New year new me (new chickens!)

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Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back!

The chicks arrived today and are doing fine. To answer some questions, I still have my original coop. My uncle and I built it together with quality lumber and materials so it's quite sturdy and raised well off the ground for added security. However, the run is a bit worse for wear.

I think this time around I will have my birds free-range for most of the day. I have a quite large yard that is enclosed. There are lots of shrubs and hiding places. I also will have a rooster. (Or maybe several if needed.) Later I plan to order some leige fighter hatching eggs, too.

All my chickens are completely black. I've heard a hawk may be less likely to go after a black chicken because they could be mistaken for crows, but I don't know how true that is. On the subject of crows though, I have two large groups of crows that seem to have taken up residency here, one group in the front yard and one in the back yard. They've been here since the pandemic and haven't left yet so I guess they like it here. Good news for me because hawks don't like them.

The main reason why I'm going for free-range this time is pest and weed control. The weeds get out of control in my yard in the spring and summer, so I'd really like some natural helpers rather than having to go over it with an herbicide all the time. Eggs will be a bonus but their main job will be scratching around.

This means I will have to be very diligent with locking them up at night. Most of what I lost last time was because I stupidly forgot to shut them in one night. Won't make that mistake again.

If anyone has any tips on other flock protectors besides roosters I'd be interested to hear about it. I'm considering geese, but I'm still not sure if they're as effective as some people say.
 
We border a forest and farm fields so lots of varmints around. Our two dogs, border collie and corgi, plus a couple of cats, keeps the riff raff away. We also use many solar motion lights. We've got a couple of cameras around so I could see if anything is coming to snoop around at night.

Luckyleaf said:
I've heard a hawk may be less likely to go after a black chicken because they could be mistaken for crows, but I don't know how true that is.
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A few years ago, about eight birds from my flock wandered into a nearby soybean field. There were several colored Silkies and one black one. A hawk went for the black one, but the white rooster attacked, and the hawk dropped it. The bird was fine, though the field was littered with black feathers.
 
Luckyleaf said:
but I don't know how true that is
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It's not. Hawks have incredible vision and they can tell the difference between a fluffy black chicken and a crow.
Luckyleaf said:
I also will have a rooster. (Or maybe several if needed.)
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Roosters have a hardwired instinct to protect their flock. However most cannot stop a hawk attack. They will go after a hawk if it's going after one of their hens but it doesn't always mean the hen survives. I recently lost one of my bantam hens and the rest of the chickens were hiding deep inside the coop or under shrubbery well the hawk tore her body apart.
Luckyleaf said:
I have two large groups of crows that seem to have taken up residency here
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They will be a huge asset for keeping the hawks away. A murder of crows is one of a hawks worst enemies. And they are relentless about it.
Luckyleaf said:
The weeds get out of control in my yard in the spring and summer, so I'd really like some natural helpers
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Chickens will not help with weed control. They will help with completely denuding all greenery around. Hopefully you have a very large area for them to range in. They will also make their way to your house and poop on your steps, your porch, your deck, your vehicles, your driveway, pretty much anything that they can get up on. They will eat your vegetable garden. They will dig holes in your landscaping beds to make dust bathing sites. They may even dig up shrubbery. My flock dug up a 5 ft tall blue point juniper and killed it.
Luckyleaf said:
other flock protectors besides roosters
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Livestock guardian dogs that have been trained to leave the chickens alone are very effective against ground predators. But they themselves are another mouth to feed that requires care.
 
Thanks very much guys for your thoughts. Looks like I'll be spending the next few days reinforcing the coop and run that I already have.

I've been considering a LGD. My last dog sadly passed away several years ago and the time never seemed right to get another dog. Depending on how aggressive the local wildlife turns out to be, now might finally be the time.

As far as free-ranging destroying the deck, flower beds, landscaping, etc etc. I have none of those. My backyard is large and pretty much 100% natural and unmanaged. So them scratching around and destroying things is kind of the idea. Hoping that over time they will create sort of a clean slate to work with. After reading more about it, I will probably only have them free-range when I'm working outside to supervise them.
 

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