Feather Patterns and Protection from Predators???

[ugachickenmama]

Looking for folks with experience (not hearsay) with whether certain feather patterns fair better as free range birds over others.

FOR EXAMPLE (aka, the hearsay):
- that black feathered birds are less likely to be picked off b/c predators confuse them for crows
- or that white feathered birds are more likely to be attacked since they are easy to see

Again, I have read the theories . . . just curious if anyone has actual experience to share on the subject!
Thanks!!!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Barred feathers can resemble hawks, or owls, so that maybe a good choice for pattern if free Ranging.

 

[nuthatched]

I don't think it makes a difference with land predators, I've experienced equal losses in hens of all colors. It might fool hawks for a second but I wouldn't count on it.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Sometimes Ariel predators won't attack black hens right away. They'll learn soon enough that they're not crows though.

I've never lost more white birds than other colors to any predator. It's been about equal between the colors.

Best bet is to find birds that blend in better (like my pheonixes in the yellow grass here or @U_Stormcrow's project with red patterned birds)

 

[centrarchid]

I have had chickens in the bush for a long time. Movement of chickens degrades value of cryptic coloration. Foraging birds move. Chickens trying to hide by sitting still are harder to see if color and pattern matches background. I’ve not seen backgrounds that white or black birds match well. Snow and white do not match.

Night time with owls color may not matter.

Have had chickens roosting in trees and nesting naturally on the ground.

Getting real handle on this would require a study involving many locations over multiple years.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Reminder to self to come back to this. Though I have very limited experience, and thus little to add of value.

 

[Brooks_]

Though I have very limited experience, and thus little to add of value

Likewise. I don;t really think the color matters, but maybe I've not had losses because of the color.

 

[centrarchid]

You must have experience with losses over multiple years with a range of chicken colorations where ideally other variations such as breed are not important. Even then then results are of little value without being properly scrutinized and the audience is at least willing to look them over. Latter part is very unlikely to occur on this site based on personal observation over several years

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So, I was going to come back to this, and this is what I'll offer.

1st - I've only been doing this for a few years, and have very few losses over those years.

2nd - It is my **HOPE** that patterning on my birds will help break up movement, particularly in my grasses, much as occurs on leopards, zebra, "painted" horses, and a host of other critters.

3rd - I've not yet bred in the pattern and base that I want to compare its effectiveness against my solid black birds, and my unpatterned red birds, and my patterned black/white birds (DBrahma, SLW)

4th - I think it works in nature, and that's why I'm trying to repeat it here.

In essence, I have a working theory, no data, and expect no data in the coming years. But, "it seems plausible"?

 

[centrarchid]

The only situation I have seen where coloration may help is with visually oriented predators and where the chicken is trying hide. Hens incubating there clutch of eggs out in the open is the first situation where she covers the clutch moving very little with the exception of blinking her eyes. The way the feathers cover her body it is very difficult to see her breathing. The next is where a chicken freezes because is sees a predator although this approach does not work once the predator makes the chicken out. The final approach is where a chicken that is pursued by a predator flattens itself out in a depression or forces its way into vegetation. All these situations involve the bird becoming very still.