Free range vs confinement

[OldRooster247]

I'm wondering what the preferred way of keeping chickens is among the seasoned members. I live on a large parcel of land and my husband wants our chickens to free range during the day. At night they get put to bed in their coop. We had a livestock guardian dog for 2 1/2 years and things were pretty quiet around here with predators. Unfortunately my beautiful livestock dog severly MAULED my 12 year old dog. TWICE! (Initially I assumed the old dog had gotten into a fight with a racoon or coyote, but then it happened again and I saw the younger dog attacking him) So we had to have him put down. Now that he is no longer patrolling the property we have lost 14 chickens in two months. We had three roosters and they were all gone in one day. I have seen a coyote in my yard four times, a large red tail hawk has been on the hunt, and today a fox made off with one. It seems logical then that they should have to stay in their coop at all times. How do other members handle problems like this?

I live in TX and we have coyotes and Hawks as well. Im gonna tell you what I do and and most of my neighbors do as well. Get a good mean Donkey. Im not kidding. Had a stray dog wander on to the property once and my Donkey killed him. Over the years Ive rarely seen Coyotes wander thru the pasture but I have found various dead dogs. As for the hawks, Your roosters could have handled the situation perfectly but im willing to bet you stripped them of their tools. In the wild Chickens live in dense Jungle so when I built my coops I planted thorny shrubs, trees, and dense foliage so that when they spot a Hawk they have plenty of spots to hide and Chickens store food for this reason, so they can hide for hours.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Im gonna tell you what I do and and most of my neighbors do as well. Get a good mean Donkey. Im not kidding. Had a stray dog wander on to the property once and my Donkey killed him.

I knew someone with a mean donkey and he stomped on and killed several of their ducks instead, so it can go both ways.