Let me start with a bit of history. A few years back, I had about 20 chickens all free ranging around the house. I would let them out in the morning. In the evening, I would shut the door to the coop. It all worked pretty well until my first run in with a predator.
Oh, I had pulled black snakes out of the barn with eggs in them. I would simply take them over to the pond to release them. I never kill a black rat snake. One time I came into the barn and found one eating a Monster rat! Yup, that experience saved every black snake I come across. But the black snakes will only take the chicks and eggs. Not a huge issue if you keep a wary eye out.
Then there were the run ins with Red Tailed Hawks. In the early days, the only attack I experienced was averted when I almost caught one of the dive bombers with my bare hands. He never came back.
Then, there was the night that I went out to close the door. It was ½ hour after sunset. I peeked in as I shut the door and there on the floor were 4 dead bodies. There they were, limp and laying on the floor of the coop. I was devastated. Their heads were missing but the remainder of them was relatively unharmed. What could have done this?
I pulled the bodies from the coop and left 2 of them outside the door and disposed of the remainder. I set up my game camera to see if the offending creature would come back to the outside door. All set. Everyone that remained was safe and I went off to bed.
Morning came early and I went straight down to the coop. The bodies outside had been eaten. I thought to myself, “Now I have you on camera”. I opened the door to the coop and my adrenaline started to flow. I felt dizzy with anger. Four more dead chickens inside the coop! I quick shut the door. “That means that the bastard is still in there!”
Ran to the house and picked up the pistol. Reloaded with shot shells and put on my safety glasses. Rushing back to the barn, I was thinking about how I would avoid getting bitten if I were attacked. I wasn’t really sure and at some level I had nothing on my mind but to eliminate whatever was killing my chickens.
I went into the coop with my pistol drawn. All the girls were up on their perch and out of my way. First, look up on the stone wall ledge over my head. Good place to hide, I thought. Blasted, nothing. There weren't many places to hide. The bastard must be under the nesting boxes. Hmmm. This was going to be close quarters. I have to lay hands on the nesting boxes to move them. This is the only way that I will be able to look behind and under them.
I reached out with my left hand, my right gripping my pistol. Lean it out just a little...Look for fur … Just looking for a hint… Bah! Nothing. There was nothing there! I was baffled and confused.
In looking at the camera footage, I found a raccoon squeezing out of the top corner of the door, not one hour after I had left. He was in there when I was cleaning up and had escaped after killing 4 more chickens. As for the eaten bodies left outside? Cats.
I learned later that raccoon eat the heads off of chickens and drink the blood from them. When the blood stops, they kill another helpless chicken.
Fast forward to late last year (2016) and I have 54 Black Australorps. Beautiful birds, just starting to lay eggs and they are getting used to the almost 3 acres of pasture dedicated to them. In 3 weeks, I lost 16 to hawks. They were relentless. Even Nugget got taken. The chickens were traumatized; even hiding in the bushes. So scared that they stopped laying eggs for some time. They would barely come out of the coop.
What could we do? We work all day. I could pen them but that defeats the purpose of such a large fenced in area. I could build a tractor and move them every day. But I just got done building this beautiful coop! I couldn’t build another. I could keep them inside. No! That is not what I wanted and if my chickens had a vote, not what they wanted.
We searched high and low for a solution that would fit into our situation. And one day, after a 7 hour drive to New York, we found her. Liberty. An 8 year old Maremma that had looked after poultry her entire life. But the farm was shutting down and Liberty had nothing left to do.
If you don’t know much about the breed, it is worth the time to learn. This dog has turned our entire chicken operation from a lost cause to a raging success! Probably the single most important part of the entire operation. There is nothing that will hurt those chickens without having a death match with a full size dog. She watches the sky, she watches the borders. She will chase the chickens to safety when a hawk or eagle comes and stand guard between them and the chickens. She will chase hawks across the entire field. Raccoon – gone. Hawks – gone. These chickens are safe from predators.
_______________________
Park
http://thechickenlife.com
Oh, I had pulled black snakes out of the barn with eggs in them. I would simply take them over to the pond to release them. I never kill a black rat snake. One time I came into the barn and found one eating a Monster rat! Yup, that experience saved every black snake I come across. But the black snakes will only take the chicks and eggs. Not a huge issue if you keep a wary eye out.
Then there were the run ins with Red Tailed Hawks. In the early days, the only attack I experienced was averted when I almost caught one of the dive bombers with my bare hands. He never came back.
Then, there was the night that I went out to close the door. It was ½ hour after sunset. I peeked in as I shut the door and there on the floor were 4 dead bodies. There they were, limp and laying on the floor of the coop. I was devastated. Their heads were missing but the remainder of them was relatively unharmed. What could have done this?
I pulled the bodies from the coop and left 2 of them outside the door and disposed of the remainder. I set up my game camera to see if the offending creature would come back to the outside door. All set. Everyone that remained was safe and I went off to bed.
Morning came early and I went straight down to the coop. The bodies outside had been eaten. I thought to myself, “Now I have you on camera”. I opened the door to the coop and my adrenaline started to flow. I felt dizzy with anger. Four more dead chickens inside the coop! I quick shut the door. “That means that the bastard is still in there!”
Ran to the house and picked up the pistol. Reloaded with shot shells and put on my safety glasses. Rushing back to the barn, I was thinking about how I would avoid getting bitten if I were attacked. I wasn’t really sure and at some level I had nothing on my mind but to eliminate whatever was killing my chickens.
I went into the coop with my pistol drawn. All the girls were up on their perch and out of my way. First, look up on the stone wall ledge over my head. Good place to hide, I thought. Blasted, nothing. There weren't many places to hide. The bastard must be under the nesting boxes. Hmmm. This was going to be close quarters. I have to lay hands on the nesting boxes to move them. This is the only way that I will be able to look behind and under them.
I reached out with my left hand, my right gripping my pistol. Lean it out just a little...Look for fur … Just looking for a hint… Bah! Nothing. There was nothing there! I was baffled and confused.
In looking at the camera footage, I found a raccoon squeezing out of the top corner of the door, not one hour after I had left. He was in there when I was cleaning up and had escaped after killing 4 more chickens. As for the eaten bodies left outside? Cats.
I learned later that raccoon eat the heads off of chickens and drink the blood from them. When the blood stops, they kill another helpless chicken.
Fast forward to late last year (2016) and I have 54 Black Australorps. Beautiful birds, just starting to lay eggs and they are getting used to the almost 3 acres of pasture dedicated to them. In 3 weeks, I lost 16 to hawks. They were relentless. Even Nugget got taken. The chickens were traumatized; even hiding in the bushes. So scared that they stopped laying eggs for some time. They would barely come out of the coop.
What could we do? We work all day. I could pen them but that defeats the purpose of such a large fenced in area. I could build a tractor and move them every day. But I just got done building this beautiful coop! I couldn’t build another. I could keep them inside. No! That is not what I wanted and if my chickens had a vote, not what they wanted.
We searched high and low for a solution that would fit into our situation. And one day, after a 7 hour drive to New York, we found her. Liberty. An 8 year old Maremma that had looked after poultry her entire life. But the farm was shutting down and Liberty had nothing left to do.
If you don’t know much about the breed, it is worth the time to learn. This dog has turned our entire chicken operation from a lost cause to a raging success! Probably the single most important part of the entire operation. There is nothing that will hurt those chickens without having a death match with a full size dog. She watches the sky, she watches the borders. She will chase the chickens to safety when a hawk or eagle comes and stand guard between them and the chickens. She will chase hawks across the entire field. Raccoon – gone. Hawks – gone. These chickens are safe from predators.
_______________________
Park
http://thechickenlife.com
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