Can't chickens get away?

[Kev]

need to consider the chickens anatomy and alertness/wariness have been changed very much by domestication.

Their wings get smaller to their body size, so they cannot be agile or have the endurance to flee an predator even if they "wanted to". Lots other changes such as shorter legs, bigger organs and so on to weight down a bird with already smaller wing area to their body size.

Wild wariness has been bred out of them, because birds that remain very nervous will not do well in a domesticated setting- it'd stress out too often and so production etc would decline. So, calmer animals will do better and so produce better in turn makes people select them for breeding. Not wary, great for cage/coop/being around humans. Not so great when a dog comes around......

The true wild chickens, never been domesticated are VERY VERY good fliers and runners, a hundred times better than any domesticated chicken, even way better than the fighting game chickens. They are also very wary, nervous, quick to get out of Dodge at anything that spooks them. They also are very skinny, with long thin legs, their wings look huge on their bodies.

There are domesticated chickens that act wild/spooky/flighty but they are still tame and slow compared to the truly wild junglefowl.

So it's kind of wondering why a Sumo wrestler isn't leaping fences or climbing trees to get away from a hungry tiger.... he can't and having grown in the city, he probably will also do a lot of 'wrong things' trying to defend himself against the tiger and so get himself killed fast.

You should try reading up on the Belyaev(sp?) fox experiment- it's a great lesson on how the mere act of domestication changes animals physically and physiologically.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I don't know why I say this but the things you mentioned like a building or roost for your hens to bolt to in case of predator attack would at best prevent about 10% of all loses to predators, that is assuming your chickens are athletic enough to take advantage of the things you provided for their safety.

Unfortunately athletic chickens usually lay poorly, (white leghorns a Mediterranean strain of chicken are an exception) and athletic chickens can be as tough as shoe leather. Also the color white on a white leghorn is a highly visible red flag to every hawk in the Universe that says.... YAHOO, HERE I AM, PLEASE EAT ME.

By staying with Mediterranean strains of chickens you lessen your losses some what. Instead of white leghorns look into red, brown, or black leghorns or some other such active breed.

If you want free range meat chickens you are at cross purposes with your poultry. True free range chickens and meat chickens don't go together, its really an either or kind of thing..

 

[luvmychixandducks]

The best flyers are bantams, and they cannot escape dogs. I got my bantams from a retriever owner who gave them all up free because he was tired of having his dog catch a bantam (OEG) and bring it to the back door to his master.
I got a flock of nine Old English bantams because they were not happy being continually retrieved.
The full sized hens of the same owner did not react and fly up thus were never pursued by this particular dog. However, they are conditioned NOT to escape a dog from continual exposure to this retriever and the full size hens are prime targets for dogs and coyotes.
We had a feral cat that was originally raised by a family with dogs- he used to go for walks with my brother and our Livestock guard dog - but since he was conditioned to trust dogs, he was a sitting cat (like a sitting duck but furrier) to be eaten by a coyote and that's what happened.

 

[ozarkchicks]

If you can have a rooster, it can help... I personally have seem my rooster make a noise and every hen was hidden in about 2 seconds as the rooster stood tall waiting to defend his women... Little did he know small planes flying by arent a real threat lol... But he did what roosters do... Sensed danger, and stood ready to fight to the death for his flock... If my rooster saves one hen one time by fighting off a possum then he did his job

roosters help a lot, enough warning and the chickens stand a decent chance of escaping

 

[Hillschicks]

Two days ago our rooster (same one from above) found a piece of glass in the yard and made a warning noise and then blocked any of the hens from going near it until we went and picked it up... Gotta love a good rooster... VERY happy with our Buff Brahma