how do you free range when hawks are about?

[siouxbee]

Thanks for all the input. Our moveable pen does have a cover on it (corrugated plastic roofing stuff, half solid, half transparent for shade/sun) but I just really liked the idea of letting the girls go wild so to speak. I guess I'll try doing that only when we're out in the yard and will be out there for an extended period. Maybe an hour or so before their "bedtime" or something. Sigh.

 

[cookinmom]

I don't have goats (yet, just give me time!) so I only let my chickens out of the pen when I'm out with them. We have hawks out even in the day time, and also neighbor dogs running around, so I'm just a little bit paranoid about leaving them unattended.

 

[Sunflower]

Siouxbee, this is totally off the subject, but you mention that you have a corrugated roof - we looked into that but were not sure about it. Does that work pretty good for you? What size is your pen?
Thanks

 

[jessupfamily]

I'm with Chickenduck's Mama: Goats have worked wonders with our flock! And don't forget about GUINEAS!!! They will actually go after a hawk and chickens learn their calls and react accordingly. Our 50 or so chickens free range with our 4 goats and 3 guineas and no troubles. Before the goats and guineas we lost a lot to coons, foxes and hawks. The only trouble we've had now is weasels, and our dog has helped with that.
Amy J.

 

[GoodEgg]

Wow, I didn't know that about goats.

I had decided against them, but I might rethink. I have a friend who wants to sell some female 6 month old pygmy goats for $25 each. I wonder if just one would be ok?

Still, it seems they are good at jumping fences? And I've heard azaleas are poisonous to them, and we have azalea bushes. I would think I'd have to tie the goat, or put it on an overhead run? Our fences are about 4' chain link, but suffering age.

I know nothing of goats ...

Right now the ducks free-range all day (3 months old) and they are AMAZING at watching the skies. I don't know if they think well about what the dangers really are or know how to escape, but nothing misses their notice.

Most of our hawks are tiny (not much bigger than songbirds) but there is an occassional huge one (or eagle?). I didn't let the ducks out without a wire cover until they were full-sized, and I still am VERY nervous about the few times we've left the house and left them out. I'm hoping to finish the big pen today so I have somewhere to put them when we leave. Their coop is just too small to leave them in for long during the day. They do spend about 70% of the day lying in the bushes almost completely hidden.

Always a dilemma for me, balancing between safety and allowing enough freedom. I wish I could afford to build better and bigger pens!

trish

 

[Karin]

Oh man! I live in "Predator Central" everything from my own dog, loose dogs, coyotes, bears, skunks, racoons, snakes, and hawks. I'm not talking small hawks (although I do have those too) I'm talking 6' wingspan turkey vultures that travel in flocks of 4-6 at a time!

My coop/run is very sturdy and the girls freerange only if I'm outside and within 100' of them at all times.

 

[MTchick]

If it makes you feel any better, turkey vultures can't realistically kill anything. They are pure scavengers- even though they travel in groups, they are actually harmless. And ugly, of course. But not a threat to chickens, or even chicks.

However, everything else on your list of threats is scary!

-MTchick

 

[jackiedon]

Good Egg,

The only time we have had problems with the goats getting out is when we don't lock the gate behind us going into the fenced in area. Now our little nanny slips there the fence to get into the area which for now we don't want her in with 2 billies.

I would buy two so they can keep each other company. We have the one nanny in the shop and she has a little tv and a mirror to keep her company. She sleeps on top of the TV. Of course she thinks she is a dog not a goat. When we let her run around we will sit in lawn chairs and after she gets through checking everything out she jumps up in our laps to be petted. She also goes on rides with my husband in his truck.


jackie

 

[GoodEgg]

Thanks, Jackie,

I might have to look into it some more. I know the reason she wanted to get rid of them is they got out of the fences. She has horses though, so maybe she means barbed-wire fences? I'm just not sure.

I have to see how much care/money goats require too. I'm living on a VERY limited income right now, and I would still very much like to get a dog for my daughter if possible. (Those plans got messed up temporarily when little cries from the woods led us to a 3-week-old kitten that we didn't plan to add to our family but ... I couldn't just let the predators eat him!)

I'll have to do something about pens soon anyway. The chicks are going to outgrow the brooder SOON (26 chicks in a box about 2-1/2 x 5 feet) so I am working on a 10 x 10 pen. I still need a secure night coop (might be looking into the garage again!) and I don't really think the 10 x 10 will suit the ducks AND the chicks together. My ducks might be a little too aggressive, at least until the chicks catch up in size. (Besides, I have a weird idea of adding another friend's bunnies in there, if she still wants to get rid of them!)

Too many things to consider. This little "farm" I seem to be somehow developing is taking most of my extra time, money, and concern. Which is probably good for me in a way right now. It's a happier concern than others I am dealing with.

Thanks!
trish

 

[TreyClark281]

guineas really work for detouring hawks?
and do they go well with Standard and Bantams chickens?