Brand New member but long time reader

[KitKatSue]

Hi y'all. I have read so much here but never signed up until now. I used to live in Texas but now living in South Central MO. Yesterday my babies were terrified by an eagle! One of my girls injured her leg hiding behind a kennel they have in their pin, trying to stay away from the mean old eagle. Fortunately the rest are fine and she is recovering. So this has put the coop building into high gear. And top priority will be finishing the top on the girls run. When all is done they will have a warm dry safe coop and covered run asap!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - glad that you have joined us. Many of us were lurkers before we joined, so you are far from alone on that one!

Yep, you have a good reason to finish the coop! Providing cover for chickens (shrubs etc) is a good thing to have for them to escape arial attacks. I just bought some bamboo to plant, so I can bolster up protection from hawks and provide even more places of refuge for my flock.

Best wishes
CT

 

[Cynthia12]

 

[KitKatSue]

Thanks for the welcome.
Y'all have been my go to for answers for years. But since I wasn't supposed to have chickens I just read. But here I can have all the animals I want! So I figured it was time I could crow! And the eagle swooping down on my girls was just too much not to share.

 

[KitKatSue]

Well I had thought since I had trees in the pen that they would be somewhat protected from airborne attack, but obviously not enough. It had worked before but we didn't have eagles around there only hawks and such.

I have been collecting pallets all summer since before we bought the girls. And I finally think I have enough so I have been preparing! Just so much to do setting up a new homestead!

 

[drumstick diva]

Raccoons like jumping down from branches and taking out chickens. Also some chickens like to roost in trees and become perfect targets for owls, etc.

 

[KitKatSue]

Raccoons  like jumping down from branches and taking out chickens.  Also some chickens like to roost in trees and  become  perfect targets for owls, etc.

Yeah I know racoons very well having lost a past flock to them. The pen has always only been intended for daytime with a coop at night. I intend to use chicken wire across the entire top we just had not gotten that far yet. The outdoor run isn't finished but they had to move from where we had them. The girls are just 3 months old, along with 2 month old guinea fowl, 10 dark brahmas and 10 guineas.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, kitkatsue, and ! Pleased you joined our community! Predators sure are a constant source of thought, that's for sure. My bird three are coyotes, raccoons, and hawks. Best luck to you and you flock!

 

[Toast n Jelly]

 

[henny1129]

! Great to have you a part of this community! Predators can be rough, especially big birds, but it sounds like you're doing good by covering the run with chicken wire. Just yesterday we had a Bald Eagle fly over our house, but luckily he was far up in the sky and all of our ladies ran into their run. We also have two (Well, one's a Beagle and she doesn't really chase anything away, but I'm pretty sure she deafens things that come in our yard with her howl!) livestock guardian dogs. They're not actual "livestock guarding breeds", I actually think that Great Pyrenese (most common livestock guardian dog) are sort of sketchy because they want to protect everything, so we just have hounds! Like I said, the Beagle doesn't do anything, but our other dog, Murphy, is amazing! He's (surprisingly) very smart and chases anything, including big birds in the sky, out of our yard. He also knows words like "kitty" and "birds". And the best part is he seems so fierce out in he yard, but he's extremely trustworthy and "un-sketchy" when he's inside, infact he's lying beside me as I type! So dogs are another great way to protect your chickens!