perchie.girl :
I read the whole thread in a nut shell:
You are raising chickens totally free range without a coop.
You feel this makes the chickens stronger and more following their natural survival abilities.
Your hen is nesting in a box on your front porch.
You want to protect her from red-tail hawks because she isnt protected by her flock.
If its survival of the fittest why protect her...
But that said why not put up some camoflaged netting in a canopy out from your front porch. You can buy it at an Army Surplus store or you could make your own using Aviary netting with strips of green and brown cloth woven in randomly add in a few branches too. This will protect her from the hawks and give her cover on her way back to her nest.
Conditions for keeping my line of games has been maintained for a lot longer than I have been around as my grandfather and his forefathers did same. They are not of hatchery, show or backyard stock. Birds kept as such can and do live many years so situation not as bad as you might think. I am trying to keep them tough, not make them tougher. Survival of fittest not interpretation intended.
Front porch location is actually well protected against ground dwelling predators which are normally biggest hazard. I want to oberve the birds to monitor development. At this point I plan on using burlap to make a semi-permiable curtain where I can see in Sallie (and now the dom girls) can see out yet have their outlines obscured from prior eyes of red-tailed hawk.
