Number one, and think most of you will agree, is that if you move to Maine you need to know how to use your hands and your brain to coexist with nature up here. There are times you will have to use scraps of this and that to make something. Bring your tools and your shovels and have a strong back. Whether you work in an office or not, if you plan to have any livestock or a decent chunk of land, you will need your ingenuity. We do have a general store for sale if you are interested, we just drastically reduced the price from $194K to $125K. Hub is sick, need to be home to care for him. Huge apartment upstairs,4 bed, 2 full bath. You could run a store of your choice and live there and walk to work teehee! We are in Monroe, so not very far from Lewiston, more country. Great steal for someone, and I mean a steal, we are sacrificing, there's like 6,000 square feet overall and a big 2 car 2 story detached garage as well. Almost 2 acres and abuts a stream (never flooded).
As far as protecting your hens, it is tough. We have lost many over the years, when we had upwards of 70 free ranging, almost a daily occurance. Had a fox and hawk issue at the same time, spring. They all have their young to feed, and chickens are easy targets. Roosters help some, but my prize guy gave his life protecting his harem, and the **** fox still managed to mangle some of the hens before that we had to put them down. Must have been some battle. We have a big, big pen around the coop that we put them out in every day, underneath has 1" chicken wire that extends out about a foot or more around the perimeter, and have it covered with some fishermen's net we picked up for free down at the docks. The snow can fall through it, but it does deter the hawks, and it's pretty strong. Never have had a problem with anything getting in other than the chippies and occasional mouse. We do free range, but make sure the dogs are out, and they are pretty good with chasing things away. Other than that, you might want to build yourself a chicken tractor so you can move them to the grass and be safe. Heartbreaking, always, hated to do the head count each night and come up with one or two less. We are fortunate to have a neighbor who will shoot all the critters for us, and have another who traps our fields, but they're still out there. Fox are pretty darn smart, but we are able to keep the population down that way. Not much you can do about the hawks, legally anyway. Have had them swoop right down while I'm in the garden with the ducks, could've reached up and grabbed the sucker. Sorry you have lost so many, hopefully your roosters will replenish your flock and one of your girls goes broody. Most likely a lot of your eggs are fertile, might want to consider incubating.
Good for you Ash, more BABIES, our Pekin eggs are just days away. Just what we need, will have to put a sign out soon. Have a new neighbor and think I can talk her into buying some of the buff ducklings, she is just starting out. Will let y'all know if she is interested in some of the birds you have offered.
