Give up free-ranging?

[Ravynscroft]

Yeah, friends that use poultry netting usually have to rescue the hawks but at least the chickens have been safe - for the most part.

Good roosters have been my best defense against birds of prey and unmonitored flocks.

Absolutely agree with you on that one! Nothing like a Good Roo!

 

[Kenziem1001]

I've had the same problem. I don't know what to do and live with some woods near. I hate loosing chickens they are my babies! What did you do??? I leave my house at 7:35~4:10 they seem to pass back and forth in the run and makes me feel sad! I have lost 2 chickens and a duck. What should I do?????? Please help me thank you!!!

 

[debp]

Once the ground was covered by snow, I had to put aviary netting over my run and the free-ranging has been curtailed to a shorter time frame when I can keep an eye out - although they are still vulnerable whenever free-ranging. I do have a rooster, too, but a hawk got a chicken out of my run before I put up the netting. Kansas is a wintering area for the big raptors, so I can believe that you have strong raptor pressure there and would need to use netting and then mend it when the hawks do damage it. If you removed the wintering hawks from Kansas so you suffered no losses to raptors you'd be impacting hawk populations all the way to Canada. I would think you have somewhat less pressure in the summer when only the nesting hawks are there and they have more rodent prey.

 

[Kenziem1001]

Hawks eagle and neighbors dog. We have decided to leg them go free range but when there seems to be something shocking they lock up in there pen. Also I have several roosters. Lately they have been going tree top to tree. Or staying in the barn with the baby chickens that are almost 3 months. They get along a lot better than we thought they would

 

[critterkeeper25]

We free-range our hens also. Back in November we went on a family vacation for a week. While we were away, MDH asked our friend who also cared for our horse while we were away, to let the chickens (no roo) out in the morning and to close the run door at night when they went to roost. When we got back, our friend told us that we were short a chicken. She did a head count every evening when they went to roost and one night there was a Buckeye missing. We never found out what happened to her. No carcass, but we didn't get home until 5 days later so the buzzards and other things probably finished her off. The day after we got back MDH left them out and I later saw them along the hedgerow that boarders our property about 40 yards away from their coop/our home. My guess is that she was the slowest to run back to the house and danger came from above. They no longer venture so far from home. Since that time we have seen several different breeds of hawk around our property. Sharp shinned hawks, Coopers hawks, Red Tailed hawks, and now we have had an Eagle in our pasture! It was an immature bird and was eating part of a dead rabbit that something had drug into the pasture! We have seen three Eagles in the air above the farm field across the road from our house. Now we are always on the alert for birds of prey and vary the times we let the chickens out. I keep my fingers crossed that it will keep them safe. The hens get very angry if they see you and you don't let them out to play. Kind of like little spoiled kids.

Our chicken pen is completely enclosed. We built it out of bamboo that we have growing on our property. It has a bamboo pole roof on it with the poles spaced about every 2 or three inches.

 

[kateseidel]

Hated my rooster - hated him. He tore up the ladies, attacked the family, and he was eventually asked to leave the farm. also, he did NOTHING about the predators (and he was a big bird).

So, for the foxes and dogs, we put in woven wire fencing around the perimeter of the property, hot wire strand at the top and the bottom. What finally ended the occasional break in (I think) was letting my dogs run the fence line. Have not had a dog / fox / coyote / wildcat issue since then.

The ladies spend the night in a secured, fully enclosed coop and run, built with hardware cloth. No raccoon or mink is getting in, although we see an occasional snake (too small for the chickens, but they have taken an egg or two.)

If the ladies would spend their free range time hanging out with the horses or dogs or sheep, they would be fine. The hawks will not come down too close to the horses or sheep, and they really stay away from the dogs. And when I am outside, if they stay near me, the hawks don't seem to care for me much either.

But hens are just not that bright, and they inevitably putter about hunting bugs (which is what we wanted them to do in the first place). And I have just had to accept that if I am going to let them out, hawks are going to kill them.

I do keep them locked up more than I used to.

 

[Fentress]

I'd like to hear more about the Premeir netting.  I was planning to get some, as my birds have been free ranging, but they are starting to get into neighbors yards (my 5 acres isn't fenced and won't be), and eventually a fox or coyote will figure out they just have to come around during the day to get fresh chicken.

But, a neighbor has tried the netting didn't like it. I would want to move mine around some, and he said it was a real problem to move and that it was hard to keep charged. We are in the arid West, so our soils do tend to get dry, but I could keep them where I flood irrigate. I was planning to get 2 100' nets and a 0.5 joule solar charger. We have a lot of sun, Premeir said the 0.5 joule charger was enough for 300 + ft.  Do you think that would be enough? It's a $700 investment, so I'd like it to not just be an experiment.

I have their run electried with 5 strands and 1 joule plug in charger. I recently also had to add aviary netting over the run, as the snow shifted the Red-tails from eating my gophers and voles to my chickens.Around here we kind of like our wildlife, including the abundant black bears that like the area orchards, so we try to "train" them. Racoons and skunks don't get much respect, though.

I put two long runs of electro-net (Premier) 168 foot each, I think, 336' total and the solar powered 1/2 joule charger struggled. It worked, but It would not tolerate any grass load. For 200 feet it will probably be ok, mine worked well with 1 run of fence, but not two. For a few more bucks why not get the 1 joule charger. Totally pleased with the product, just follow their instructions. When you move handle the fence like the pages of a book and keep it organized. good luck. And keeping a good ground may be an issue in an arid climate, but it sound like you know that.

 

[debp]

Thanks, Fentress. I wondered if it wouldn't be worth it to spring for the larger charger, because the price difference isn't huge.

 

[Kedwards0623]

I used to have my chickens free range until a few days ago due to losing one to a neighborhood dog right in front of my children. After that, I was so afraid to let them out so decided to build them a fence. So far, they are not liking being fenced in and are constantly trying to find a way to escape. Did you have this problem with your chickens also? How long did it take them to get used to being fenced in versus being able to wonder freely? I'm hoping mine will get used to it soon and I don't want it to effect their egg laying or depress them.

 

[kateseidel]

Most of them will always hate it, they will always try to get out. But they can lead relatively contented lives fenced in. Lots of treats make it more bearable for them. It is a dreadful choice to have to make - happy chickens who may have short lives, or unhappy chickens who live a long time.

I do have a few chickens who do not seem to mind being enclosed much.