I started raising chickens on a commune and just never stopped. We didn't use to have a fence and our coop was an old barn which will probably fall over sometime. We have gotten laying hens from a local egg producer, agway chicks, chicks from a local breeder and we've had hens go broody. Most recently someone killed all our roosters, which were very mixed breed guys who were raised by a broody hen, so we have agway chicks plus incubator egg chicks. The first time we lost all our roosters and incubated eggs we didn't collect until several days after the roosters were killed and 32 eggs hatched and 3 didn't.
Right now the surviving hens are stuck in the barn because the critter cams are catching a fox in the fence and I can't figure out how she is getting in. I say "she" because last year she showed up with big kits in broad daylight and one was so intent on chasing a hen I almost stepped on it. I've never had an adult fox wantonly kill roosters but maybe she was having another training session. It is 6:30 now, and my husband just saw the fox outside the fence. Living in the country you realize a lot of "nocturnal" animals just avoid humans during the day. Guess that's enough intro for me.
Right now the surviving hens are stuck in the barn because the critter cams are catching a fox in the fence and I can't figure out how she is getting in. I say "she" because last year she showed up with big kits in broad daylight and one was so intent on chasing a hen I almost stepped on it. I've never had an adult fox wantonly kill roosters but maybe she was having another training session. It is 6:30 now, and my husband just saw the fox outside the fence. Living in the country you realize a lot of "nocturnal" animals just avoid humans during the day. Guess that's enough intro for me.