Free ranging, how safe is it?

[speckledhen]

I have been freeranging my flock for almost 3 years now on a mountain at 2000 ft altitude with every predator you can imagine, except of course, the ones like fishers that dont live in the south at all. So far, and I do mean so far, I have not had any predator losses. I expect my time will come; in fact, I'm sure of it. We even had a fox's den about 200 ft from the coop and I didn't know it for sure until I saw the little kits come out of the mouth of the den when mama was away hunting. Why that fox family didnt get my birds, I'm clueless. I did find chicken feathers at one of the alternate den entrances, just not my birds'. Most likely the lack of predation here is due to the fact that we are often out with the birds during the day and make many trips to the coops and storage shed throughout. At night, the coops are predator proof, except for a bear, who can go anywhere he wants to go. My property was not fenced during most of that time and now only has the woven livestock fencing around 2.25 acres of it, mainly to keep the girls from roaming across the power line easement and onto someone else's property.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
This really goes to the heart of it, dixygirl. What you suggest is called temporary sheltering, penning or paddock and pasture rearing. It has had a lot of names over the decades. All management methods have their drawbacks, but these make for a fine compromise.

What is wanted is controlled foraging, where you have the control. That way you can control predation, you can control their movements and feed intake and reap the benefit of greater numbers of healthy birds, doing what you want, where you want it done.

If you are really keen, you can give them all the fresh air and green feed they can hold, without them ever going anywhere. But that is another matter....

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Let me ask, Cyn, is anyone in your vicinity preying on the predators themselves with poisoning, trapping/dispatch and/or hunting?

 

[Guitartists]

I would imagine that predators are more likely to come close to human residences and prey on chickens when other food sources in their natural environments are at a low. Not to say that they won't grab a chicken if given an opportunity..... but, the more desperate the predator, the more dangerous the environment.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Thats one place I was heading with my question. The natural food of preds is their natural food. In the case of foxes, thats rodents and so on.

However, there is a theory that if they arent taught to avoid the habitations of humans, they won't. Soon their offspring have the habit and before long, livestock suffers.
Then we suddenly discover that we have a "problem" and lament their presence.

The rest of theory says that they must be killed, and those which aren't must know that others of their kind have been, in order for that lesson to stick.

So I was wondering if Cyn or her neighbors are in the habit of dispatching predators.

 

[Guitartists]

It's good you mention that........ I have been wondering..... would hanging pelts and bones of predatory animals on your coop deter others??? Do they recognize the sight and smells? Would they have to be "fresh" Do they even process that kind of information... or do they need to witness firsthand the death of a pack member, etc?

 

[LynneP]

A wink to elderoo

If I were a pullet
and I lived near predators
I say to your editors
Don't let me live 'free'!

The foxes, coyotes, skunks and raccoons on and near our property are seen in daylight frequently. They don't even blink if I call out. At sunset the foxes often check the back of the barn to see if they can get a cat/kitten. We've build a special gate to stop them from entering the back of the barn( the cats climb to certain openings under the eaves. Our coop which is within the barn, bas a porch and a roofed run wired with hardware cloth and sealed vents because we simply accept that the predators are among us.

 

[Guitartists]

I know crows can tell the difference between a broomstick and a shotgun barrel.... are other animals this smart and/or cautious?

 

[LynneP]

YES!

Foxes are stunning, intelligent. At this time of year in the northern hemisphere they're teaching their kits to be hunters. They show them were to bury bodies on their hunting trails and maintain not one but several dens/burrows. They age the meat and they will wipe out a flock night after night. Multiple kills mean the family is stocking up.

Just in case someone points a gun and they have to lay low until the night you get complacent.

 

[Davaroo]

Foxes, at least, and likely all preds are not neccessarily "intelligent," although they seem so to us. Wary, cagey, stealthy, surely, but not neccessarily intelligent. But they are highly adaptable and do learn responsively, a key to their success.

I dont suppose hangin rotting carcasses on your chicken coop would be the right sort of help, as many critters prefer carrion and, well, rotten meat is rotten meat. It always attracts the wrong sort of attention, no matter where it's found.

Dried bones and skins? I doubt it would matter much.**
It is the action that seems to teach, as you suggest. Kill the one and the others soon learn to avoid the places where death is to found. Lurid, I know, but that sums up my understanding of the theory.

As Lynn says, they are always there, tooth and claw waiting. They have been at it for along time. This does not mean, however, that you are powerless to affect the outcome.

** I have heard that if you eat meat, it leaves recognizable scent markers in your urine. SO, urinating around the perimeter and along predator approaches warns them off, as they can smell your "predator scent." While sounding like so much 'hoakum' to me, it is intriguing and worth a "shot", so to speak....