Actually I lost 3. My original flock were definitely my babies and these 3 were in that flock. I have only one left. The third one died of shock. Literally she was so upset for a few days, stayed under coops, wouldn't eat, but drank water. Then on day 3 I just found her dead in the coop. I looked her over pretty thoroughly. No injuries, no bugs, nothing going on I could see. So sad. Thank you so much for your condolences! That means a lot!!!
I have spent the morning running reflective tape back and forth throughout my orchard, where my chickens free range, to dissuade the eagles from going after them. Normally they eat salmon from the river, but poor river management has caused an extreme shortage of fish this year. There is a bald eagle nest just around the bend and they need to feed their young, so you guessed it, they are coming after our chickens. They have gotten 2 of my neighbor's chickens and 1 of her ducks. I didn't think they could negotiate through the orchard, but they managed to and killed one of my chickens and wounded another. The problem is they can't actually lift the chicken, so I went out to see one of my babies slaughtered and half eaten. My heart is so broken over it. Normally my girls are so happy and carefree and I love that they have so much space to wander around. Last year I put this reflective tape up and it worked and when I felt the danger was over I took it down. It's hard for me to get around in there when it's up, but this time I'll leave it up.
Here is my question for you all, how about if I set up a lot of tomato cages, upside down, spikes up, and tied reflective ribbons all over them. That way I could walk through the orchard, but the eagles wouldn't have a landing site. What do you think? Please don't tell me to put my chickens in a small cage somewhere. Some of my girls are 4 years old and have lived their whole lives free. Putting them in a confined space now doesn't feel right to me, so I have to find another way to keep them safe.
It has worked so far, and they have "visited" the chicken run several times since then. In some of the larger areas I have put up bird netting, but that may not be practical for a totally open area. I turned my tomato cages upside down and anchored them with landscape pins. I thought the ideas of grow cages was also good, although I haven't set up any here.
BTW, my husband is retired Navy. Sounds like you might be as well.
