rooster strikes back

[Robin'sBrood]

I picked up a chicken magazine over the weekend and read an article about predators. It said, as others have said on here, that once a hawk has had a fresh chicken meal from your free range flock, it WILL continue to indulge on fresh chicken until there are NONE left.

 

[Jenski]

nicktide, sorry about your hen. If I might ask, what color was she? I am curious to know whether more light-colored hens are being taken than dark colored ones. Maybe your falconer friend could share some insight on this.

 

[nicktide]

Jenski,
The hen was black. I think she is half or part Jersey Giant. All except my white Leghorn rooster were "barnyard suprise" eggs that were given to me. I was thinking that maybe the black reflects light a certain way that hawks see it better than we do.
My chickens are all locked up until my tree netting (to make a run) comes in. I don't like doing that but it had a positive effect. My barred Rock rooster has become the most docile bird. He actually fell asleep on his back in my hands. I even carried him into the house like this and he would just look up and then close his eyes again. LOL.

 

[Jenski]

Ha! What a cool rooster you have. You should post some pics of him in the "Me, My Chickens..." section.

Let us know how the tree netting works for you.

 

[chixrus]

I think that roosters naturally scare off predators, it's just in their instinct.

 

[chixrus]

Oh, yeah, about them wandering, roosters often will lead the hens, away from the coop, without a rooster, they probably would stay closer, however, without a rooster, it's very possible that you will experience quite a few more losses.

P.S. That sounds like a awesome rooster, don't give him up if you can help it!

 

[crzychickenlady]

I have a small flock and they never wander far from the run and coop.

You can establish invisible boundaries without too much work...Or maybe I just got lucky.

When I got my first order of chicks, I kept them in the house for the first 3 months, handled them often. I built up my coop and run in that 3 months time. I put them out in the coop first, locked them in there for about 3 weeks, then I opened up the coop into the run and let them roam around between coop and run for another month before letting them out to free range.

We live in the city and have a fenced in back yard, my birds have never once left that yard, they do go outside the fence in the back to where we have an old swingset with bird feeders and they eat the feed that falls on the ground. But they never leave our property.

You may try this same thing when you build your enclosure, Once you establish home base for them, they wont wander far from it.

I also had a hawk attack a few weeks ago, since then, there free ranging time has been cut down and only under supervision. The other poster is right, the hawk will return for your birds, I have seen the same one lurking around here waiting for his next opportunity. He wasn't lucky enough to get my hen, just took half her feathers before we chased him off. But he isn't going anywhere unless I dispatch him.

Good luck to you, let us know how it goes.