Predator Exposure

[BettyR]

Quote:
I share a barn with my brother whose property connects to mine. Too many animals and too much feed can't lock it all up....would be nice if we could. There are lots of cats in the barn but only 3 of them are mine most are feral.

 

[nautical_bouy]

Why can't you???? I've raised stock on shared land and allways found people to be the worst at stealing feed.... Lock up yours and have no trouble or need for a vermin predator.
Old Greenlee job boxes and metal trash cans can shut out a lot of pest and shut up a lot of people.

I've done this for many years,,I have a clue how to keep undesirables from my food.

 

[panner123]

I have two cats and a dog that left around chickens all day. Matter of fact the male cat is more protective of the baby chicks than is the hen. Of which my wife can testify to, she was checking the chicks in a brooder not knowing Buddy was on the bookcase. About the time she bend over to liik in, Buddy landed in the middle of her back, claws out. The dog runs oof most of the four legged predators. The bear and mountian lion she will bark loud enough to get my attention then run to the house. I have no idea what she would do if I was not home, but someday I will find out. So that leaves out the domesticated animals. Birds of prey I can't do to much about for I free range over a large area. The real predators I do my best to keep out with fencing and electric fence. Any that get inside that area are fair game for my two friends, Smith & Wesson. Any predator that is killed on my property is used in some way,
food or ceremoony.

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
Because my brother raises most of his own feed for his cattle, pigs and horses and there is about a metric ton of it. The storage bays that the feed is in is secure from people but try as we may the best way we have found of keeping the vermin out is the cats.

 

[KYBOY]

I cant free range my chickens. That simple :| Ive lost to many in the past. My chickens are food and supply me with food. Dont get me wrong Im kinda attached to a select few of them but I know their still a food source not to mention being money and labor intensive to keep. Ive lived on a farm all my life of one size or another. My live stock is an investment and I have to protect it. If that means footing the extra money for a run on the side of the coop then so be it. Id love to free range but I know I cant so I dont.

 

[BettyR]

I guess I really use the term free range a little loosely. My chickens are in a run; that run covers about 3/4 of an acre. It is fenced with the kind of livestock fence that has smaller mesh at the bottom and gets larger at the top.

That is lined with chicken wire on the inside so no small chicks can walk through the openings. Then the fence is surrounded on the outside with three electrical wires; one at the bottom, middle and top. That electrical fence is solar powered so it stays on all the time.

The lot is wooded for plenty of shade and there are several structures that the chickens can run under in case a hawk comes by. Our new chicken house is under construction and we are trying to anticipate any possible way a predator who managed to get past the fence could possibly get into the house and reinforce our defenses.

We are even putting a layer of hardware cloth under the siding so that if an animal were able to chew through the siding the hardware cloth would stop them.

This is a far cry from how my grandmother raised her chickens. She had absolutely no idea how many chickens she had. There had to be hundreds of them. They roamed the old farm place at will, they had a chicken house that would fill up at night and they would shut and lock it but then the rest of the chickens would fly up into the trees that surrounded the property. Their were always hens coming up to the house with a new batch of chicks that they had hatched in some hidden place they had found and the number of eggs we would gather each day was huge but I’m sure it was only a fraction of the eggs that were laid in places we never found them.

My grandmother would take her eggs to the an old country grocery store near her home and the owner would weigh them and give her store credit for them. She would then use that store credit to buy her groceries. Whatever money was leftover after she got what she needed would be given to her in cash.

When we wanted a chicken or two for dinner she would get some corn and call them and throw the corn on the ground. The chickens would gather around to eat the corn…she would make her selection….grab the chicken by the head, break the neck and throw it off to the side of the group where it would flop around for a minute and then get still. I swear her hands were quicker than a snake’s strike. It would happen so quickly and effortlessly that she never even disturbed the group of chickens picking corn off the ground at her feet.

 

[dfunnyfarm]

I have 25 chickens that I keep in a run/coop. I also own a couple cockerspaniels and I know that they are bird killers. I keep them confined with a hot wire at the bottom of their pen. I have lost several of my chicken in the past to my dogs once when we had a storm and the wind knocked down some trees which took down part of the chicken run and the dogs got out "on accident" the kids had gone out to feed them some treats. I did lose 2 hens who on got out (took forever to figure out how they did that) stuck their heads threw the dog fence. I lost some babies last year who figured out how to fly and flew out of the coop and then when trying to get them back flew into the dog fence. I have had barn cats that eat right next to my chickens. As long as they stay out of the coop and do not attack chickens they are fine if they start to attack or steal eggs they are rehomed or shot. All the cats at my place are drop offs and some you can not get close to. I have in the past allowed free ranging but only when I am outside and my dogs are inside. My dogs do a good job of letting me know when there are preditors around and I take the extra step to keep them safe and the chickens safe.

 

[Kentucky]

Posters:

I commend you all, I was almost certain that my post would receive a lot of, "You're just an unsympathetic, gun toting, lethal hot wire, creature killin' radical".

Actually, my heart felt sympathy goes out to all who have lost their poulty to predators, it is a very sad thing indeed.

Kentucky

 

[blueskylen]

A few miles from our place there is a farm that the owners live out of town and only come in about 2 times a month - they have a barn, but the door is open for their stock to go in - 4 cows, a donkey, 3 ducks, and several chickens. They have a small pond, hay out, etc. . I am always surprised to see all of the animals there when I pass, as there are coyotes,foxes,dogs,cats all over the place in our area.

We have our chickens and ducks in pens with large runs. We have an english setter bird dog - so no free ranging.

Who do you think will have the first chicken or duck fatality?
Probably be us.

 

[chickenannie]

I'm not excusing irresponsible behavior, but I think many people are new to chickens and don't realize how yummy they are to so many predators. I know when I got chickens I had to book-learn about predators and that was in the last chapter.

My next door renters keep their dog inside 100% of the time, partly because of the free-range chickens that they share with me. It was their decision to compromise that way.