Losing chickens, feeling guilty

[15185503]

Hi there,
We are new to raising chickens. We have a coop and a small fenced in pen, but we allow them to free range in the yard during the day. The most chickens we've had a time is 15. Unfortunately, we keep losing them. To hawks, foxes, I'm not sure. I have a hard time not getting attached to them and I feel so guilty and like I'm doing something wrong and maybe I shouldn't be doing this anymore. We coop them at night and have all the safeguards on the coop/pen. But I don't know what to do when they are free-ranging because we have over an acre backyard and I can't protect the whole thing, obviously. I just feel so disheartened and am ready to give up...

 

[jolenesdad]

Hi there,
We are new to raising chickens. We have a coop and a small fenced in pen, but we allow them to free range in the yard during the day. The most chickens we've had a time is 15. Unfortunately, we keep losing them. To hawks, foxes, I'm not sure. I have a hard time not getting attached to them and I feel so guilty and like I'm doing something wrong and maybe I shouldn't be doing this anymore. We coop them at night and have all the safeguards on the coop/pen. But I don't know what to do when they are free-ranging because we have over an acre backyard and I can't protect the whole thing, obviously. I just feel so disheartened and am ready to give up...

I’m so sorry.

Could you possibly elaborate on a few things:

Where are you located?
Can you describe the area they free range in, or even better provide a photo of your backyard area?
Is your property fenced at all?
What happens when chickens disappear? Do you find any clues?
What age and breed of chickens are you losing?
How large is your coop and fenced run area?

If you could answer these, members will be able to provide really specific advice to your situation.

 

[ChristinaMay]

I'm so sorry for your loss! I came to this forum to basically discuss the same thing. I got 6 chickens 2 years ago and decided to free range and coop them up at night. The following year I added 15 chicks in June and in August 12 were killed in 1 night by a crazed fox, along with 3 of my original girls, when my husband fell asleep on the couch and forgot to close their coop. I was devastated. That's honestly and understatement, it still haunts me. After that I thought I shouldn't have chickens, because I felt like a failure, the guilt was ridiculous (I love my chickens a lot). But, I find so much joy in them and wasn't ready to give up yet, so I put the remaining 6 chickens in a 50x50 run with 4' welded wire and their coop in the middle, and they no longer free range. This year, I got 15 more chicks in June (a couple are Brahma roosters), and also 4 turkey poults (2 of which are Toms). I have 2' chicken wire laying all around the outside of the run (1' on the ground and bended to go 1' up the 4' welded wire), with paving tiles on top of the 1' of chicken wire that is laying on the ground. My hope is that will prevent digging (so far so good). I then had a few hawks lurking, so I covered the entire run with nylon mesh. It was a major pain in the butt but takes a lot of stress off my shoulders with hawks and my turkeys flying out (my chickens never tried to escape, Turkeys are a whole different story lol). Even with all of this protection, I'm still locking them up at night and still stressing at dawn and dusk when I let them out in their run. Predators wiping out your flock is incredibly disheartening. In the time between when I lost my old flock and receiving my new one (a year), I realized I had to make a decision to either put in the money and work to protect my chickens because I enjoy having them and can't deal with the constant predator stress, or not have them at all. I know it sucks A LOT, but don't give up if you love having chickens like I do. They make me smile at least 5 times a day with their antics, and that alone is worth it to me!

 

[Kabootar]

Hi there,
We are new to raising chickens. We have a coop and a small fenced in pen, but we allow them to free range in the yard during the day. The most chickens we've had a time is 15. Unfortunately, we keep losing them. To hawks, foxes, I'm not sure. I have a hard time not getting attached to them and I feel so guilty and like I'm doing something wrong and maybe I shouldn't be doing this anymore. We coop them at night and have all the safeguards on the coop/pen. But I don't know what to do when they are free-ranging because we have over an acre backyard and I can't protect the whole thing, obviously. I just feel so disheartened and am ready to give up...

I am so sorry for your loss. I understand that these setbacks can be demoralising. But there is no need to feel guilty. Remember where there is a will there is a way.

Chickens were domesticated around 8000 years ago from Red jungle fowl in my country which have all kinds of predators both large and small. Infact there were more predators then than there are now. Can you imagine what our lives would have been like if the first people who domesticated chickens had given up?

Now there are many ways to protect your flock from predators. I will give you my take. First thing that you need is a well secured coop, secondly you need an electric fence to protect from ground predators. You can add a scarecrow, an attentive rooster, a goose (preferably a female) and enough hiding spaces for your birds to take shelter. These four additions will pretty much secure your flock from any arial threat.

Never give up, never give in. Good luck.

 

[cmom]

I don't free range anymore. I lost a very special bird a few months ago. She had a name, Gladys. She was a cross beak I had hatched out. She loved to be with us and would come when we called her. She was 3 years old when a fox snuck up while I was occupied in the middle of the day and took my Gladys. I did catch the fox. I had seen it during the day. Around here most of the predators roam at night.

 

[cmom]

I’m so sorry!! I have a footless chicken (frostbite) that has her own little house by my back porch and I usually take her out and around with me during the day but since I’ve been seeing fox out during the day I’ve been keeping her in. I’d be devastated if I lost her. I’m so sorry

Thank you. Gladys was a very special bird. She loved my husband who is not really a chicken lover and would jump up into his lap. I have never been as attached to a bird like that before. She needed special care because of her cross beak. I won't free range but my birds have nice large safe pens and when I have opened a gate to let them out, if they do come out, they stay close to the gate and don't stay out for long and go back into their pens. Good luck and have fun...

 

[beezerbrit]

Owning chickens has been for me and continues to be a lot of trial and error, unfortunately. In my case, we found a way to keep the neighbor's dog out after she got 2 of our new babies, only to have the remaining 3 babies die one night during a freak early frost. Try not to feel bad, just keep learning from mistakes and doing your best by your chickers

 

[cmom]

Owning chickens has been for me and continues to be a lot of trial and error, unfortunately. In my case, we found a way to keep the neighbor's dog out after she got 2 of our new babies, only to have the remaining 3 babies die one night during a freak early frost. Try not to feel bad, just keep learning from mistakes and doing your best by your chickers

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

Don’t feel bad and try not to be disheartened. This is a reality that everybody with livestock faces. Some can seemingly be successful at free ranging but even the most successful will have to have a tolerance for losses. I gave up on having ducks on the ponds, and never even attempted to keep chickens in a free range scenario. There are so many predators of chickens that it would be impossible for us to free range them. We have a secure coop and an enclosed run area for them. My advice would be that is you wish to utilize your yard for their foraging, use an enclosed secure chicken tractor as some call them and move it about so they can eat in a fresh area. We just have a stationary area for ours , but we do frequently give them treats of grass, or fruit and vegetable table scraps.

 

[cmom]

I have a grass collector for my yard tractor. I collect the grass and put some in each pen because I have also lost birds in the past. The birds love scratching through the clippings.