshawks (and one very determined Genet!) are my main predators, and a few people in the neighbourhood have lost birds to them. One of my neighbours even lost some runner ducks to the local Goshawk female before she built fully enclosed runs for her birds.

If you do have a rooster, that will also be a big help once he matures - roosters can be excellent flock guardians and will sound the alarm to get everyone under cover if they spot danger. Some will even fight off predators like hawks!

Are you planning on adding to your flock? Sounds like there are some babies who will need homes soonish, and chicken math is definitely real

I've sized the coop for 10-12 chickens, so plenty of room for flock expansion. We have added another 2 Lohmann Brown hens that are close to point of lay (roughly 18 weeks). We are also looking for 2 Silkies, 2 Potch Koekoek and 2 Australorps to complete the flock. One of our neighbours has young white Silkies, but they are quite difficult to sex so will let us know if they have 2 hens for us over the next couple of weeks. I'm keeping an eye out for youngish/POL Koekoeks and Australorps in the Helderberg/Stellenbosch areas. There is a nearby chicken farmer who can supply 8 week old Koekoeks and Australorps by special order from his breeding stock. He hasn't confirmed the price of these yet, this is a good fallback if we cannot find slightly older birds. Our original 4 birds are now about 13 weeks and the new ones are 18 weeks, so we would prefer to introduce birds of roughly the same age into the flock.

 

[JulesRSA]

I've sized the coop for 10-12 chickens, so plenty of room for flock expansion. We have added another 2 Lohmann Brown hens that are close to point of lay (roughly 18 weeks). We are also looking for 2 Silkies, 2 Potch Koekoek and 2 Australorps to complete the flock. One of our neighbours has young white Silkies, but they are quite difficult to sex so will let us know if they have 2 hens for us over the next couple of weeks. I'm keeping an eye out for youngish/POL Koekoeks and Australorps in the Helderberg/Stellenbosch areas. There is a nearby chicken farmer who can supply 8 week old Koekoeks and Australorps by special order from his breeding stock. He hasn't confirmed the price of these yet, this is a good fallback if we cannot find slightly older birds. Our original 4 birds are now about 13 weeks and the new ones are 18 weeks, so we would prefer to introduce birds of roughly the same age into the flock.

That’s going to be a lovely flock!