Danger during the day?

[HarmonyHen]

Hi all, I am new to chicken-keeping...don't even have any yet. My husband is currently building our coup. We are looking to keep about 8-10 hens and guineas. Some background: we have some decent acreage in the woods, though our house and surrounding area are fairly clear (I guess we're a little beyond "backyard" but there aren't many resources called "small-scale chicken-keeping"). I would like to free-range our birds during the day, but my husband and I both work full time, so no one is there to supervise them. Though even if I were home all day, I would probably not be outside all day. I've heard mixed opinions about letting the birds out during the day when you're not home so I was wondering how much of a concern is it in terms of predators? There is a small farm a few miles away and their chickens and guineas are out all day every day and I rarely see people outside, so I have to wonder how big of a deal this is.

Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Dogs and hawks are the biggest problem during the day, but even owls, fox, coyotes, coons and cats can be a problem.
What state are you in?
Having some cover from hawks helps as does a place for the birds to fly out of the reach of dogs.
The best defense when you're not there IMHO is a good rooster. You might lose him but he'll give himself up to save his hens.
I keep a Black Penedesenca rooster with each free ranged flock and never lost a hen during the day and only one rooster. I have every predator but bears and cougars.

 

[browning6]

Previously I let my bird free range during the day and they did well until the dogs found them. I would loose one hen then keep them cooped up for a week and then about two weeks after i let them out i would loose another. It got to the point where i would only let them out if i were home to watch them. Eventually the dogs came in during the day and i shot two of them. I have had very few problems since. but i also rarely let them free range since i built a 530 square foot coop.

 

[4 the Birds]

Add a rooster to the flock. We have 2 with about 18 hens. They sound the alarm if there are threats and they will also defend. The other day my sister in law decided to check out the goat and chicken house and accidently let her dog into the fencing. The Alpha rooster pretty much took the brunt of the dog. He lost a lot of feathers but is just fine. Our free range area is an acre with 4' high fencing and the flock has full time access along with a coop and run. Our 6 dogs are use to the chickens and would not try to go into their area. If a chicken flies over its perimeter fence then the dogs will get it. We also have a few decoy owls. Hawks avoid conflicts with owls. There is always the possibility of losses with free ranging but I would not have it any other way on the farm.

 

[sourland]

If you free range, you will eventually lose birds. It's the chance that many are willing to take hoping that they can minimize losses.

 

[centrarchid]

I currently keep a small number of birds free-range year round and the number gets up between 100 and 200 during production season. Predators can be a real issue and can wipe you out quickly or managed so losses are tolerable. As a kid growing up we kept multiple flock with numbers varying between low teens to sometimes more than 50. Some of the flocks made their entire existence around fence rows. Predator pressure varied greatly in terms of intensity and type of predator. At time I did not realize the importance of our persecution of predators through hunting or the dogs we had free ranging. Birds walked (kept free-range) did best around barnyards with some livestock, human activity that could respond to activity, and farm dogs. Birds in the more feral state had a tougher go of it but breed greatly influenced survival and all the flocks did better with respect to chick survival with a rooster present.


Having a hen-only flock without something like chicken-friendly dogs will require frequent restocking of pullets to keep flock number from going to zero.

 

[bobbi-j]

I live in the country. We have a large grove, lots of cropland and wildlife area around our place. We have fox, coyotes, mink, weasels, skunks, coons, opossums, several varieties of hawks and two families of bald eagles within a 2-mile radius of our farm. My chickens free range all day, every day, unsupervised. We have had a few losses now and then, but not many. The worst was the year I was gone for 3 weeks, and DH didn't shut the chicken coop at night. Coyotes wiped out my whole flock in a matter of days. They also cleaned out my barn cats. I'm quite positive it was coyotes because when we harvested the cornfield next to the barn that year, 3 of them ran out of the field. That was 4 years ago. Since then, I've lost one here and there, but it's a chance I'm willing to take. They're much happier, I think. It's a choice only you can make. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. I do have runs attached to my coops so if we're going to be gone for a few days they can stay locked up so I don't have to have someone come let them out and back in again.

PS - I've never seen evidence of a hawk attack, although there are hawks around here all the time.

 

[whatnext]

HarmonyHen- suggest no guineas yet... Get chickens/ chicks including a barred rock hen. Later, introduce guinea CHICKS to barred rock hen. Black/ white/ ??? My guineas protect my barred rocks that they were raised with not the others???
ChickenCanoe-- don't forget alligators!!! I agree on mean/nasty roosters. Had one show up weeks after presumed D.I.A.. No tail, no----- but the b-st-rd could still crow.
Browning6 ---Sorry B-st-rd, -- good shooting, and it's sad WE need to do this.
bobbie-j -- coyotes are smart----have long memory and are mostly pack animals. As a kid I would trap, coyotes as a pack were tough. Trap one and that was it!!!-- solution???legal??? Efictive!!!YES!!! Animal rights people dont look! Trebble hook baited with wire leader hung several feet of the ground tied to a flexible limb!!! When the one pack animal pulls/struggles/yelps, and gets loose, (minus some guts)!!! It works... This is my first post, and plan to be controversial (that means as- h-l-)

 

[whatnext]

HarmonyHen- suggest no guineas yet... Get chickens/ chicks including a barred rock hen. Later, introduce guinea CHICKS to barred rock hen. Black/ white/ ??? My guineas protect my barred rocks that they were raised with not the others???
ChickenCanoe-- don't forget alligators!!! I agree on mean/nasty roosters. Had one show up weeks after presumed D.I.A.. No tail, but the b-st-rd could still crow!!!
Browning6 ---Sorry B-st-rd, -- good shooting, and it's sad WE need to do this.
bobbie-j -- coyotes are smart----have long memory and are mostly pack animals. As a kid I would trap, coyotes as a pack were tough. Trap one and that was it!!!-- solution???legal??? Efictive!!!YES!!! Animal rights people dont look! Trebble hook baited with wire leader hung several feet of the ground tied to a flexible limb!!! When the one pack animal pulls/struggles/yelps, and gets loose, (minus some guts)!!! It works... This is my first post, and plan to be controversial (that means as- h-l-)

 

[bobbi-j]

HarmonyHen- suggest no guineas yet... Get chickens/ chicks including a barred rock hen. Later, introduce guinea CHICKS to barred rock hen. Black/ white/ ??? My guineas protect my barred rocks that they were raised with not the others???
ChickenCanoe-- don't forget alligators!!! I agree on mean/nasty roosters. Had one show up weeks after presumed D.I.A.. No tail, but the b-st-rd could still crow!!!
Browning6 ---Sorry B-st-rd, -- good shooting, and it's sad WE need to do this.
bobbie-j -- coyotes are smart----have long memory and are mostly pack animals. As a kid I would trap, coyotes as a pack were tough. Trap one and that was it!!!-- solution???legal??? Efictive!!!YES!!! Animal rights people dont look! Trebble hook baited with wire leader hung several feet of the ground tied to a flexible limb!!! When the one pack animal pulls/struggles/yelps, and gets loose, (minus some guts)!!! It works... This is my first post, and plan to be controversial (that means as- h-l-)

whatnext - sure glad I live where it gets cold in the winter! No alligators here. As for your coyote trapping method... well, to each his own. 'Nuff said there. Out here in the winter there are sponsored coyote hunts. One neighbor got 66 himself this past winter in our area. One year when my family was deer hunting, we got more coyotes than deer. They are plentiful, that's for sure.