Intro and chickens getting hawked!

[thecatumbrella]

Welcome to BYC, Guardihen. That's such a discouraging amount of losses. We do not free range. My neighbor tried to have a flock, and the day he decided to let them out of their pen, a fox wiped out the entire group. My other neighbor works outside with his all day and has manageable losses.

I always envy those that have a great free-range setup. Hopefully, you can find something that works.

 

[Bsmac]

One thing that hasn’t been discussed but is worth looking into: some breeds are more savvy free rangers than others. A lot of domesticated chicken breeds have been bred to be more or less dependent on us as opposed to being self-sufficient. They are not good foragers, they are not wary of predators and they are not agile enough to elude a predator by flying. My black Australorp, for example, is a big girl, first at the feed dish every morning and if locked out of the coop she will sleep on the ground. Most of my other chickens (Buckeyes, game hens, EEs) skip the food dish to head into the woods first thing and prefer to sleep in the run or the trees. They are very aware of hawks. The Australorp was dust bathing once in the open and a vulture thought she was dead and started circling. She finally looked up and then ran for inadequate cover beside the barn. She was lucky it wasn’t a hawk…though it would have to be a big hawk to lift Fatty off the ground

Hahaha lol! Well she must be eating good then!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!

We border a forest on one side and three farm fields on the other three, and we free range. We couldn't if we didn't have the two dogs that keep the riff-raff out, and dozens of solar and wired motion and dusk-to-dawn lights. Our cameras out in the woods pick up mostly fox and raccoons, and occasionally a skunk, beaver, opossum, and bear.

These are all silkies and whilst most are in secure growout or breeding pens, there's still anywhere between 10-20 that will be out on their own free-ranging.