For those who free range

[ehoneybee]

That’s probably the best way to keep free ranging hens safe. It’s a roosters job to protect his girls even if it means his death. I can’t wait to get out of the city where I can have roosters.

We had a rooster but it wanted to eat the children so we ate him.

 

[ehoneybee]

About the only way you are going to be able to protect your flock if you free range is to ride herd on them like you have been doing.

We have a lot of big red tailed and red shouldered hawks here along with fox and coyotes. My flock is penned and the run is covered but I can still catch the occasional hawk circling the run or roosting in a nearby tree just watching.

Right now, they are nesting and hatching chicks so they are always on the lookout for an easy way to feed constantly hungry babies.

Same with Fox. Last year we had a female take up residence under a neighbor's cabin and raise a family of kits that she fed by decimating the local poultry flocks. My chicken compound is pretty much Fort Knox, kennel panel chain link with hot wire around the parameter so I didn't loose any birds (did have fox tracks around the run but one touch of the nose to the hot wire I'm sure dissuaded them from persisting) while our neighbors lost their whole flock to the predator. The owner of the cabin told us that when he checked under the cabin, the fox was gone but there were piles of chicken bones everywhere.

Security is what is all about. If you can stand guard over your flock while they free range, you will decrease your chances of loss but I don't think anything is 100%. Plus, even if you stand guard with a shotgun or .22 as protection, your hands are pretty much tied because the birds of prey are protected as endangered species.

It's easier to protect chickens from 4 legged predators than 2 legged ones.

Yeah, I wish we only had to worry about foxes and the like :/. We also have red tailed and sharp shinned hawks so we got em all

 

[TheWickedChicken]

We had a rooster but it wanted to eat the children so we ate him.

Lol, well sometimes you get roosters that hate people. Eat them and get another!

 

[ehoneybee]

Lol, well sometimes you get roosters that hate people. Eat them and get another!

I thought about that. He was so nice as a Cockerel! Maybe a bantam next time.

 

[TheWickedChicken]

I thought about that. He was so nice as a Cockerel! Maybe a bantam next time.

I’ve heard silkie roos are very nice and will even look after chicks if you have them! I have no experience with that myself, just paraphrasing what I’ve seen posted around here.

 

[MillersFarm]

I've got a breeding pair of red tailed hawks that come here every year and i haven't lost a single bird to them once~ I've got all sorts of thing that keep hawks away, The Turkeys and guineas help lots, They got nuts when they see them and sound the alarm for my chickens and ducks, My turkeys play a big part in that too, The hawks don't like my turkeys and they don't try to attack my chickens since my turkeys are out with them all the time, i've lost a few chickens a ducks from raccoons and foxes but ever since I got my Bernese mountain dog I haven't had a problem with raccoons. Foxes still like to come around but i'll set traps around the area, I've also heard having geese keep foxes away so I just went and bought 3 and i'm getting 2 more, Plan on hatching out and keeping a whole bunch more though'

 

[ehoneybee]

I've got a breeding pair of red tailed hawks that come here every year and i haven't lost a single bird to them once~ I've got all sorts of thing that keep hawks away, The Turkeys and guineas help lots, They got nuts when they see them and sound the alarm for my chickens and ducks, My turkeys play a big part in that too, The hawks don't like my turkeys and they don't try to attack my chickens since my turkeys are out with them all the time, i've lost a few chickens a ducks from raccoons and foxes but ever since I got my Bernese mountain dog I haven't had a problem with raccoons. Foxes still like to come around but i'll set traps around the area, I've also heard having geese keep foxes away so I just went and bought 3 and i'm getting 2 more, Plan on hatching out and keeping a whole bunch more though'

Well, that's quite a menagerie you have there! That's just not sustainable for us but my husband is thinking if getting goats now that he heard they keep hawks away

 

[MillersFarm]

Well, that's quite a menagerie you have there! That's just not sustainable for us but my husband is thinking if getting goats now that he heard they keep hawks away

Yep, I've got quite a lot of animals, I've also got 2 Pygmy goats in my bantam run, They have their own house of course but they definitely keep predators from getting my bantams~

 

[GC-Raptor]

One of my 7 month old pullets was attacked in their uncovered 500 square foot pen and survived. I heard the commotion and ran out to see a Coopers Hawk in a tree and feathers every where.
I have been letting them free range an hour or two before sunset daily weather permitting for 11 months. .They head back to the coop just after sunset and I lock em up about 20 minutes after sunset for the night.
My observations see hawks more in the morning and much less late afternoon, around here.
In 11 months I have not lost a chicken to a predator. GC

 

[ehoneybee]

One of my 7 month old pullets was attacked in their uncovered 500 square foot pen and survived. I heard the commotion and ran out to see a Coopers Hawk in a tree and feathers every where.
I have been letting them free range an hour or two before sunset daily weather permitting for 11 months.View attachment 1340098 .They head back to the coop just after sunset and I lock em up about 20 minutes after sunset for the night.
My observations see hawks more in the morning and much less late afternoon, around here.
In 11 months I have not lost a chicken to a predator. GC

That's what everyone been doing lately. Letting them out a few hurse before sunset. Trying to figure out the hawks' patterns. Like what time of day, if it's raining, etc. are they most likely to attack.