Advice? Commiseration?

[tacmomma12]

I just had to jail my chickens up after four days on the outside ( of their run). We have a hawk problem in the area, this spring one took my last three hens.

We bought a new flock just after, and vowed to keep them in the run to protect them. But it's cramped in there, and there's not much grass. So my husband and I bought some temporary fence to map out a pen and give them some time in the grass in a good quarter of our yard. That was set up Thursday night and Friday morning they were allowed to try it out. Nice, peaceful time until this evening. I look out and my Roo and two girls were out, the rest figuring out how to jump fence and join them. It's under a tree which provides good if not great shelter from the hawks.

The fence is more to keep hawks out than keep them in, as our last girls were very happy in our yard and rarely stayed ( we had a chicken wire fence up to stop them going into the front yard/street and they pretty much stayed put.

I'm so frustrated. Had to grab everyone and coop them for the night......they were not happy. I wish I could explain to them why they can't go out there.

I can't bear to see them get attacked and killed by hawks and predators. Ugh.....why won't they stay in the pen? The space we gave them is easily 10-12 times bigger than their run! I got eaten alive by mosquitoes trying to catch them all, and feel blessed my Roo didn't get too upset with me.

I was hoping not to have to net the area off, but I don't know what to do aside from risking my flock. I tried to talk to my husband, but he went inside and was rather short with me, saying he doesn't see the permanent fence working if the chickens just jump/fly over it.


This is more of a ramble than a question I guess. Thanks for letting me! If we lose these, he wants to stop keeping chickens. I've just really gotten into it!

 

[Zoopilla]

Commiseration - I'm sorry that your in this fix. Try the net or how about adding some grass to the run. Some people put hardware on bottom of run and p,ant goodies to grow thru. Chickens can't eat/destroy plants and they get to nibble on whatever grows up thru it. Entertainment for the girls in run. There's some good ideas around.

I know my girls hate the run and go nuts when I put them in there. I will give them goodies, entertainment, etc. i had to keep th.em in the run for a couple of weeks in the Winter. They did get used to it and weren't so nutz after awhile. I hung up a cabbage and they had fun eating it.

 

[TalkALittle]

Clip their wings so they can't fly out. How high is the fencing? Could you make it higher? In the future select heavy bodied breeds less prone to flight.

 

[junebuggena]

If that run is uncovered, you will still have losses from hawks. Check this video out. A tree is not hawk protection.

 

[tacmomma12]

These are heavy breeds haha! I did that on purpose, and still they wanted out badly enough. Fence is 4 feet high, I don't really want to go higher than that because it will look really odd and not be practical for us. RIR, Austrlorp, Easter Eggers. The one that I expected to be flighty was my Black Sumatra. I wasn't counting on everyone else.

Trying to figure out a portable solution, maybe a large chicken tractor or something......because I didn't want to build a fortress.

Clipping their wings is not an option unless I find someone local who will do them. I have no clue what I'm doing and wouldn't trust myself not to hurt them. we don't live in a high chicken area so not many around who do it.


I know it's not foolproof, but nothing is shy of never letting them out of their run. Even netting has big drawbacks. The tree was a little bit of cover, and we were going to put other measures in place.

Can't do it though if they won't stay put!

 

[junebuggena]

I have heavy breeds (Australorps, Barred Rocks, and 2 jumbo sized Easter Eggers). They can all jump 5 feet straight up. Even the rooster can fly 4+ feet off the ground. I do free range mine for several hours most days, so that agility comes in handy for avoiding predators. To clip their wings, you only need to do one side on each bird. It's a very simple thing to do, not hard to figure out at all. But it will need to be done every year after the molt.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-clip-trim-the-wings-of-your-chicken-to-prevent-flight

 

[TalkALittle]

What's the fencing like? Does it have a solid rail at the top that they jump up to, or do they clear it in one jump? You can try curving chicken wire inward at the top. You can string a line of streamers along the top to try and deter them from going over.

 

[tacmomma12]

It's temporary fencing right now, as we were mapping out the area. Posts with plastic/vinyl fencing while we figured out what style of metal/vinyl fence we wanted. Kind of glad we did this as a trial and now see how pointless it is! Husband wanted an even lower fence. Our last hens only had a 3 ft gate between them and my front yard, yet never went over it, save for one girl. Seems we have a bolder crew this time around!

I'm going to build them a portable pen I think. That way they get different real estate daily and it will have a top so hawks won't be able to get the jump on them.

I might clip their wings, thank you for the video by the way. However I'd prefer to do that as an absolute last resort as I cannot do it alone easily and would likely have to.


I love hawks, which makes this so sad. They are graceful, glorious hunters. Just wish they would find new hunting grounds to do so and leave my chickens alone! I can't be angry with them for doing what comes natural, just want a way to get them back to songbirds and squirrels instead!

Thanks for the help all, I'm really appreciating the input!