Oh no I am so sorry to hear this 😢

I am too much the other way- no one is allowed out unless I am there to 100percent supervise 😢 I worked on some hawk deterrent today..
I was out, but I have a large flock, kind of broken up into 3 groups, and I can't be everywhere at once.....they cover about 2 1/2 acres. The fox came at the back/side most group while I was locking up the front most group (the very littles) (They sort of form a triangle - the coops of the 3 groups.) The littles are in a mobile tractor & run in the front yard, the main group in the back/side yard (to the side of but behind the house), then this group in the way side yard...again, they cover anywhere between 2 & 3 acres when they are out. The Geese and their 4 duck mates are in a mobile tractor & run between the back/side yard main coop& run, and the Way side yard mobile coop that has kind of become a permanent one with a temporary become permanent attached run. Honestly, I hadn't planned on me being so weak in late August and getting 30 littles (I have 28 as 2 were doa)...I personally think the mobile tractor & run is getting a bit small for them at this point....so I feel like I should let them free range a bit. And the others are used to free ranging and get upset when I don't let them. I didn't let anyone out today, and they yelled at me whenever they saw me. ☹️ I feel like such a bad chicken mommy right now.

I have another permanent coop in process, but it isn't done yet. It is 10X4, and will be a double decker, ducks & geese on the bottom & chickens up top. This will be enough room, I think, for everyone for the winter, since the boys of the 'littles' won't be kept, but they are still way too small to go to freezer camp yet. I had planned on my main run being expanded by now, but I physically can't attach the auger to the tractor by myself, and my husband's parents have had numerous health issues, so he has spent a lot of weekends down there...so...no drilled post holes, so no expanded run. And this coop was going to be built in part of the expanded run, that will have a roof over it so there will be a little more run space that I won't have to shovel in the winter....so I didn't start building this coop until recently when I just got so frustrated at no movement on the run. It will be a pain to later build the roofed part of the run over the coop but🤷‍♀️ I am just at my witts end at the moment....but I also can't be upset with hubby, either, as we really do need to take care of his parents...but them being 3.5 hours away means there is no splitting time on weekends between them and us....he is usually gone the whole weekend lately.

Sorry, I didn't mean to dump all this on you guys. I almost deleted everything...but sometimes I just want to cry. Then I think of people like @RoyalChick and @ValerieJ and @Kris5902 and I feel selfish thinking/feeling this way.

Selfish, feeling sorry for myself tax:

Some of my 'littles' enjoying the sun:
IMG_1907.JPG
IMG_1921.JPG
 
I was out, but I have a large flock, kind of broken up into 3 groups, and I can't be everywhere at once.....they cover about 2 1/2 acres. The fox came at the back/side most group while I was locking up the front most group (the very littles) (They sort of form a triangle - the coops of the 3 groups.) The littles are in a mobile tractor & run in the front yard, the main group in the back/side yard (to the side of but behind the house), then this group in the way side yard...again, they cover anywhere between 2 & 3 acres when they are out. The Geese and their 4 duck mates are in a mobile tractor & run between the back/side yard main coop& run, and the Way side yard mobile coop that has kind of become a permanent one with a temporary become permanent attached run. Honestly, I hadn't planned on me being so weak in late August and getting 30 littles (I have 28 as 2 were doa)...I personally think the mobile tractor & run is getting a bit small for them at this point....so I feel like I should let them free range a bit. And the others are used to free ranging and get upset when I don't let them. I didn't let anyone out today, and they yelled at me whenever they saw me. ☹️ I feel like such a bad chicken mommy right now.

I have another permanent coop in process, but it isn't done yet. It is 10X4, and will be a double decker, ducks & geese on the bottom & chickens up top. This will be enough room, I think, for everyone for the winter, since the boys of the 'littles' won't be kept, but they are still way too small to go to freezer camp yet. I had planned on my main run being expanded by now, but I physically can't attach the auger to the tractor by myself, and my husband's parents have had numerous health issues, so he has spent a lot of weekends down there...so...no drilled post holes, so no expanded run. And this coop was going to be built in part of the expanded run, that will have a roof over it so there will be a little more run space that I won't have to shovel in the winter....so I didn't start building this coop until recently when I just got so frustrated at no movement on the run. It will be a pain to later build the roofed part of the run over the coop but🤷‍♀️ I am just at my witts end at the moment....but I also can't be upset with hubby, either, as we really do need to take care of his parents...but them being 3.5 hours away means there is no splitting time on weekends between them and us....he is usually gone the whole weekend lately.

Sorry, I didn't mean to dump all this on you guys. I almost deleted everything...but sometimes I just want to cry. Then I think of people like @RoyalChick and @ValerieJ and @Kris5902 and I feel selfish thinking/feeling this way.

Selfish, feeling sorry for myself tax:

Some of my 'littles' enjoying the sun:View attachment 3299745View attachment 3299747
Your post made me speechless!
 
Operation Hawk Stop

So my plan is to use up all that old baling twine that is of no real use, I started by stringing it across the Rooster Run every couple of feet.

Tomorrow I will run it lengthwise down the run every foot or so making a grid work lattice which will deter any hawks from getting in.

What do you all think?

Before
View attachment 3299592
View attachment 3299593
View attachment 3299594

After with the twine across to run
View attachment 3299596
View attachment 3299597
View attachment 3299601
View attachment 3299602
That looks like a great start. However, if you have goshawks or coopers hawks in your area...I suspect they will need to be a LOT closer to completely keep them out. This might act as a deterrence for a bit, though, and might be enough to keep red tailed hawks out.
 
Foxy, hatched on May 14th 2022, a RIR mutt with orange neck and gray tail, laid her first egg today. Today she is 5 month + one week old. Congratulations Foxy! View attachment 3299739

Some other random pictures of Meimei, or Meimei+Foxy. Both are huge sized chickens for our flock.View attachment 3299735View attachment 3299736View attachment 3299740
What beautiful rich reds those ladies are. Congratulations on the first egg. I can’t wait till my girls get there come about February.
 
So, I had a rough night last night. I was putting the littles away, and one of my roosters gave a horrendous, terrified ?squawk? at the top of his lungs & continued with it....I ran as fast as I could, but it wasn't quick enough. A fox got one of my hens....and it took me a full 20 min. to get the rooster to calm down...he was missing a few more saddle feathers (he is in the middle of a hard molt and doesn't have any tail feathers at the moment.) A good boy sounding the alarm....but I still lost a sweet Astralorp :(

I suppose I have been beating the odds for too long this year...my neighbor has lost multiple to both foxes and raccoons. But, I just can't see sequestering them to the run 24/7...when I get home from work they run to the gate and are begging for out time.☹️😓
So sorry for your loss. :hit:hugs
 
Just put Flash back outside. I sure got an ear-full from Dakota. She called me every name in the book 📖. She even said that I’m racist because I favored a barred rock over her red feathers. Bok,squawk brgock, means a lot in chicken language! She’s inside getting treats too! I don’t like being called racist! :old
 

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