After 2 yrs. of free range...it finally happened

[kstaven]

Amazondoc. You have ben warned via PM to quit stirring, trolling and quit back handed slaps. This time the warning is public and final. I do hope you chose to review and follow the rules of the forum from this point forward.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Quote:
Oh, we are here, and have been working on this. Rather than posting more for the trolls to work with please just use the report button in the lower right corner when these things happen.

Enough said by everyone in the disturbance. Carry on with the original topic.

 

[chicknmania]

OK, (phew) took me all night, but here's the proof...

In the past two years:

179 deaths due to age or illness
247 deaths due to predators in a coop
154 deaths due to predators in a free range environment.

Check it out.....

 

[DawnSuiter]

I just built a new rooster coop, it's tall.. I have a 4' fence around the bottom of it but the top 3' are completely open. I planned on adding some wire to that area to keep them in but last week I asked my husband if he thought it was "better" to leave it open in case a predator DID get in they would at least have an escape route.

I haven't researched or tabulated how many died where under what circumstances, but it did occur to me that completely closed in birds, in anything less secure than something like our own home, is simply a bait trap.

I haven't decided yet to close in the rooster coop or not... they seem to like it open, they can come & go as they please in the coop or the yard and it would take at least a LITTLE effort for a predator to get in, hopefully giving them time to get away. In a perfect scenario I suppose the predator would remain trapped in the coop while my roosters got away.

I've been free-ranging my 5 cockerels (4mos old) now for a couple of weeks. They really aren't the same when they have to stay locked up... nothing like watching them run 1/2 an acre to catch a butterfly!

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
Wow, you are much more patient and persistant than I would have been.

It just occurred to me and then I read the next post. Free ranging birds can try to escape. Caged birds have no where to go.

Making informed decisions based on our individual needs, circumstances, and surroundings are what we should do. What works for one person may not work for another. What is right for one person may not be right for another.

 

[beefy]

Quote:
exactly.

 

[cherrychicken]

ok i think this is getting out of hand. obviously people have different opinions. We need to agree to disagree sometimes. I for one let my chickens out while I'm watching them. I do this because of the situation I'm in. We have a big backyard, but definitely not even an acre. One reason why they stay in the coop most of the time is we have lots of feral cats in the neighborhood. Of course, the cats are hungry. so I choose to keep the chickens in. I know in my heart that they are happier outside, but it hurts so much for me when one dies, I just choose to only let them out under super vision. I think that amazondoc was just trying to say keeping them in a coop isn't all bad. I know that I for one, feel a little hurt and defensive when y'all talk about letting yours free range. I feel this way b/c I know I can't do this and I feel like I have failed my chickens as a mother. I hope this can settle the argument and lets all get back on the original topic please.


-jenny

 

[beefy]

different strokes for diffurnt folks.

mine are pretty much left to their own devices.

they have evergreen cover from the sky, trees with low branches to avoid ground predators (although ive seen them fly to the top of the house just for fun). after a hawk attack they learned to watch out. and they taught their babies that.
after a ground attack they learned to fly up, and they teach their babies that. also i have plenty of other obstacles around the yard that aid in predator evasion.

they are happy birds. (not saying anyone elses are not)

 

[Beekissed]

I know that I for one, feel a little hurt and defensive when y'all talk about letting yours free range. I feel this way b/c I know I can't do this and I feel like I have failed my chickens as a mother. I hope this can settle the argument and lets all get back on the original topic please.

Jenny, the only person in this world that can make you feel bad is you. The guilty feeling you feel and the feelings of "having failed" are all self-imposed. As we have no way of knowing you can't freerange, our extolling the virtues of freeranging could not be directed at you, now could they?

I think the folks on this post felt attacked by someone who felt the same way as you do now and who lashed out, and, thus, merely defended their choice. That is only natural, I guess. Maybe the difference is, we don't feel like the "mother" of our chickens? If they were our children, of course we would protect them to the nth degree. The fact of the matter is, they are chickens and though we have some level of monetary, time and some emotional investment in our chickens, maybe we don't have the same attachment that you do?

The fact that others cannot, or choose not, to freerange is largely immaterial to us. We have our reasons for freeranging that are just as valid as people who do not. You won't find many of us posting on a subject about coop/run-kept chickens and attacking people because we feel threatened by their decisions. And, I do believe, we are still pretty much on the original subject of freeranging, the consequences of our decisions and how we feel about them. If you feel defensive about our posts, which are not meant to offend others in any way, please feel free to visit the myriad of other posts available to you!

 

[chicknmania]

OK, everyone! Do what works best for you, I'm sorry if we stirred up a hornet's nest, because everyone's situation is different, and in some cases keeping them in a pen might be the best thing for you. Those of you that keep them in a pen, and those of us who don't, just have different viewpoints. I think we all care about our birds, and that's the main thing...no one really has the right to criticize anyone else, . And as far as agony over finding dead birds....I've had that agony both in finding the remains in the woods, not finding them at all, and finding them dead in our barn when it was closed up for the night and they couldn't get out....so I have been on both sides of the fence. I think our barn is predator proofed pretty well NOW...but I worry just as much about them being closed up in the barn every night, as I do when they are out free ranging during the day. Basically, I think it boils down to just a matter of chance. Good luck to all of us.