Hello there!

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darlingfields

darlingfields

Hatching
6 Years
Joined
May 20, 2013
Messages
3
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Location
Sugar Grove, PA
My name is Carissa and my family and I are somewhat new to chickens, my husband has the experience but not with heritage breeds like the ones we have. SS, EE, Dominques and RIR. We plan on having them free range (within our fenced in 5 acres) but for now the nearly 80 of them are in 2 homemade chicken tractors and seem to be doing well.

Looking forward to meeting people and sharing chicken stories! :-)

Carissa
 
Greetings from Kansas, Carissa, and
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! Great to have you aboard! Wow! 80 birds!! That should keep you busy! Do you worry about predators?
 
Thanks for the welcome! :-)

Not really but that could be because I'm totally new to farming and don't know any better yet, lol. My husband is from this area and he says the only predators we have to worry about are hawks/buzzards, minxes, coyotes (rarely) and stray dogs and skunks. The tractors they're in are completely enclosed with chicken wire, as most probably are, and they haven't been bothered by anything yet. I am nervous about the hawks though, they are quick to circle sometimes.

We have some ducks too that are free range, they come to their pen at night. We lost one to a minx and one from being dropped by a hawk, we think. It had disappeared for a few days but when it came back it limped quite a bit and eventually quit moving altogether, then eating so we euthanized it. :-(

My husband just told me that because we live in the middle of an Amish community they shoot anything that attacks their animals so the only thing we really need to worry about are the hawks.
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Hello and welcome .... so glad you joined BYC

Some people keep LGD's (livestock guardian dogs) with their chickens to help with predator problems. That may be something you could consider for that many acres.

Good luck to you :)
 
Welcome to BYC. Understand that if you free range, you WILL lose some birds. Everything loves to eat chicken. Have a plan B in mind just in case the free ranging does not work.
 
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chicken wire ONLY keeps chickens IN, it doesn't KEEP predators OUT. Almost any pred worth his salt can shred thru chicken wire like it was tissue. 1/2" hardware cloth is the safest wire to use and will prevent raccoons from reaching thru and biting off any body part they can grab. They cause horrific damage & death to chickens.
 

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