Helping free-range birds protect themselves

[Thecowboysgirl]

So...I have some young chickens that I have started letting outside for the first time. So far I let them scratch around the barn door while I sat with them. We heard a crow caw and they ran for the coop. I gave them a bunch of seed and shut them up after that. (Reinforcing running from crows and also coming back home

I am thinking of trying to put some safety measures out for them like plywood on cinder blocks and maybe an artificial roost out in the field where there are no trees to fly up into.

Would they save themselves if they had a place to run/fly to?

Anybody tried doing something like this?

My hope is that in a pasture w/ 4ft non-climb horse fencing and a hot wire at the top, whatever got through all of that they could run under their plywood or fly up toa roost till I could send Ruger (the dog) to get the bugger

I have an extremely predatory dog who definitely wants to eat my chickens. I am also a dog trainer and am trying hard to teach him that's not okay (I am realistic with my expectations with this). I am sure, though, that if I noticed a disturbance and the chickens had managed to stave off a coon/fox/anything smaller than my 75# dog, I could dispatch him to do the rest. He is a magnifiscent coon killer.

If only I could teach him not to eat the chickens he'd be a 5 star LGD

 

[PhoenixAngel429]

Quote:
It would be hard, but keep him as far away from them as possible if he is a problem. On neighbor's dog will chase our free rangers, but don't let him get a taste of blood.

 

[lady feathers]

They will definately run for cover, plywood shelter/lean to would be appropriate for flying predators but it's not gonna protect them from those on ground, like a dog! Bonus is it gives them a place to get out of the weather and shade themselves. I have little wodden ladders throughout the yard for our free-ranging birds propped up against the large trees so they can roost. Another thing you can do is get a rooster.... my girls are much more laid back about possible threats then our rooster is and he doesn't let them shrug it off. If the girls aren't paying attention or aren't as nervous as he thinks they should be he lets them know and they respect him and either head for the coop or huddle together against something like the side of the house while he stands guard when he sounds the alarm! And although he may not stop an attack from something on the ground he definately would put himself in between the girls and the predator- hopefully detering any further attacks!

 

[mjuenem]

We consider crows a good sign when free ranging (only with human present). Crows around here won't tolerate a hawk, so they are actually a good sound. We have many hawks but the sharp shinned is particularly deadly. He stays out of the sky and hunts by swooping in through the woods. By the time you are aware, he is already on the chicken. They are fun to watch while taking squirrels right off the side of a tree though.

 

[Thecowboysgirl]

At this point I am hoping to put them in the goat pasture which is about an acre with 4 ft non climb horse fencing and an electric wire at the top. The other option is just having the dog around outside that fence. That particular pasture is an island inside my actual perimeter fence, so the dog could actually patrol without access to the chickens. anything on foot would still have to get through him to get to them and he is FAST.

Does anyone free range their birds without human supervision and get away with it?

I am usually home and often spend a decent amount of time outside, so if nothing else I guess they'll just get let out when I am around and can hear them.

 

[centrarchid]

At this point, what you regard as your greatest threat has potential to be most effective protector of free-ranging flock. Your dog.

As a trainer, you should be able to redirect predatory nature away from your flock. Look for threads concerning training of dogs not to harm chickens. Many exist that are authored by very competent people that have been successful with using dogs to protect poultry.

You are correct, you can manage your yard / landscape to complement escape tactics of your birds. I do same with plantings of brambles (briars), shrubs and trees. Plantings can enable chicken to block predators line of sight. Plantings can also slow movement of predator when chase on ground. Some chickens will fly into trees if able but many are not always quick enough to do so or do not fly up high enough, especially with first encounters with ground predators. Chicken breed is factor in respect to flying into trees.

A mixed flock (hens and roosters) in my experience is more resistant to hawks the size of red-tails on down if cover present.

Nocturnal predators, be they owls, racoons or oppossums are best thwarted by properly built coops / roosts. Or a dog.

A mixture of methods works best, otherwise be prepared to go down the route of constructing a predator resistant coop or run.

 

[Bengalcats1]

No matter what you have out there for them be prepared to lose some, I hate to say But when you free range things are gonna happen, hawks, dogs, anything, some may be able to get away or run for cover but some are going to get caught

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
That is accurate. Goal for most is to keep losses down to tolerable levels.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I take cinder blocks and put pallets on them so the chickens can hide from hawks in the yard. Also I have shelters made of plywood (A-frame)- two sheets screwed together at the top.

Also I lean pallets up against the firewood piles. They utilize all these shelters to hide from hawks. They would be toast without them in my large garden run.

 

[Kaitie09]

We let ours free range with the goats (2 Boers and a Pygmy) and we have not lost one. We don't have any large daytime predators and we have 9 cats. Our one cat Stella will actually lay out in the pen and guard them. I notice that she "herds" some of them if they get a little too far off from the rest. Who knows, she might just be chasing them, but at least they are bigger than she is. The goats do a really good job of deterring the hawks, and we have a traveling group of about 30 that periodically visit. We found a picnic table on Craigslist for $25 and we put it in the goat's run. It gives them a place to play and it gives the chickens a place to hide. Our goats only have about 1/2 acre and it is completely in the woods, so that might also be helpful for us, and we also have a rooster. We let the chickens out around 2 pm and they stay out until dusk. We will periodically go out there, and we can see the entire goat pen from our living room window so we are always checking up on them, but we don't completely supervise them.