FCinNH
Chirping
I've had backyard chickens here in New Hampshire for 5 or 6 years now. I started with some Dominiques that I got from a friend who was raising them and subsequently got some Barnevelders, silver-laced Wyandotts and Speckled Sussex. I raise for eggs and need cold hardy chickens around here. We also have three dogs, and two horses, one for riding and one for driving. We live in a small rural town on a little more than three acres. I have never had luck with roosters; they always attack me and attack some of the hens while favoring others. Of the 4 breeds I know, the Sussexes are the friendliest and most personable, so as time goes by will will get more of them.
About three years ago in the spring I lost three of the eight Dominiques to a weasel. We hardware clothed their coops and that seems to have stopped. Last night (mid fall) I lost 4 of 13 hens to what I am pretty sure was a raccoon or a group of raccoons, so I am reading the threads to 1) see if it most likely was raccoons, and 2) what to do about it. The yard and coops are in the backyard, behind a 4 foot chain link fence and fenced in with an electric fence as well. We have not been locking the chickens in their coop at night but will do so now. Our dogs do not roam the yard at night generally, though they can.
I love our little farm and the rural area we live in. I grew up in a large metropolitan area and found it uncongenial; too "industrial" and built up, not enough nature and wildlife and too great a press of humanity.
About three years ago in the spring I lost three of the eight Dominiques to a weasel. We hardware clothed their coops and that seems to have stopped. Last night (mid fall) I lost 4 of 13 hens to what I am pretty sure was a raccoon or a group of raccoons, so I am reading the threads to 1) see if it most likely was raccoons, and 2) what to do about it. The yard and coops are in the backyard, behind a 4 foot chain link fence and fenced in with an electric fence as well. We have not been locking the chickens in their coop at night but will do so now. Our dogs do not roam the yard at night generally, though they can.
I love our little farm and the rural area we live in. I grew up in a large metropolitan area and found it uncongenial; too "industrial" and built up, not enough nature and wildlife and too great a press of humanity.
