Good to see things have cleared up a lot. Best wishes, Garthryan, with your flock management. Everyone's got their own rules and beliefs, and there are many means to an end.
Hopefully things work out alright.
@Triple Willow:
Quote: Hey, at least I tried, lol. I thought you were possibly anti free range because you said this:
Quote: Generally those who are against free ranging tend to say things like that, referencing the dangers of free ranging, hence my assumption. I'm pro free ranging obviously but I don't condemn or attack those who have different opinions on it.
Quote: Hard to believe but that's the truth of it. No 'rest of story'. No guns, no trapping, no baiting, no guardian livestock dogs or other animals, no fencing beyond the usual four-strand barbed wire paddock fencing, but the cages themselves have that chainlink mesh for walls. Pythons still got in all the time but I developed a 'feel' for 'python nights' and learned to show up on time more often than not. (They prefer between 10pm and 2am, low humidity, medium to cool temperatures, no or little rain, and no wind, in my experience). No electric fences either. I've noticed that all these precautions in the USA seem to not help at all, really, people have foxes etc breaking into their super-secure cages anyway.
The hen that was taken by the feral dog was taken almost in the house yard, and the python that almost killed the cockerel was right in their nesting area. The hawk took the other cockerel right in the house paddock. The rest of the time they went out into the remnant jungle daily without issues. Sometimes there were noises like something had attempted to get one but they always came home all accounted for.
I think perhaps one thing that may have kept them safer is that I run a ratio of males to females that is up to 50:50, and since males need less food than a laying hen they're often just watching out while the others feed. It must be awfully hard for any predator to get close enough to do anything with so many watchful eyes. I've heard other people run more roosters with their flocks for better protection, so perhaps that's it.
Also, the forest was jungle remnant, vines tangled everywhere, even a dog would have some trouble running through some parts of it in pursuit of a chicken. Another thing is that I breed mongrels, and I value their ability to fly, and since I feed them pretty naturally and let them free range so much, they're quite fit and no doubt far better at escaping anything they need to than for example a meat bird that eats grower feeds and only free ranges in the late afternoon for a few hours a day. Some of my poultry can fly properly, not all, but very few are as useless on the wing as some breeds are.
Quote: I live in Queensland, Australia, feel free to move here.
I don't much like the extreme heat we reach here though, so want to move to a generally cooler state soon. Still subtropical but not 47 degrees in the shade, lol! The other day, I had to go wet the sheep and dog down, and the grass and plants were hot to the touch, almost hot enough to cook an egg on, or spontaneously combust. Luckily people have been doing their burning off here, otherwise we could wind up in the midst of a massive wildfire. I'd guess that's not a threat you have to worry about too much, aye? Pros and cons? Paralysis ticks suck, pardon the pun, too, and the heat can be as deadly as the cold.
Quote: Strange, my experiences have been exactly the opposite. The times when the flock was whittled down to one or two roosters, the males always became "insta-tyrants" and bullies. Reintroducing extra males into the area became a lesson in intolerance control.
The less other males they had to tolerate, the more intolerant they became, almost overnight, even if they'd been raised with many other males. So as a precaution I always keep more males than I intend to breed, so I can maintain separate family lines, not inbreed, not waste hen's breeding seasons waiting for an unrelated male to replace the single breeding male who happens to be related to them, and also so I know I'm breeding tolerant stock. It baffles me why some people will for example have a flock of ewes they divide into two so one ram can mate with the unrelated half of the flock, while the other related half misses a whole breeding season waiting for the replacement solo stud male. Multiple stud males is my preference. But, whatever works for you. I keep them for meat as well as eggs so the males having tolerance of other males of all ages is of obvious importance. Temperament's definitely something you breed for, even if you think you're not. Your beliefs shape the temperament of your "strain" over time.
Best wishes to everyone and their flocks.
