My tractor is rock solid against night time predators, but we do have hawks and eagles. I've got 12 medium sized hens (Leghorns, Golden Comets, and some black chickens, don't know the breed) and one rooster considerably bigger than the hens, his picture is my profile picture.
Day before yesterday they were all in my front yard, and suddenly the rooster growled, kind of like a dog, and the hens ran under the front porch. The rooster stayed in the open scanning the sky, and that's when I saw the hawk float by over head. The rooster was daring the hawk to mess with him, and never sought cover.
Now my rooster is pretty mean, and will attack strangers, he used to even attack me, until he figured out how useful I am for scratch, feed, and water. He follows me everywhere when I'm in the yard now, but I still keep my eyes on him when he's behind me.
I can't say I understand the risks completely at all, but our chickens have been free ranging since August under the noses of hawks and eagles, and we've not had any losses, or even attacks I'm aware of.
My rooster is good about keeping the hens under cover a lot (porches, bushes, trees etc.), but they do graze in the open quite a bit too.
I don't know if I'm being lured into a false sense of security, but I've read accounts on the forums of big roosters staring down hawks. With six months of daily free ranging behind us and no losses, and with hawks and eagles sitting in trees a few hundred feet away at times, it's beginning to appear this big mean rooster is keeping these predators away. Am I wrong?
It's interesting to watch him. My tractor is quite a ways from my house, which they hang around a lot. As the hens go back to the tractor to lay, then return to the house, many times I'll see him run almost all the way to the tractor, and escort individual hens back to the flock around the house. He also lets the hens eat first, even scratch I throw down, and seems to signal the hens when he finds something special to eat, he really does seem to take care of the hens, and put them before himself.
Here's the flock at my front porch one morning, the rooster is the big gray one.
Day before yesterday they were all in my front yard, and suddenly the rooster growled, kind of like a dog, and the hens ran under the front porch. The rooster stayed in the open scanning the sky, and that's when I saw the hawk float by over head. The rooster was daring the hawk to mess with him, and never sought cover.
Now my rooster is pretty mean, and will attack strangers, he used to even attack me, until he figured out how useful I am for scratch, feed, and water. He follows me everywhere when I'm in the yard now, but I still keep my eyes on him when he's behind me.
I can't say I understand the risks completely at all, but our chickens have been free ranging since August under the noses of hawks and eagles, and we've not had any losses, or even attacks I'm aware of.
My rooster is good about keeping the hens under cover a lot (porches, bushes, trees etc.), but they do graze in the open quite a bit too.
I don't know if I'm being lured into a false sense of security, but I've read accounts on the forums of big roosters staring down hawks. With six months of daily free ranging behind us and no losses, and with hawks and eagles sitting in trees a few hundred feet away at times, it's beginning to appear this big mean rooster is keeping these predators away. Am I wrong?
It's interesting to watch him. My tractor is quite a ways from my house, which they hang around a lot. As the hens go back to the tractor to lay, then return to the house, many times I'll see him run almost all the way to the tractor, and escort individual hens back to the flock around the house. He also lets the hens eat first, even scratch I throw down, and seems to signal the hens when he finds something special to eat, he really does seem to take care of the hens, and put them before himself.
Here's the flock at my front porch one morning, the rooster is the big gray one.
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