Give up free-ranging?

[dekel18042]

Predators will show you your weaknesses in chicken keeping. Our large coop and covered runs are nicknamed Fort Knox so I don't worry about nighttime predators or when the chickens are locked up. The daytime predators are basically foxes and hawks. Thankfully hawks aren't the most efficient predators.
What has worked for us during the day is keeping the chickens locked up more (like during the winter) but in warmer weather leaving them out when a human or dog is with them. And we have several good roosters with the hens.
I know other people leave chickens in pastures with other animals, horses, cows, sheep, goats, and they are mostly safe.

 

[tangle70]

A live trap and .22 LR will do the trick for the ground predators. The aerial ones you'll need a a duck load, a shovel and tight lips. I find eliminating the problem is better than living with it.

 

[katekearby]

I call mine, semi-free range. outside of the coop the 7 hens have a 20-30 fenced and netted play yard, they have 'toys' in there. I heard a neighbor lost some hens to coyotes last night. I haven't seen any ground predators since we got this hound even though she is in the house at night. our 5 acres with horse pasture is fenced in field wire that helps. I did somehow this week have a little 'red-shouldered' hawk get in the pen, one of the NH Red hens was beating him up I had to rescue the hawk. ,

 

[margkap]

Since you have a small flock, you can be the rooster, if you don't have one. I take my girls for walks in the front yard and in the open space behind my house. I then let them have their 15-30 minutes while I read a book or busy myself with a small project but I have to really watch for dogs. I've trained them to respond to 'chick, chick, chick' as my call to them. I also use mealworms as a positive reward or the flash of a broom should someone think they can stray. I also use the broom in the event of a dog attack, which happened once but they were quick to flee back into the yard. The rest of the time, they are confined to the yard. They get bored at times but at the least they have their spots in the yard. I get calls from my Rock Barr to let me know, they are ready for a walk. They don't like being out there without me and will look for me if I if leave the immediate area. All in all a good solution for this suburban situation where dogs, raccoons, rats and coyotes are my biggest predators to watch out for.

 

[Tenneesse]

I lost all of my Cochins to a bobcat over the summer. It was coming closer and closer I could tell because of where I would find the feathers. every 10 days or so another would be taken. At first I didnt know what it was then finally I got lucky and the cat came at the wrong time. My shotgun was nearby and though he ran off dropping the dead bird when I surprised him he came back to claim his trophy and I was waiting.Since them my two hens are ranging undisturbed but free ranging will unleash the inevitable, and stray dogs have always been a problem but easily solved. No more strays for about a year no more bobcats for about 3 months now. If your ranging your birds its a total crap shoot. I have seen birds hit by hawks with the bird not 10 feet from me and a fox will run right up and take a chicken right from your side. Carry a gun or have one close by and you might get the culprit but even thats 99% luck.

My Cochins ranged almost unhindered 5 years with the Cowboy the rooster in the middle he took 3 - 4 beating from a dog and would sacrifice himself, and he did, for his girls when the bobcat began the killing. The cat always took the bird away leaving only a small patch of rump feathers. I had brought home 2 Wyanndottes after the Coochins were killed and that'

s the bird you see with the dead bobcat. I have a great neighbor who is a taxidermist and made the rug for me. I tell you I miss those chickens a lot. Cowboy was the finest rooster you could ever hope for. Give your chickens a hug when you put them in for the night it can easily be the last chance you get if you free range.


On the really cold days I let Pumpkin and Dixie range in the kitchen for a while to my wifes demise


She puts up with us. Shes a wonderful wife!

 

[AZ Turkeys]

Keeping a rooster is the BEST solution for daytime predators. Here in northern AZ we have resident hawks, eagles, and even ravens who enjoy my free rangers far too much. The rooster, and the Tom Gobbler with my turkeys are incredible at protecting their flock. They will sound the alarm and every bird heads for cover whether it be duck, chicken, turkey or guinea.

 

[debp]

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.

 

[fadedracer]

When I had first gotten chickens and pigeons about 45 years ago, I never had a hawk, owl, or any other raptor problem. Once in a great while I would have a raccoon, skunk or possum problem. Which was easily eliminated with traps. But as of about 15 to 20 years ago things changed drastically, raptors became non-stop, as we speak I see owls, hawk, falcons, coopers, sharp shins etc. daily. the funny thing is also that I watch mice and voles all over the place and the raptors etc. are not interested in them. But if I fly my pigeons, or let my chickens out, Bam..., they are being murdered viciously and cruelly by them in seconds. I watched wild male and female pheasants knocked out of the air and eaten by the raptors, where now I never see pheasants anymore. I used to see pheasants all the time along the roads and in the fields. The ground predators are easy to manage, although they have increased in number also, because the fur trappers have been harassed for getting rid of the vermin. I have finally in the last 10 years locked up all my pigeons and chickens, because I can not protect my birds from raptors as it is illegal to harass or scare off raptors trying to eat my chickens or pigeons. If I do fly my birmingham rollers, I always keep some dud birds around, to fly first, then I let out my good birds. It seems to help a little but still I loose about 50 to 75 birds a year to them. I have increased the size of my chickens, so if I let my roosters out, I don`t loose any to falcons, sharp shins or cooper hawks. Owls and chicken Hawks still get a few, but I just enjoy seeing a Rooster scratch in the grass and weeds for bugs. Oh well I guess it is just the time we live in. I have thought about getting completely out of the chickens and pigeons, but its what I love. If you younger people could of seen how it used to be, you would of thought it was a dream. My chickens and pigeons we're out all the time and I never closed a pen at night. If I lost one bird a year that would of been odd.

 

[Tenneesse]

faded where do you live.

 

[Blacksmithchic]

Just a quick word about getting goats/livestock to keep with your birds. I started my farmer life with American Blackbelly sheep as my first flock (to control the tenacious grass in our pasture), and while I thought I was merely going to use them as lawnmowers, I did my research and could now probably teach animal husbandry at a university somewhere...there is a TON of information you need to know and prepare yourself for before you get sheep or goats or llamas or whatever. They are NOT low-maintenance animals, I don't care what breed you choose...just like with poultry, if you're gonna raise healthy animals, you need need need to do tons of research and just educate yourself. on what they need. (I started raising chickens and ducks and turkeys to provide pest control for the sake of the sheep's health, actually...and then I got to find out all about the poultry needed for good health, too!)

To your predator issue: I've seen my neighbors lose chickens and baby turkeys to snakes, possums, and hawks, but so far (knock on wood) MY chickens, ducks, and turkeys have been spared. I keep my flocks out in the pasture all day unsupervised (I have to free-range them, because I use them to control the bugs in my pasture to keep my sheep healthy), but they stick close to the sheep most of the time...maybe the sheep look scary to predators, I don't know. My turkeys are also very large bodies in the pasture, maybe they help as well. I also have several large trees in my yards and pasture, they probably provide some cover too.

Personally, I vote for you to try a rooster. If you have plenty of open space for him to escape from the hens, then he probably won't get bullied or cannibalized by your hens, but that depends how territorial your hens are. When my rooster showed up in my yard out of the blue, he was a baby, and somehow he fit right in with my mean girls and they shared the pasture together no problem. I didn't have a choice in breed, since he adopted me, but he's a medium sized reddish guy with a big green tail...he looks like a mini RIR roo. I've found the gentler-sounding crowers tend to be the medium-to-large sized boys, surprisingly...my mid-sized rooster has the cutest little croon, and my neighbor's huge RIR roo has a deep throaty crow that is very gently and quiet...however, my other neighbor's tiny little Millie D'Uccle rooster has the most obnoxious, screechy crow you've ever heard. Or maybe you should get a big tom turkey who can strut around your yard like mine do, he'd keep everybody safe

Good luck...