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I feel the same way. I let mine out of their pens about half the time, but we have lost over a hundred birds this past year from doing that. It is a constant tug-of-war in my mind, wanting to give them freedom (they do like to roam free) and yet also wanting them to stay alive. With the overhead nets on the pens, we have it zip-tied to the edges of the fence every 2 ft, yet they still figure out how to get in there sometimes through a tiny corner. Sometimes they dive-bomb the middle of the net too, without success of course. As a comparison though, I would say I lose only 1 bird every 2 months that is inside a covered pen (they have 50ftx50ft netting attached to 5ft tall fence, and very secure wood coops for night-time), compared to losing sometimes 5 birds in a day if I let them out of the pens in the day. The bobcats in particular seem to take many more birds than they actually need. And I don't understand why the hawks just eat the head and neck, and leave the rest of the meat to waste.
My current problem is a welsummer mama that had 7 chicks originally, on free range in the day with her chicks, but is already down to 5 chicks (lost 2 to the hawks). I saw her chasing the hawk all the way across the yard as it carried her baby away. The chicks are so adorable on free range, scratching in the leaves like their mama, and eating huge grubs, but at this rate they will all be gone in a few weeks
I know I have to pen them up today, but it makes me sad to do it - sad either way!
ETA: In order to join the subject of chocolate seramas, here is my new boy that is likely carrying the chocolate gene (bought from PhiladelphiaPhlock). I plan to breed him with a black serama, but she's only 2 months old right now, so I have to wait awhile.
I feel the same way. I let mine out of their pens about half the time, but we have lost over a hundred birds this past year from doing that. It is a constant tug-of-war in my mind, wanting to give them freedom (they do like to roam free) and yet also wanting them to stay alive. With the overhead nets on the pens, we have it zip-tied to the edges of the fence every 2 ft, yet they still figure out how to get in there sometimes through a tiny corner. Sometimes they dive-bomb the middle of the net too, without success of course. As a comparison though, I would say I lose only 1 bird every 2 months that is inside a covered pen (they have 50ftx50ft netting attached to 5ft tall fence, and very secure wood coops for night-time), compared to losing sometimes 5 birds in a day if I let them out of the pens in the day. The bobcats in particular seem to take many more birds than they actually need. And I don't understand why the hawks just eat the head and neck, and leave the rest of the meat to waste.
My current problem is a welsummer mama that had 7 chicks originally, on free range in the day with her chicks, but is already down to 5 chicks (lost 2 to the hawks). I saw her chasing the hawk all the way across the yard as it carried her baby away. The chicks are so adorable on free range, scratching in the leaves like their mama, and eating huge grubs, but at this rate they will all be gone in a few weeks

ETA: In order to join the subject of chocolate seramas, here is my new boy that is likely carrying the chocolate gene (bought from PhiladelphiaPhlock). I plan to breed him with a black serama, but she's only 2 months old right now, so I have to wait awhile.

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