Can coyotes catch a small, flighty breed such as brown Leghorn?

[2oldnow]

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[enola]

A coyote is a very efficient killing machine that is MUCH more intelligent than any chicken will ever be.

 

[2oldnow]

X2

 

[varidgerunner]

An American game, not just some mixed up thing that somebody calls a "game chicken", is one of the most alert and wary animals on the face of the earth. They can fly as well as any wild game bird, and can easily stay out of danger from any coyote. Unless they catch them on the nest, (easier said than done) or the bird has something wrong with it, coyotes are not going to catch enough of them to make a habit of it, and the few dumb ones they do catch will only help cull out the dumb ones. I have raised these birds in remote locations, using them primarily to stir up manure and help with fly control around other livestock. With very little human intervention they flourished, in an area that was frequented by coyotes and everything else. Again, coyotes are the least of your worries, lots of things like chickens. Will you lose some, yes, will they increase in spite of it, yes, they can. In fact, I quit doing what I was doing because of neighbor relations, they flourished to the point of making a downright nuisance of themselves, ranging out from the animal pens and sheds a distance of about three hundred yards to the neighbor's place. Once they discovered a food source, (scraps) they became a nuisance, and I took them away to avoid further conflict.
This notion that chickens will be wiped out if you leave them unattended is evidently spawned by people that have never had "real" chickens. As to the original question, yes leghorns have some of the needed qualities. Incidentally, my flock turned into a predominantly solid black one. It seems that the brown colored hens register more as a wild game bird and pique the interest of any passing raptor, but the black ones resemble a crow, hard to catch, prone to have too many friends, and poor eating. Of course, white ones are always the first to go.

 

[ravensgait]

One thing about domestic animals Chickens Turkeys Cows etc. they have been breed to be dumb and easy to deal with.So no match for a Coyote who makes his living off of killing critters a lot smarter than a Chicken ! They catch and eat Wild Turkeys etc etc a chicken is easy pickens !

 

[varidgerunner]

Game chickens have not been bred to be dumb. In fact they have had a breeding program very similar to natural selection, in which only the strong have survived. No human has made those selections, they were continuously chosen by their best peers. They are far from easy pickings for a coyote. Left to their own devices, they will roost high in a tree, twenty to thirty feet. They will feed somewhere within reach of protective cover, they can fly long distances, achieving an impressive vertical height. They will even nest up off the ground, if they can find a suitable location. Coyotes will not present a significant threat to game chickens in a free range environment. Put them on tie cords, or in flimsy pens, and it's a different story. Hawks and owls will take way more than coyotes.

The whole smartness thing, I can see why people have the notion that chickens are destined to be stupid, in dealing with the production bred birds. There is a whole other world of chickens out there. Unless you have experienced these birds, you can't really make a blanket statement covering the perceived intellect of all chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

My games can be coyote resistant. Some are generally lost during the learning phase. Learned birds will fly multiple hundred feet and land up in a tree or on a building. Learned birds will also take to air immediately and not try to beat predator on ground. Learned birds also much quiter and slink about with feathers tighter like a pheasant. Learned birds also have a lot more endurance for sustained and repeated flights. Somehow learned birds transfer the flightyness to offspring with a lot less training than adult required. Learned chicks can fly a couple hundred feet easily by the time they are 3 weeks old. I do not understand how this rapid change occurs but it is repeatable.

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

Game chickens have not been bred to be dumb. In fact they have had a breeding program very similar to natural selection, in which only the strong have survived. No human has made those selections, they were continuously chosen by their best peers. They are far from easy pickings for a coyote. Left to their own devices, they will roost high in a tree, twenty to thirty feet. They will feed somewhere within reach of protective cover, they can fly long distances, achieving an impressive vertical height. They will even nest up off the ground, if they can find a suitable location. Coyotes will not present a significant threat to game chickens in a free range environment. Put them on tie cords, or in flimsy pens, and it's a different story. Hawks and owls will take way more than coyotes.

The whole smartness thing, I can see why people have the notion that chickens are destined to be stupid, in dealing with the production bred birds. There is a whole other world of chickens out there. Unless you have experienced these birds, you can't really make a blanket statement covering the perceived intellect of all chickens.

I would definitely try some game birds if I thought I'd ever be able to find their eggs. Even if I could find them, they probably wouldn't lay enough for my liking. I am very interested in them, though!

 

[centrarchid]

I would definitely try some game birds if I thought I'd ever be able to find their eggs. Even if I could find them, they probably wouldn't lay enough for my liking. I am very interested in them, though!

Consider making a first generation cross (F1) between a game chicken and a breed that lays as you like. My American Dominique x American Games can produce >200 eggs in first year of lay which is comparable to pure American Dominiques.

 

[enola]

Hens from a GameXBrown Leghorn cross will get you a hen very much like a "game" hen, with a presentable rate of lay.