Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Hangtown Farms]

Hi Penny, Now and then I will have a predator problem but there far and few between.
There are 5 thing I have that keep my bird "safe".

(1) Good Fence (around the yard where the birds are at)
(2) Good Yard Dog (one that stays in the yard all the time and at the very least likes to bark when something or someone is around)
(3) Good Lighting
(4) Good Gun
(5) Good Traps (live trap or leg-hold work fine)

Chris

Yes it is tough. I had not had any issues except once a fox snagged a young lavender Ameraucana. Now in a one month period.
I have lost 7 birds. 4 to a pesky hawk. I would of lost more but secured the chickens for awhile. I had to let them back out into the chicken yard again for health reasons. ( not enough space in the closed pen.
Then I lost another 3 more to something else. Though you can not shot the hawk you can scare it which for me is unloading my handgun in the general direction.
I have no neighbor's though.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Thanks Bobby. You sure gave me some ideas. I live in the middle of the woods with predators galore. I have mostly chainlink pens right now but a opossum managed to get into one and wipe out my guinea juveniles. I set a trap and opossum won't be doing that again. Our biggest issue right now are fox. We are overrun with them but so far they have only taken my free-rangers during the daytime, not messing with the pens at night. We have a new neighbor who is a trapper so hopefully that problem will get resolved this coming year.

Penny

Penny, opossums can climb so if you don't have tops on your chain link wire pens, they will get in.

Yes it is tough. I had not had any issues except once a fox snagged a young lavender Ameraucana. Now in a one month period.
I have lost 7 birds. 4 to a pesky hawk. I would of lost more but secured the chickens for awhile. I had to let them back out into the chicken yard again for health reasons. ( not enough space in the closed pen.
Then I lost another 3 more to something else. Though you can not shot the hawk you can scare it which for me is unloading my handgun in the general direction.
I have no neighbor's though.

Triple S.

 

[melroseladi]

Thanks Chris. We are on 5 acres unfenced so it does make it hard. Most of what I have lost is my guinea hens when they are out free ranging. The males make it home ok but the hens get so busy eating they aren't as alert. We did have the guineas tree a coon right in front of the house one day, broad daylight, none the less. I have to let the guineas free range or they can't do what I want them to do which is get rid of ticks. My chickens free range but they stick close to home whereas the guineas wander over a total of 50 acres of woods.

Penny

 

[Lacy Blues]

Your guineas treed a coon? That's amazing! Would have loved to see that!

 

[melroseladi]

Lacy Blues. We have everything covered. The opossum found a weak spot in the corner of the chainlink and pulled it enough to get in and out. I put up a big wooden and hardware cloth door and tightened up the chainlink and that resolved the problem.

Penny

 

[Pozees]

Yes it is tough. I had not had any issues except once a fox snagged a young lavender Ameraucana. Now in a one month period.
I have lost 7 birds. 4 to a pesky hawk. I would of lost more but secured the chickens for awhile. I had to let them back out into the chicken yard again for health reasons. ( not enough space in the closed pen.
Then I lost another 3 more to something else. Though you can not shot the hawk you can scare it which for me is unloading my handgun in the general direction.
I have no neighbor's though.

Are you able to try the idea used by DragonLady and I think several others, stringing monofilament/fishing line from a centrally located post to keep the hawks out of the yard? I love the idea, and plan to incorporate it this coming spring. I have not had a bird of prey problem yet, but it's a matter of time, they get the pigeons that live in the barn regularly. I don't want to harm the birds of prey, just want to make sure they don't harm my chickens. We rescued a Prairie Falcon that was trapped between two walls of the barn early last spring.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Are you able to try the idea used by DragonLady and I think several others, stringing monofilament/fishing line from a centrally located post to keep the hawks out of the yard? I love the idea, and plan to incorporate it this coming spring. I have not had a bird of prey problem yet, but it's a matter of time, they get the pigeons that live in the barn regularly. I don't want to harm the birds of prey, just want to make sure they don't harm my chickens. We rescued a Prairie Falcon that was trapped between two walls of the barn early last spring.

I remember reading about that and wanted to try it. How close do the strands have to be? Do they need to be somewhat interlocking?

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Are you able to try the idea used by DragonLady and I think several others, stringing monofilament/fishing line from a centrally located post to keep the hawks out of the yard? I love the idea, and plan to incorporate it this coming spring. I have not had a bird of prey problem yet, but it's a matter of time, they get the pigeons that live in the barn regularly. I don't want to harm the birds of prey, just want to make sure they don't harm my chickens. We rescued a Prairie Falcon that was trapped between two walls of the barn early last spring.

this does not always work. it will work to keep away most but when they start to target your chickens as there main food source it will not.
I had put 50lb heavy game fishing line in a net pattern 8" to a foot apart with reflective tape. He broke through and killed a hen. It did have him trapped for awhile as I saw him and was running up there to free him

he saw me and got away. He went through it like it was a hot knife through butter.
Now since then he has not been back in that yard but may only be time. I added Galvanized stucco wire to the top in certain areas to help keep him out and more reflective tape.

 

[fowlman01]

Electric fences are one of the best ways to keep predators out of your chicken area. I have 6' fences here and foxes can climb them with no problem at all. On a quite night you can hear them yelp when they hit the hot wire.

To be clear.....everyone has predators that can/will kill your chickens if they want to. They may not being doing it now, but trust me they will at some time.

Walt

 

[Pozees]

I remember reading about that and wanted to try it. How close do the strands have to be? Do they need to be somewhat interlocking?

I plan to look at it again closer to March, but my recollection is that the strands were maybe a foot apart, could be wrong about that though. It might depend on how many places you have or create to attach the ends to, and the way I understand it, as long as there are multiple strands reflecting light, the birds of prey won't try to go through them for fear of becoming entangled in the line. With that in mind, I wonder if it also limits the inclination of the chickens to fly - my SS can still fly to the top of my 6 foot chain link enclosure, and if a coyote shows up while they're out I want them to do that.