Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

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RebeccaBoyd said:
Oh and her test results are in, she's positive for covid. She still only has sinus infection like symptoms with a headache and fatigue bothering her the most. My dad on the other hand woke up yesterday morning feeling like he had the flu. By 8pm last night he had a fever of 102 so he went and got tested this morning. Positive of course. So besides my brother it has hit every family member here in the house. Hopefully soon this nightmare will be over.
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I hope no one gets too badly affected and everyone recovers quickly. Thinking of you :hugs:hugs
 
rural mouse said:
Came home from work today, having had a good day. found pullets (and cockerel) up near the house. Closer than normal, but they've been working their way closer. Got pasta treat. They came back up in a hurry. then saw 1 off in the yard, not moving. Go check it out.....Dead Nika, my Dominique. no obvious signs of cause, but cold. Looking around, see Sheba, my RIR, also a corpse. See little Storm, running around (NOT a corpse), where's mama? Keep looking. Find corpse of the double laced golden wyandotte, followed by Dora (the pic posted earlier). Have seen Silver and a partridge rock....not sure if Mama or not, but not near Storm. Find Mama on other side of Russian olives, also a corpse (definitely mama as her comb is smaller than the 2IC's comb. Then spot Rusty on the track down below. Feathers everywhere thigh plucked. Finally (after talking with nearest neighbors (1 of whom also has chickens)), find Thing 1, the smart Houdan, torn open. Never did find Helen, my silver Phoenix. Based upon all the senseless killing and the size difference between Rusty and Helen, the smallest, I'm thinking a dog. I need a fence. RIP feathered friends.

View attachment 2810433View attachment 2810432View attachment 2810440
View attachment 2810426
Of the birds in pictures, I still have little Storm in #4, and the barred bird in the pic around the feeder. I also have the 2 with just tails showing. I took the pic of Rusty on Sunday. View attachment 2810449
No one saw/heard anything so don't know if it was someone's pet or a stray. One of the neighbors did see a stray the other day. The foxes back in May I understand. feeding family. This is senseless.:mad:
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Very sad reading this. Eventually when free ranging something like this is bound to happen. I just used to hope the majority found good cover in the event of such an attack..
So, what is good cover?
Well, despite what people may think, runs, unless very well though out are not. The problem is once a predator has got in, the chickens can't get out. At least free range they have a chance of escape. Not much of a consolation for you currently but it's an uncomfortable truth that can be hard to accept.
The best way to free range chickens and have them have a decent chance of survival is to let them breed. The elders teach the yongsters much like any other species. It takes at least three generations I found.

The best cover was the bamboo patches. If the chickens can make it to such a patch, not a lot can get at them and even for such agile creatures as weasels, the chance of a chicken being able to turn around in the bamboo and face the weasel is too much of a risk and the weasel backs off.
Blackthorn bushes make excellent cover but you need to trim away the lower branches just enough to allow the chickens to get underneath without haveing to deal with the thorns.
I've had a few survive by getting into dense rosmary and thyme bushes.
All the above are better than the vast majority of runs.

Some place great stock in electric fences. They're okay for extra run protection but if the run is to be large enough to provide anything like the amount of room chickens will range in naturally then that's an awful lot of electric fence and it needs to be a fence, not set strands.

My recommendation for dog problems is shoot the dog. Back in Catalonia the farmers shoot any stray dogs they find on their land. Shame they're not allowed to shoot the dog owners while they're at it.

Given the right environment chickens are very good at avoiding predators. The first rule is not to be seen. That's how the jungle fowl survive. The next is having the lots of the right sort of cover and this is what I see a complete lack of in most peoples chicken keeping environments. Short dense low cover is what they need. Trees help but a hawk will fly through the trees at incredible speeds. What hawks can't cope with is dense undergrowth.

Finally, small groups or tribes, each with a rooster I found helped. This is how they have lived for centuries and there are so many reasons for this, some of which I explain in this article.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/understanding-your-rooster.75056/
and this one,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/

I hope the hurt of the loss passes quickly for both you and the rest of your flock.:hugs
 
Aussie-Chookmum said:
Wear a wide brimmed hat.
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I will be happy to wear a chicken hat like Bob’s but my chickens are just not as pretty! But they are to me and that’s really all that matters anyways! Ps. Arizona still just jumps up on my shoulder from five feet! Lovely beautiful crazy chicken 🐓
 

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