Chickens in nature

[Appalachickens]

Nice camouflage!

Looks like your girls are more adventurous than my rooster flock!

My boys used to roam around further. Then one summer, I lost a couple of birds - the ones that did not go to the coop at night (I was taking care of 2 flocks because other family members were on holidays). There were puffs of feathers where they were taken. I am sure my roosters have seen those feathers too.

Nowadays, my roosters are a lot more timid, always stay in the middle paddock where our cabin and their coop is, regularly coming to the door of our cabin to check upon us (possibly for re-assurance, lol).

Local predators (eagle, fox, wild dogs etc) are all relatively small, and have cunning ways of hiding from people and take chickens when no one is watching.

I read wild dogs, looked at your location, and immediately heard Elaine on Seinfeld saying, “ The dingo ate my baby.”

 

[Perris]

My question - how high up should it be?

@centrarchid might be able to help with that; he used to set nestboxes out on his property (maybe still does, I don't know, but I do remember reading some very interesting posts of his on this years ago).

 

[No Coop No Problem]

My question - how high up should it be?

The lowest nesting boxes here are 3 feet off the ground, and my RIR use them without any difficulty. The highest I've ever placed boxes is 6 feet but in all instances I make sure there are convenient branches for them to fly and reach the boxes with

 

[Appalachickens]

The lowest nesting boxes here are 3 feet off the ground, and my RIR use them without any difficulty. The highest I've ever placed boxes is 6 feet but in all instances I make sure there are convenient branches for them to fly and reach the boxes with

I think going to start with boxes up on blocks so I can move it around if they aren't willing to use it whereever I put it.

 

[Appalachickens]

 

[Mother of Chaos]

View attachment 4231854

I stolt this for a presentation I'm doing in (checks watch) nine and a half hours on predation issues in raising free-range layer hens!

 

[Appalachickens]

I love that! My brother sent me the cartoon in a birthday card and I will tell him about this. Wish I could be at your talk and I hope it goes well!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I stolt this for a presentation I'm doing in (checks watch) nine and a half hours on predation issues in raising free-range layer hens!

It got a big laugh!

Anything to spare the audience the dreaded Death by Powerpoint.

I also played the video of the woman imitating her rooster's hawk warning call. We all enjoyed the befuddled duck and geese at the end:

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I also played the video of the woman imitating her rooster's hawk warning call.

I misread that as she was imitating a hawk and I thought “that poor confused woman and that poor dying hawk” Then I realized she was imitating the rooster and it all made sense.

 

[centrarchid]

Just read my way through the whole thread as I’m getting closer to my goal of adding a completely free range flock next spring. My son and his fiancée invited me over to build a bird house for my birthday and asked what kind of bird, so we could design an appropriate box. I said chicken! So now I have one insanely beautiful nesting box ready to be stained and placed in the woods. (Some of my coop chickens came into the garage to check it out.) My question - how high up should it be?

Do you intend for the hen to incubate clutch and return with chicks to roost?