Hello from NW Illinois

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Abreedapart

In the Brooder
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Hi Everyone,

First, I must say thanks for all the great advice I have read on Backyard Chicken and through searching the forum.

My family have been raising a small backyard flock for 5+ years. We started with 3 Buff Orpingtons and Austrolorps on an 1 acre lot. The hens free range but choose to spend most of their time in a wooded area close to their coop. Never had a issue with predators until this year in March when a Fox came by about 10am and took out 4 of my 5 year old chickens with two chickens able to escape the attack. Although we were sad and we worried that the fox population may be growing in our area, we decided to add new chicks to the flock and still free range the birds. The hens have a secure coop at night and a 75 pound black lab that guards the yard, although the lab hurt his knee chasing the fox and is on the DL for another 8 weeks.

Flock of Seven: 1 Austrolorp (5 year old), 3 buffs Orps (one 1.5 year old, two 12 week old), 1 Lavender Orp (7 week old), 2 Sexlinks (i'm guessing RIR Red and White that are 7 weeks).

I'm going to post a picture of the Lavender as I'm interested to hear people's take on the sex of it.

Happy days everyone!!
 
The fox is welcome back but only during the night time. Actually, it came back about a week after the attack during the day but that was the last daytime sighting. My dog has done a good job of protecting the yard over the last five years, but it only takes one attack to wipe out a flock.
 

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Welcome! Glad you've joined in. Can't wait to see pictures of the Lavender! We've been entertaining adding some of those to our flock. Right now we have 2 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes. I've had lots of experience with predators, we used to fight them continually as our coop/free range space was near a heavily wooded area. Hope your guard dog gets on the mend quickly...they are worth their weight in gold. We had our dog do the same and casualties became almost non-existent. All I have to say is there are many predators that love chickens and it's a constant battle. Hope you find a remedy soon, foxes will return again and again when they know their is a food source. Best of Luck!
 

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