I know now what killed my bird. What next?

Pics
Is there any breeds where the roos are really protecting against air predators unlike my nh who goes "girls theres a falcon" after it flys away...
Roosters won't fight a predator unless they come face to face with one and can't escape. They're ill equipped to fight predators especially a fox or coyote .Their primary job is to alert the flock and lead the hens to safety so they won't be killed. Hens that don't don't stick close to the rooster are usually the first ones to die. There are many stories of Roosters that fight bravely for their favorite hens but nonetheless most die from their injuries or are eaten.
 
When it comes to protecting your livestock.Never let the left hand know what your right doing.As some may say.Even preditors have preditors Cheers
 
You are so right about the crows. The family of crows in my one corner tree kept hawks away this spring until about a month ago. I'm guessing, but I think as soon as the baby crows were grown, that's when they stopped chasing hawk away. So I lost my confidence in them now. Crows are still here and I throw bread and scraps to them still in the hopes they'll start chasing the pesky hawk.
I free ranged with no worries till almost 3 weeks ago when hawk attacked 2 of my girls (they survived, but with minor bite and shock). Now they only free range from about 5pm till dusk and I am out there whole time. And they are so unhappy in the covered fence, and so am I. We bought a 19' long and 10' wide covered chicken run from amazon and it arrived a couple days ago. We'll put it together this weekend. We'll put the 8 young ones in there and my 3 old girls that are over 6 years old will still free range because they do seem smarter and I have lots of cover and safety objects for them to hide. We did put 2 wires strung differant directions and pie plates hanging, but there's still one side of yard unprotected, and last night I saw hawk in top of big tree on unprotected side and managed to scare him away for that evening. My son also bought a life size Halloween skeleton we put up as a scarecrow with shorts and t shirt and scarf.
 
You are so right about the crows. The family of crows in my one corner tree kept hawks away this spring until about a month ago. I'm guessing, but I think as soon as the baby crows were grown, that's when they stopped chasing hawk away. So I lost my confidence in them now. Crows are still here and I throw bread and scraps to them still in the hopes they'll start chasing the pesky hawk.
I free ranged with no worries till almost 3 weeks ago when hawk attacked 2 of my girls (they survived, but with minor bite and shock). Now they only free range from about 5pm till dusk and I am out there whole time. And they are so unhappy in the covered fence, and so am I. We bought a 19' long and 10' wide covered chicken run from amazon and it arrived a couple days ago. We'll put it together this weekend. We'll put the 8 young ones in there and my 3 old girls that are over 6 years old will still free range because they do seem smarter and I have lots of cover and safety objects for them to hide. We did put 2 wires strung differant directions and pie plates hanging, but there's still one side of yard unprotected, and last night I saw hawk in top of big tree on unprotected side and managed to scare him away for that evening. My son also bought a life size Halloween skeleton we put up as a scarecrow with shorts and t shirt and scarf.
Hawk attacks are so hard to thwart without penning/covering our flocks. Sounds like you are doing your best. This is something I grapple with every day when I let them into their yard. It's just not the same as free ranging.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom