Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[JMidJr]

Some of you OT's (whether chicken OT's or, like me simply old) may recall the days before birding was so widely appreciated and bird identification skills so widespread. All larger raptors in those days were by most folks around here collectively called, "Chicken Hawks". There's a reason that monicker was so widespread!

 

[ejb3810]

As relates to birds of prey, I don't know of any that normally carry off their kill. They capture (not necessarily kill) their prey, and they will eat what they want at the point of capture. The prey animal is often not dead when the meal begins.
A female Northern Goshawk can weigh more than 4.9 lbs. Believe me. I have much experience with these varmints.
I choose to free range my chickens in open meadow. I realize that this is going to expose them to predation from raptors, but I believe the birds are healthier in this natural environment.
I have covered pens that the birds are confined to when the situation warrants, and I advise anyone that will be devastated by the loss of a bird to always keep them so confined.

 

[Gypsi]

There is a roof - tin part, and chicken wire part - on my run. It doesn't always keep the sparrows out, and a rodent can get through, but while I was building the run red tailed hawks were circling above my yard, and I'd already lost a pullet to a dog, and another to a feral cat, and I said, hmm, roof. Didn't cost that much to stretch that wire. In summer when my trees have leaves, there is plenty of cover.

Now on this birds of prey stuff, I lost 35 to 40 6 inch+ koi plus about 40 goldfish to an airborne predator that stands 3 ft tall not counting its legs. The wide wingspan is deterred from my small backyard pond because it is in a crowded area, between 6 ft kennel fence and a greenhouse / my house, but the bird cleaned out my other pond in a day or 2. Very efficient blue heron.

Since raptors have wide wings, and since I'm a backyard sort of chicken keeper, while I'm building the now necessary pergola over the pond the bird hit, I'll probably add some nice clothesline posts to the yard the chickens run in.

Airborne predators need open air space to be successful. Prairie is perfect. I think Bee mentioned strategic tree placement? And I think this is why.

Gypsi

 

[Tallulah Chicklet]

Beekissed, you made a reference to soap for worm prevention, but I can't find any info about it. Can you share how you do this?

 

[Beekissed]

That eagle snagged a leg of a kid on his way down the mountain and knocked it off the ledge....not a typical situation in a typical backyard. He didn't carry it away. Apparently, these chickens falling out of the sky couldn't be successfully carried away either or they wouldn't be dropped on or near someone.

I must admit to some ignorance when it comes to hawk predation as it has never happened in any of my flocks. Oh, they fly over, they dip down, they even alight in the apple trees or other trees nearby, they even circle for a long time, in pairs, in hopes of grabbing the only small domestic livestock in the whole valley(I'm the only one that keeps chickens in my little valley) but they never take the chance of the dogs, the chickens are safely tucked into buildings, fencerows, lumber piles, etc. by the time they even appear over the yard.

I get to hear them scream~no doubt in hungry frustration~but they have never successfully gotten to my flock. I don't know about attempts while I'm away but I've seen my GP mix dog leap into the air at a low flying buzzard, so I doubt the hawks and eagles get the chance of a snatch and grab.

I had a young pullet taken in the night by an owl but she roosted out in the barn on top of the hay and refused to roost in the coop....natural selection helped her sort out her stupidity. The dogs could not protect her there. I found her in the next field in the morning with her head missing...I'm assuming owl because a four footed pred would have met with the dogs on its way down from the hay.

I agree that you can't really be a chicken hugger and free range, as you may get your heart broken over and over~particularly if you have not tried all you can to protect your flock. I could never free range without the dogs...ever. I'd lose every bird I owned without those mutts doing the good job they do. I encourage folks who want to free range to invest in a good dog or to use the dogs you have by letting them remain outside 24/7.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Last summer I heard the birds (local songbirds and crows, this was before I had chickens) screaching and raising Cain out back. When I looked outside I saw the problem... there was a kestrel on a power line with a blue jay in it's talons. I don't know if the kestrel picked the bird off the ground or hit it in mid-air, but it must have had some kind of power and control to make it onto the power line with it.

 

[galanie]

I have seen hawks eat good sized doves and such here too. From my own observations, they don't bother my chickens. Never even give them a second glance. I might add that a dove or a blue jay is significantly smaller than a full sized Orpington. Chicks of course need protection.

We can ooh and aah over a bird of prey's abilities and what could be, but this thread is about OT advice and Beekissed is an Old Timer in my book and I'm listening to her. Hands on experience and observation over a number of years trumps "what if" in my book.

 

[123ChickieLou]

Beekissed- Question, since we're on the topic of worming.

I've been following your posts about how you manage your flock and am planning to incorporate many of your philosophies into my keeping/husbandry as I can. Culling being one of them.

I have eight chickens right now of varying ages, none over 1yr; I've three young roo's, four pullets and one laying. I've never 'wormed' them but I've not seen anything that makes me think they need it. I do see one occasionally yawn and shake its head, but it seems more of a natural thing, like shaking out the feathers. They all look really healthy, nice feathers, one came to me with sparse wing/shoulder feathers but within a couple of weeks came in nicely. Everyone seems happy, albeit a little cramped, but happy.

I have a pen that's about 10x10 that I confine them to at night; all I have to do is shut the door, they put themselves to bed. They have a hutch and a repurposed 4x4 compost bin raised on plywood that they ALL pile into at night, leaving the hutch empty. I've put fresh hay in the comp bin several times only to find it scattered about the pen in the morning. They've shoved it all out down to the old poop-hay. I use hay bc shavings are too messy to keep in the bedding area. They'd have shavings all over the yard. The hay, they pretty much leave in their bed.

Right now the pen sopping wet. Its been raining a lot. Not much I can do but wait till it dries.

During the day they have the run of the backyard, about 40x20ft that they've de-grassed (but there's new growth constantly from the seeds I throw down being covered by leaves). I give them a slosh of ACV in their water every day; I don't wash the waterers unless I absolutely have to (haven't yet). They're fed primarily grower feed and I give them a few handfulls of wild bird seed mixed with dry oatmeal. What should I start thinking about feeding them next as their full diet, after they're off the grower feed?

I don't give them medicine of any sort and I don't want to start. However, I will have to cull two of the roo's pretty soon. I only wanted one and I think 1:5 is a good ratio. I'm still deciding which two look tasty. For sure the one that came with bad feathering.

With the given situation, what are your thoughts about worming or preventing a worm problem? I understand that they probably already have some worms and that's natural and not to worry about. I don't want a problem breaking out. Right now the plan is for the remaining roo to produce some chicks to replace anyone that needs getting rid of and not buying new chicks. So, heartiness is important here. What would you suggest for that as well?

BTW- if anyone else has advice, that'd be fine too. Keep in mind though though that I'm not interested in medicating with unnatural chemical medications.

AND- Thanks in advance!!

 

[123ChickieLou]

Another thing I wanted to add, on the subject of hawks, I have seen one try to fly off with a smaller pullet. It dropped it at about 10ft in the air but it did try. To me that says that if its prey were smaller, it would've carried it off. Maybe it has chicks, who knows. After dropping the bird, it perched in a branch about 20ft up directly over the yard it got the pullet from (my backyard neighbor).
This was a large (well over a ft long, head to tail) dark, charcoal grey hawk. Seemed to be all one color. Only the head was gone from the victim and it wasn't lying around in the yard so it was likely eaten.

When I walked outside, it was as though I didn't have chickens at all. Not a peep, not a leaf stirred; everyone was well out of sight and range. Same at the neighbor's place.

The other day a grey egret flew over, the bigger ones froze in silence and the younger ones ran under the shed. I know when a hawk's been near bc of how they behave. If the yard is dead silent, it's been around. Its almost like they can create the absence of energy.

Funny story: My neighbor has a bantam rooster that he says has been picked up before by that hawk. He said the roo started crowing while being carried off and the hawk dropped it.

Same rooster was picked up (and dropped) by likely the same hawk, all of his birds went nuts and his amazon parrot, who could see it all from the window, started screaming "Bad bird! Bad bird!"

ETA: I live in the central part of a fairly small town. On the main hwy, lots of neighbors, old houses. It's pretty busy where I live but we're not far, flight-wise from woods and rivers.

 

[featherz]

I had a known hawk attack last year. One chicken went missing, so I supposed it COULD have been carried off, the second one was on the ground like a bomb hit it, feathers in a giant radius around it. I'm told that is classic bird of prey attack.
This year I had one hawk attack, a largish (6 month old) light brahma. I saw the hawk, saw the chickens hiding, did not see the actual attack, but she was gone and so was the hawk. Just a few feathers on the ground. All that aside, my roos did a great job getting everyone else under cover and it's unlikely the hawk would have gotten more.
I know it's a risk I take letting them free range - I *wish* I could have dogs, but it's not going to work here - I work too often to have the time to properly train the dogs, plus we'd have to install an underground dog fence (required here).