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

[ivan3]

chicknmania wrote:
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.

But aren't the `coop' stats primarly a measurement of (excepting the random suburban bear that wasn't factored in during coop and fencing planning) inadequate defensive preparation? A well planned out and executed construction (with an eye to the local vermin), drops the coop/run kill number to zero.

I would think a poorly constructed run and coop is simply less `range' for a predator to cover.

(kinda fond of our chooks, free range with a rifle handy cause they won't be happy and healthy dead)​

 

[countryentertainment]

We were free ranging some of our chickens.
We lost one rooster to a fox we think and pretty sure the fox got one of our hens during a thunderstorm, but we have also seen hawks chase our hens. We see them circling over head a lot.
We saw the fox sitting up near the coop watching the chickens one day, the roosters were having a fit but one hen just kept eating and scratching the ground about 3 or 4 feet in front of the fox. I stood and watched for a while she kept getting closer and closer to the fox, so I stepped forward and tossed something at it. The fox backed off a few feet and the darn hen kept right on following it, my DH came up and started throwing bigger sticks and I called the hen. Now we have paintball guns and a BB gun. If the chickens are having a fit and all looking the same way we send a few paint balls in that direction, so far so good.

If we are out the chickens are out, but I have to keep calling them back off the front lawn, the fox likes to chase them there.

We did loose one hen to a coon, it got in the wired in porch between the rafters of the coop and had the hen at night before she new what had happened. Things were fixed the next morning and we build more carefully now.

 

[luckyducky]

We lost our first chicken yesterday. I got these chicks April 28th, and this spring, my son and I built one of those "hoop coops". It is a terrific safe coop, the problem is/was, the birds have started roosting on top of the thing instead of inside it! That is how was lost our girl. I got up on Saturday morning and found a pile of feathers near the coop,soon found a body ( head was missing). I figure it must have been a raccon, and now the girls are going in at night, no matter what. ( it was late when I got home Fri night, and the girls were all roosting on top of the coop I figured they were safe, my bad...). I don't regret letting these girls free range, I do regret the loss though.

 

[palabeco]

WOW!! I'm not on here for a few days and come back to see my post turn into a major debate. I didn't mean for it to become an argument between free rangers and and coop/ run people. I was just pointing out that I was lucky enough not to have a loss for 2 yrs. These are younger chickens this year (culled older flock for new chicks) I think since they were young and no older chickens to warn them, they got caught off guard, but since they have seen the hawk take one of their own, they are more vigilant now, and are watching the skies.
To each his own, depending on your situation, you may not be able to free range, so you do what you feel is best for your birds.
Me? I will continue to free range, and accept the losses.

And the screaming animal had to be a fawn, a rabbit would not still be screaming for 5 minutes, it would have died alot sooner than that..

 

[Beekissed]

I use to love dogs, but today when we got home there were two dogs going after my rooster, that changed my perspective on dogs. They managed to get ahold of him from outside the run and pull him right through the chicken wire. The worst part was that my daughters saw the whole thing. My 8 year old was screaming. I managed to run the dogs off, but it was too late. He was so badly hurt and torn up there was no question about what had to be done. I told the girls to go inside and waited for my wife to get out of sight before I did anything. Luckily my two bantam cochins that were free ranging all day made it to safety, but I was worried when I couldn't find them for a while. I was relieved not to see any white feathers in the yard. They eventually came back unharmed. They have survived opposum attacks and now a dog attack.

Yet another vote for freeranging over run- kept, for safety reasons.​