Free Lunch Chickens! Hawk Attack!

[gtaus]

while I understand that chickens are livestock, I love mine dearly, and it truly broke my heart when that hawk got one of my girls. Not everyone feels that way about their chickens,

Someone here on the BYC invented a word for her chickens. She called them "petstock." Somewhere between family pets and true livestock. That's pretty much how I feel about my laying hens. Not pets, but neither livestock. I can tell you the personalities of almost every one of my girls.

I feel the loss when they get sick or die, but I'm not overwhelmed by it. I will butcher the older hens and get new chicks are a regular 2–3-year rotation. But I do protect them the best I can while they are under my care. That means, in my case, confined to a nice chicken run with bird netting on top.

 

[hammyanne]

Someone here on the BYC invented a word for her chickens. She called them "petstock." Somewhere between family pets and true livestock. That's pretty much how I feel about my laying hens. Not pets, but neither livestock. I can tell you the personalities of almost every one of my girls.

I feel the loss when they get sick or die, but I'm not overwhelmed by it.

Beautifully said! this is how I feel about my birds. Being able to compartmentalize grief plays a big role and has certainly come with age for me—in regard to your friend's daughter, maybe a tough concept to convey to someone relatively new to life ◡̈

 

[ChickyCh00k]

petstock

Yes! Perfect description!

 

[Guardihen]

A similar thing happened to me. I live in a very open area with little area for cover. It would happen once a week or so. I really didn't want to spend the money covering a 1/3 acre of land with netting or limiting them to a chicken run. I decided to try out a sky dancer and developed my own motion sensor. 9 months later I haven't had an attack. If anyone is interested in talking further, drop me an email.

 

[gtaus]

UPDATE: I got another call from my friend. He told me that the young lady got another 9 chicks a few weeks ago, let them free range as before, and she has already lost 7 chicks from that batch. Despite losing all those chicks, she still insists on allowing the chickens to free range - evidently without any protection. In her mind, if the chickens cannot free range then, to her, it's not like having "real" chickens at all.

I only responded that it's not the way I raise my chickens, but I'm not going to try to convince anyone else what to do with their flock.

 

[Appalachickens]

I have my chickens in a very secure open air coop/run at night and they free range during the day. They range pretty widely, often making the trek up to the house. Here they are visiting this morning.

They have lots of places to take cover and sometimes it is hard for me to spot them until I hear them clucking. We have all the usual predators here, both land and aerial. These are coop chickens, bred for being enclosed at night and selected for laying abilities. That said, I'm also planning to get completely free rangers, gamefowl mixes, that can roost in trees in my woods. I've got a lot of land for them, and I want the chance to try my hand at having the sort of old school chickens who were heartier and warier than current coop chickens. So maybe it depends not just on your feelings about chickens as pets v. livestock, but on what sort of chickens you have and what sort of environment they have access to. Even with my coop chickens, they are reluctant to go in in the evening because there is so much for them to explore.

 

[gtaus]

I have my chickens in a very secure open air coop/run at night and they free range during the day. They range pretty widely, often making the trek up to the house. Here they are visiting this morning.

If that works for you, that's great. I would love to be able to let my chickens free range all over my 3 acres of land. But I live on a lake, and we have Bald Eagles and hawks overhead all the time. I would not have many chickens left if I let them free range.

But I have a nice big chicken run and the girls seem happy running around outside under the protective cover of bird netting. I have not lost one chicken in over 5 years from an attack. It works for me.

Years ago, I had ducks and geese, and I did let them free range during the daytime, then put them away at night. They spent a lot of time swimming out in the lake but came home in the evening. That was fun.

 

[Appalachickens]

If that works for you, that's great. I would love to be able to let my chickens free range all over my 3 acres of land. But I live on a lake, and we have Bald Eagles and hawks overhead all the time. I would not have many chickens left if I let them free range.

But I have a nice big chicken run and the girls seem happy running around outside under the protective cover of bird netting. I have not lost one chicken in over 5 years from an attack. It works for me.

Years ago, I had ducks and geese, and I did let them free range during the daytime, then put them away at night. They spent a lot of time swimming out in the lake but came home in the evening. That was fun.

Hawks and eagles here, too. And owls, which I've seen in the daytime. But again, loads of cover, with 32 acres of woods. I think it really is important to find the system that works best for your land, as you seem to have.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I am free-range or bust because I have a lot of natural cover. My last setup was not so and I did have hawk attempts. That was in the suburbs. My chickens there were a lot less wary as well. I have moved away from fat, fluffy, docile breeds toward flighty foragers. I think how you keep your chickens depends not only on your attitude toward your “petstock” but also your chickens themselves and your particular range. If you have Buff Orpingtons supplementing their commercial layer feed with the occasional grass garnish from a manicured lawn…well…you might be setting yourself up for failure. Chickens aren’t cows and that’s a distinction that apparently needs to be made.

 

[Appalachickens]

I am free-range or bust because I have a lot of natural cover. My last setup was not so and I did have hawk attempts. That was in the suburbs. My chickens there were a lot less wary as well. I have moved away from fat, fluffy, docile breeds toward flighty foragers. I think how you keep your chickens depends not only on your attitude toward your “petstock” but also your chickens themselves and your particular range. If you have Buff Orpingtons supplementing their commercial layer feed with the occasional grass garnish from a manicured lawn…well…you might be setting yourself up for failure. Chickens aren’t cows and that’s a distinction that apparently needs to be made.

And here I always thought chickens were ungulates.