reguarding predators,...What chicken breeds put up the most fight?

[tri-5-ron]

A frienf of mine lives in Texas near Montgomery/Conroe, outside of Houston.
He is an a very rural area, with woods all around his property.
So as you can well imagine, he has pretty much ever kind of predators imaginable.
Snakes, Hawks, Coons, Oppossums, Fox, Armadillo's, Rats, Weasles, T-Rex, Ptyradactals, Bigfoot, Fire Breathing Dragons, Swamp Creature, Godzilla, etc.

His chickens are kept in an enclosed pen/coop, but he does occaisionally lose one in the night. He is now down to just 2 chickens, and wants to replinish his flock.

I know that you can't protect against everything out there, so my question is, ...

What breeds of chickens are the most likely to put up a fight to the average predator ?
what are typically the more onry, tougher , bad disposition, type breeds ?
Gamefowl?, or something else ???

he CAN have Roosters too, so would that help?, and what would the proper ratio of Roo's to Hens be ?

As always,
Thanks for your help and suggestions.

 

[Beekissed]

I can't imagine any typical chicken "putting up a fight" to a determined predator. The Banty roos are pretty bad customers to other roos and sometimes people, dogs and cats....but to a coon, possum, bobcat, etc.? Not a chance of finding one.

I did have a RIR roo that appeared to be part Bantam who would stand out in the middle of yard and challenge hawks flying overhead. I'm sure, if they called his bluff, he would have run like a...well...a chicken!

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
At least he doesnt have chupacabras . . .

 

[speckledhen]

Night time predators will find a pretty quiet buffet unless there is enough light in the coop for the birds to see well. I know most roosters will attack just about anything in defense of their girls, but the girls usually get away from the predator while same predator is making off with the rooster.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Actually you can improve the protection quite a bit with different management practices. If he is losing them at night, I suggest making a very secure coop and lock them in the coop at night. It is very difficult to make a large run secure, but a lot easier for a coop.

The ratio of hens to roosters depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you want fertile eggs, you probably need one full sized rooster for a maximum 10 to 12 full sized hens or one bantam rooster for amaximum 12 to 15 hens. If you just want a flock protector, one rooster per flock will work, but with a large flock, two or more can work as a team if they can work out their differences on which one is boss. There is no real minimum ratio of hens to roosters. It depends on the personalities of the chickens and other factors. Many people believe that if you have too few hens per rooster, you are guaranteed to have barebacked hens. That is not true. Many breeders keep one rooster with one or two hens and don't have that problem. Some people have barebacked hens with many hens to one rooster, one poster on this forum having a barebacked hen problem with 18 hens and only one rooster. For those who doubt, might I suggest they read this thread.

Breeders managing roosters
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=250327

 

[Lollipop]

A chicken is a chicken. The only time a rooster is brave enough to fight a predator is when the hens are being attacked. No chance at all at night. The only way your friend is gonna be able to keep chickens is to tighten up the coop........Pop

 

[Big-Buff-Rooster]

I think I got a real solution, but it depends on how deeply he sleeps. First things first, secure the coop and lock them up at night, secondly build a smaller coop nearby, add a few guineas and don't bother with a door once they have learned that the coop is their home. The guineas will sound the alarm once anything comes looking for an easy meal, having a few extra roosters will keep breeding up as well as defend the hens long enough for him to get out of bed, grab a shotgun to take care of the predator. The gauge doesn't matter, unless we're talking bears or bigfoot, just pick one easy to operate and not a single shot. I don't care how well he can shoot, I'm sure at 3 a.m. in his underwear it's gonna be tougher than it sounds.

Simple version: Predator comes, guineas start screaming, he wakes up, roosters go alert and defend the flock, shotgun finishes the job, sleep better tomorrow night.

 

[bayareapilot]

I wanted to point out that raccoons (generally) tend to establish exclusive territories over which they will regularly forage for food. While I can absolutely identify with the sentiment of wanting to blow the raccoon who is killing your dear chickens to kingdom come; I did want to point out that once that raccoon is killed another one will adopt the territory of the 'missing' raccoon. So, my suggestion is to use their territorial tendencies to our advantage: Instead of shooting the raccoon (assuming it is just one offending raccoon), perhaps the original poster (or his friend) would be better off fortifying the coop and adding an electric fence (two-wire) and a motion activated (solar charged or plugged in) floodlight that will flood the general area with light when a predator walks into the area. If the coon gets a good shock it will stay away from the chickens but continue its territorial foraging pattern - 'protecting' the established foraging area from new raccoons.

Whether or not the behavioral observations are useful, certainly the use of a good electric fence, et al will protect the original poster's chickens. Just a thought......



Quote:

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
At least he doesnt have chupacabras . . .

If he gets a trail camera, he can give up chickens and make a living selling pics of bigfoot.

 

[animals1981]

at night no chicken can stop anything but during the day large game roosters and sometimes hens can chase off opossums, cats, some dogs and even sometimes foxes and coons


at night any predator can eat any chicken species alive because chicken wont fight back at night during the day a big mean game rooster sure as hell can kick an opossums but in the day light


people think possems are formitable but they are not and will back off if the rooster attacks it


foxes and coons also if its a big rooster he will be able to deter them during the day


no rooster can stop a coyote, bobcat, or fisher


loook at oirental game breeds they often fight back and can chase off a lot of things during the day NOT BANTAmr ts i dont care what anyone says but bantams will be easy for just about anything i dont care how mean the rooster is i lost the meanest OEGB rooster to a sray cat they are helples and weak