Keeping Chickens Free Range

[slordaz]

We got hit by coyotes yesterday. Lost at least 10 of my boys and a few girls. No bodies; just piles and piles of feathers. I won't be home for another week. None of the dogs got hurt, thank goodness, since they gave chase. That leaves me with a single lf roo; 2 lf cockerels, and a few remaining bantams. They got a few ducks, but no guineas. I'm still hoping some will come home after a bit. They were also chasing calves, so we've got some help in the lead dept. Girls estimate about 1/4 were taken, and out of 175ish- that's a lot. How many yotes could take that many in a matter of minutes?

We are heartbroken. No horses hurt; cats are ok; no punctutes on the dogs. The really scary thing is, they were seen multiple times of the day while my girls were outside.

 

[slordaz]

I had a group of 6 feral cats take out 9 year old hens in 3 days without any commotion or clue until one day we found a cache covered with feathers, took us a while to figure out what it was,but they had to be starving to hunt together like that. we actually live trapped and were quite suprised. Any time theres an attack our free rangers get put in lockdown for their safety and will try live traps first but led is always an option to deal with whatever goes after the flocks.

 

[Mrs. K]

I got hit by coons, have trapped two of them. Lost 7 hens and 9 six week chicks. Basically a do over. ugh!

Need to reassess and strength my set up. Been in it since Christmas, without a problem, but now have had some weaknesses pointed out to me. UGH!

I my experience, if it is coyotes, birds just disappear in the daytime. If it is a bird predator, I seem to find some feathers. Coons come at night, and they just pull things apart. If there is bodies, mostly undamaged, except near the head or throat, those are minks.

Everything likes chickens.

MRs K

 

[lazy gardener]

LG, if a person isn't used to it, it can be a little frightening. They go a little cra-cra and try to jump into the feed bucket and up on the scoop when one is trying to dish out the food...I haven't done enough training with this current flock yet so that they give me some space. Just been too busy of late. Come fall I may work with them a little bit. You can imagine Mom trying to feed them!

When mine get going like that, I take the scoop and do a long distance fling of feed. That gets them off the bucket long enough for me to fill one bowl.

We got hit by coyotes yesterday. Lost at least 10 of my boys and a few girls. No bodies; just piles and piles of feathers. I won't be home for another week. None of the dogs got hurt, thank goodness, since they gave chase. That leaves me with a single lf roo; 2 lf cockerels, and a few remaining bantams. They got a few ducks, but no guineas. I'm still hoping some will come home after a bit. They were also chasing calves, so we've got some help in the lead dept. Girls estimate about 1/4 were taken, and out of 175ish- that's a lot. How many yotes could take that many in a matter of minutes?

We are heartbroken. No horses hurt; cats are ok; no punctutes on the dogs. The really scary thing is, they were seen multiple times of the day while my girls were outside.

So very sorry. Scary when you've got children. I do hope you are able to get that pack thinned out. Are you able to shoot where you are? Can DFW help you with it???

I sold 3 more of my birds last night, bringing my flock down to a smallish number that they COULD spend the day in the coop if they had to. But, they would be very unhappy campers. They've been pretty much confined to run since last summer when hawk predation made it impossible to let them out. Just last week, there were 3 red tails circling my run at one time. Within 5 minutes, there were 2 Northern Goshawks. the RT often sit in the trees around my yard and taunt me. All of your reports about coons make me think it's time to set my live trap. I have the perfect place to set it where rocky could not reach the bait without going in, nor could he roll the trap once caught. I had a coon roll a trap 75' across my lawn one time before he busted out of it. We had lengthened it with welded 1/2" hdw cloth because he was so big that he could block the trap door with his butt while eating the goodies in the trap. He simply shredded that hdw cloth, and continued on his merry way.

 

[islandgirl82]

Quote:
Nothing like the losses you've endured but we lost our Golden Spangled Hamburg hen today to some bird of prey that I didn't see. Our hen was not like the stereotypical GSH - probably due to the amount of time invested in taming her and nursing her back from an attack by a crow last summer and a near fatal attack by two stray dogs a couple of months ago. My 11 year old daughter saw it happen. I should have paid better attention to my newfie when he was pestering me; he's what saved her from the crow last year.

 

[lazy gardener]

So sorry for your loss. It's maddening when those BOP attack. Maddening when anything does, for that matter. Even worse that your dtr saw it happen. He'll be back to get an other one soon. Last summer, when I started loosing birds to that Northern Goshawk, he kept coming back relentlessly.

 

[Tikkijane]

They will not be reporting back to den this time of year. They may have multiple cache sites. If you take a walk you may be able to find them not far from kill site. Unless someone saw coyotes directly doing this I would not rule out dogs. Some dogs will cache and eat chickens just like wild canids, just like wild canids. They would also chase more than one type of prey.

These were seen. Everyone knows they are around. Even in town {25+ miles}, people have seen them in their back yards. Dogs have been killed, etc. We've heard them at night, too. These are coyotes. They need some predators because their numbers have exploded.

 

[Tikkijane]

When mine get going like that, I take the scoop and do a long distance fling of feed.  That gets them off the bucket long enough for me to fill one bowl.  

So very sorry.  Scary when you've got children.  I do hope you are able to get that pack thinned out.  Are you able to shoot where you are?  Can DFW help you with it???  

I sold 3 more of my birds last night, bringing my flock down to a smallish number that they COULD spend the day in the coop if they had to.  But, they would be very unhappy campers.  They've been pretty much confined to run since last summer when hawk predation made it impossible to let them out.  Just last week, there were 3 red tails circling my run at one time.  Within 5 minutes, there were 2 Northern Goshawks.  the RT often sit in the trees around my yard and taunt me.  All of your reports about coons make me think it's time to set my live trap.  I have the perfect place to set it where rocky could not reach the bait without going in, nor could he roll the trap once caught.  I had a coon roll a trap 75' across my lawn one time before he busted out of it. We had lengthened it with welded 1/2" hdw cloth because he was so big that he could block the trap door with his butt while eating the goodies in the trap.  He simply shredded that hdw cloth, and continued on his merry way.  

Absolutely we can shoot. I think there's still a deer blind in the woods, too, although I don't think the cows can get to that section. I've got a few different hunt clubs around;a former Army {LRS} friend has offered to refresh his skills on moving targets, lol, and my DNR neighbor {1.5 miles away} is going to help, too. They weren't seen yesterday, but they'll be back.

Foxes are bold, too. They got even closer to the girls- they ran right past the horses when they were being fed. We're 'used' to predators, but this is the first time we've had issues with the coyotes. They are getting really bold.

 

[Tikkijane]

Nothing like the losses you've endured but we lost our Golden Spangled Hamburg hen today to some bird of prey that I didn't see. Our hen was not like the stereotypical GSH - probably due to the amount of time invested in taming her and nursing her back from an attack by a crow last summer and a near fatal attack by two stray dogs a couple of months ago.  My 11 year old daughter saw it happen.  I should have paid better attention to my newfie when he was pestering me; he's what saved her from the crow last year. 

I've never had issues with crows- usually they are the ones taking out the hawks. So, so sorry.

 

[lazy gardener]

TJ, in a situation like this, I'd not be above baiting them.