Keeping Chickens Free Range

[duluthralphie]

I would gladly trade with you all of your rat snakes for a fox.

Or all my eagles! If I kill them I go to jail but they can kill all they want..somehow unfair.

 

[Victoria-nola]

Yes, those rat snakes are a mixed blessing for sure! I haven't had too many problems with them in the coop because I live on 10 acres and they have plenty of field mice and other rodents to eat. However, I did lose a white leghorn this past week - the first one in over a year! So, I figure I was about due to lose one. There is a stray cat that sits in our barn when we leave it open - but I'm not too sure that he was the culprit. It almost looked like a hawk or other raptor strike to me. My young birds aren't allowed out to range until they are big enough to get away from the big girls. Right now we are in the "see but don't touch" state as they are in their own coop, but I allow the big girls out to range 4 out of 7 days. They visit through the wire.

If I find a rat snake near or in my coop, I kill it as it's gotten a taste for eggs, apparently, and I don't want to lose eggs or chicks to a predator that has plenty of other stuff around to eat!

Thank you for this.


My cats are terrified of the adult chickens. And I've had the opportunity with my two main hunters and even the lesser-hunters to educate them that these chicks are MY chickens. They are steering clear, no stalking no hunting, I expect that to continue. So anyway just to say, I doubt the stray cat killed an adult chicken. That cat is most likely helping keep your barn free of rodents.

I like the MHP outdoor-brooder method, very impressed with how easy it has been to integrate the littles with the main flock which has always been my main fear. We're having no issues and the littles are only 4 weeks old. In fact the older ones opened up a space in the middle of their roost last night in case any of the littles wanted to roost with them.

 

[Peeps61]

Sounds like it's going well then! I try not to blame animals that actually help me out for crimes they haven't committed. If the cat were killing the chickens, there would be far more of them gone, because he's around quite a bit. I think he's keeping the mice/rats down too. Unfortunately, he has eaten baby birds that have fallen out of their nests! That part I don't like, but nature rules in situations like this. That's another reason the little ones don't get put outside with the others until they are bigger - the cat is a factor there. But the adults? Nah.

 

[faststell]

Hey guys I'm wondering how to protect my chickens and ducks from predators because I'm surrounded by forest and we have A LOT of predators ALL the predators you can think of except for bobcats and big snakes. We have a lot of raccoons, and their crafty little buggers. Right now my pen for them has small wire on the sides to stop raccoons from reaching in, a roof to stop hawks and owls, and big rocks around the sides to stop foxes, raccoons, and coyotes from digging under. I prob sound like a protective parent but there are a lot of predators around at night and I don't want any thing to happen to my babies. So I guess I should get to the point and say, am I doing everything right? To keep predators out? Any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

[Mrs. K]

The predators will tell you if you have not built it tight enough. I think a big weakness generally is the gate, take a good look at that.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Hey guys I'm wondering how to protect my chickens and ducks from predators because I'm surrounded by forest and we have A LOT of predators ALL the predators you can think of except for bobcats and big snakes. We have a lot of raccoons, and their crafty little buggers. Right now my pen for them has small wire on the sides to stop raccoons from reaching in, a roof to stop hawks and owls, and big rocks around the sides to stop foxes, raccoons, and coyotes from digging under. I prob sound like a protective parent but there are a lot of predators around at night and I don't want any thing to happen to my babies. So I guess I should get to the point and say, am I doing everything right? To keep predators out? Any advice would be highly appreciated.

Well this is the free range thread...so most of us accept a few losses. We do what we can to prevent and stop the predators, but losses happen.
To protect my flock I use several tools. We hunt and trap the predators in our surrounding pastures to keep the numbers low enough that the predators do not become to desperate. I also keep a couple dogs that protect the territory (one needs replacing she will live out her life here but cannot do her job any longer, looking for a puppy right now). I also keep a bunch of cats....they are a mixed bag, very useful keeping the rodent problem down but also what I have lost most of my chickens to. I also take advantage of my established trees and brush and farm junk I have everywhere to protect against Hawks and other flying predators. It isn't perfect, but they all work together fairly well.
Instead if rocks I would lay hardware cloth on the ground surrounding the run and coop.

 

[Ramblin Rooster]

Had our first ever fox attack a few weeks ago, after free ranging for years without any issues. Everyone was free ranging and all the sudden we spotted a fox running in the back carrying a blue silkie hen. We ran like hell after it making noise and as we approached the woods where it had gone and we saw our silkie sprint out of the woods. Because of adrenaline, we couldn't catch her until she was all the way back at the coop. As I approached her and picked her up she was breathing heavily, and remembering how much feathers could hide, I looked, and sure enough, she had a nice hole in her chest. I didn't think it was causing the difficulty breathing, though, so I checked the other side and I was shocked to find a hole right where her lung was. The fact she was still breathing was promising, so I brought her to the back deck where everyone in my family was freaking out, and I put her down on a towel as family members went to get the chicken first aid kit. Just seconds after I laid her down, she began to cough up blood and asphyxiate before me. I brought her to the garage as she began to pass away so she could do so in peace.

She was one of my favorite hens of all time, right from the moment we got her from a random guy on Craiglist with all her babies which she raised so well. Henrietta, you will never be forgotten here, with your sassy attitude and awesome hairdo, and your sweet little friendly clucks. We're sorry we couldn't help you, but at least you didn't die a terrible death being eaten by the fox.




Unfortunately, Henrietta wasn't the only one to fall victim to the fox that evening. As we returned to the coop to do a head count, my sister burst into tears, realizing one of our precious pekin ducks had some blood around its neck. I went in and, after much difficulty, was able to capture Daphne the Duck. I was already somewhat hopeful because of how difficult she was to catch, which hinted she wasn't at death's gate. However, upon further inspection, I found a large flesh wound on her chest which was absolutely going to need stitches. We called up our wonderful vet

(Country Companions Vet in Bethany, CT, for any of you locals) and we were able to meet a vet at the office, where she found 6 different injuries

on poor Daphne, who she was luckily able to stitch & staple up like new. Following a week of living in the garage (alongside her best friend, Daisy the Duck, of course) in a cage, getting ointment and pain medicine daily, she returned to the coop just like new. She got very dirty from not being able to swim for week (see picture below), but within a few hours of back to swimming she was all white and clean again. She healed really fast, and she has been swimming passionately in their pool ever since the incident.




While this was an unfortunate occurrence, it was our first dangerous encounter with predators while free ranging, which most cannot say, and we are just happy the fox wasn't able to take two victims. Although we did lose Henrietta, the fox didn't get the satisfaction of eating her, which hopefully will give us the advantage of not staying in the memory of Mr. Fox for long. We haven't free ranged the birds since (we have free ranged the pig and sheep however), but once we feel comfortable, we are definitely going to be doing it again, because one incident in nearly 5 years of successful free ranging isn't going to bog us down.

Even if we had lost them both, we still most likely would have free ranged again, because the enjoyment they get from it cannot be outweighed by anything. In addition, we are in progress of adding wire to the split rail fence dividing our yard from our neighbors (because our naughty pig enjoys exploring their yard) which we are confident will add an additional layer of protection to our yard, and make free ranging a little safer.

Sorry for story time

, and happy free ranging to everyone!


And here is a picture of our no good free-ranging overseer! At least she's cute!

 

[faststell]

Had our first ever fox attack a few weeks ago, after free ranging for years without any issues. Everyone was free ranging and all the sudden we spotted a fox running in the back carrying a blue silkie hen. We ran like hell after it making noise and as we approached the woods where it had gone and we saw our silkie sprint out of the woods. Because of adrenaline, we couldn't catch her until she was all the way back at the coop. As I approached her and picked her up she was breathing heavily, and remembering how much feathers could hide, I looked, and sure enough, she had a nice hole in her chest. I didn't think it was causing the difficulty breathing, though, so I checked the other side and I was shocked to find a hole right where her lung was. The fact she was still breathing was promising, so I brought her to the back deck where everyone in my family was freaking out, and I put her down on a towel as family members went to get the chicken first aid kit. Just seconds after I laid her down, she began to cough up blood and asphyxiate before me. I brought her to the garage as she began to pass away so she could do so in peace. She was one of my favorite hens of all time, right from the moment we got her from a random guy on Craiglist with all her babies which she raised so well. Henrietta, you will never be forgotten here, with your sassy attitude and awesome hairdo, and your sweet little friendly clucks. We're sorry we couldn't help you, but at least you didn't die a terrible death being eaten by the fox. Unfortunately, Henrietta wasn't the only one to fall victim to the fox that evening. As we returned to the coop to do a head count, my sister burst into tears, realizing one of our precious pekin ducks had some blood around its neck. I went in and, after much difficulty, was able to capture Daphne the Duck. I was already somewhat hopeful because of how difficult she was to catch, which hinted she wasn't at death's gate. However, upon further inspection, I found a large flesh wound on her chest which was absolutely going to need stitches. We called up our wonderful vet (Country Companions Vet in Bethany, CT, for any of you locals) and we were able to meet a vet at the office, where she found 6 different injuries on poor Daphne, who she was luckily able to stitch & staple up like new. Following a week of living in the garage (alongside her best friend, Daisy the Duck, of course) in a cage, getting ointment and pain medicine daily, she returned to the coop just like new. She got very dirty from not being able to swim for week (see picture below), but within a few hours of back to swimming she was all white and clean again. She healed really fast, and she has been swimming passionately in their pool ever since the incident. While this was an unfortunate occurrence, it was our first dangerous encounter with predators while free ranging, which most cannot say, and we are just happy the fox wasn't able to take two victims. Although we did lose Henrietta, the fox didn't get the satisfaction of eating her, which hopefully will give us the advantage of not staying in the memory of Mr. Fox for long. We haven't free ranged the birds since (we have free ranged the pig and sheep however), but once we feel comfortable, we are definitely going to be doing it again, because one incident in nearly 5 years of successful free ranging isn't going to bog us down. Even if we had lost them both, we still most likely would have free ranged again, because the enjoyment they get from it cannot be outweighed by anything. In addition, we are in progress of adding wire to the split rail fence dividing our yard from our neighbors (because our naughty pig enjoys exploring their yard) which we are confident will add an additional layer of protection to our yard, and make free ranging a little safer. Sorry for story time , and happy free ranging to everyone! And here is a picture of our no good free-ranging overseer! At least she's cute!

I'm sorry to hear about your poor chicken. I'm glad your duck made it though, very cute. What I would recommend if you don't have this already is get a guard dog, they are very helpful. Good luck too you and your flock.

 

[EmilyP]

I know every dog has its own personality however does anyone have any breed suggestions that they have found work well with leaving alone free range chickens/ducks?? And I also understand I will need to work with the dog to train it properly that they are to be protected not eaten

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I know every dog has its own personality however does anyone have any breed suggestions that they have found work well with leaving alone free range chickens/ducks?? And I also understand I will need to work with the dog to train it properly that they are to be protected not eaten

I personally prefer the Shepard breeds. A Great Pyrenees would be wonderful, but DH is very against a large dog.
There are of course exceptions, but the dogs I avoid are the dogs bred for hunting.