Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

May I ask how old the cockerels there are right now?

Two are 6 months old (neither crowing yet, both silent in fact), three are just over 5 months (Visby croaks first thing in the morning, the other two have that sort of squeak between a cheep and a bawk, but Lulea's close to crowing I think), and three are one week younger (of them, only Merioneth yet crowing, the other two squeak). So same sort of age that you expect them to start crowing.

I find it highly unlikely that a “beware” crow from a red junglefowl rooster would mean much to many predators found in the same jungles; the crow definitely has multiple purposes.

yes, though RJF are just bantam sized aren't they? And as I understand it, they form smaller nuclear-type flocks, unlike my mixed largish flock.
I'm sure you're right that crowing serves multiple purposes.

 

[fluffycrow]

Two are 6 months old (neither crowing yet, both silent in fact), three are just over 5 months (Visby croaks first thing in the morning, the other two have that sort of squeak between a cheep and a bawk, but Lulea's close to crowing I think), and three are one week younger (of them, only Merioneth yet crowing, the other two squeak). So same sort of age that you expect them to start crowing.

Thank you. Yup, very similar experiences. When I first started reading around the forum, everywhere I read I saw something like “-Oh yeah, my cockerels crow at 7 weeks old!
-Wow, that’s very early, mine crow at 12 weeks old!”. I thought I was reading something wrong !

yes, though RJF are just bantam sized aren't they? And as I understand it, they form smaller nuclear-type flocks, unlike my mixed largish flock.
I'm sure you're right that crowing serves multiple purposes.

Indeed. If however the modern chicken hasn’t changed much mentally, they could still consider themselves as vulnerable as the bantam breeds. Maybe that why Big Red was the only one who attacked dogs, seeing as he was a gamefowl

 

[Perris]

If however the modern chicken hasn’t changed much mentally, they could still consider themselves as vulnerable as the bantam breeds.

I don't think any of my mature roos consider themselves vulnerable (except when they're moulting) Confident, without being pushy, is how I would describe them.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I don't think any of my mature roos consider themselves vulnerable (except when they're moulting) Confident, without being pushy, is how I would describe them.

Perris’s roos:

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Numbers count. I've seen 5 roosters deter a loose dog. I've seen a large bird of prey (not sure which type, only glimpsed from the back) fly away across the field over the lane amid a huge cacophony which involved most of the flock I think...
And again I think we all realised that making as much commotion as possible was the route to salvation; it brings attention and help in numbers to where it's needed, and makes staying around unpleasant as well as riskier for the predator.

This reminds me of the adage popular around here (we're very much in black bear country): You don't have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun whomever you're with.

When we get male adolescent black bears (it's always male adolescents, isn't it?) wandering down the street and through yards here in our quite urban location, I'm very happy about the wooden fence around our backyard. It could be scaled by a bear in a heartbeat and doubtless will be one day, but as long as we have neighbors without fences who have bird feeders and pet food in their backyards, the bears are unlikely to bother with mine.

 

[rural mouse]

Thank you for the input. I don’t know if I’m there yet. Before I even got to chickens I was a massive animal lover, and that included (and still does) foxes.

I do not forget that we were the ones to take land from the wildlife to build our houses and cities. It feels very wrong (for me, not criticising anyone who goes with that approach) to kill an animal simply because they’re trying to raise a family.
I’ve talked about this before, but my area is very lacking in the wildlife department. Only very recently have I seen an increase in the diversity of fauna. Depriving the ecosystem of an essential predator simply because I live here and decided to put chickens seems wrong.

There is the other thing, since this is a whole family, killing one parent will put the other at more strain, and would lead them right to the coop, as it’s the easiest source of food. Killing both would condemn the whole litter, which is also very sad.

@Ponypoor had recommended using electric wire (sorry if you didn’t want to be tagged), and I’m seriously considering the logistics of that. I know the access points the foxes use, and electric wire might be enough to keep them at bay. It’s not common practice here, though

You're looking at this from the perspective of "land custodian" I think. I've lost birds to 1 or more foxes around here, and I live in a rural, diverse ecosystem area. I've chased a fox out of the yard when it was going for the chickens....and had it try to follow me back in. I now have a rifle to shoot it with IF IT IS ACTIVLY HUNTING MY BIRDS. I've seen it several times roaming around the valley hunting mice and rabbits. I have a responsibility to protect the birds as they look to me for food and care. But I do NOT need to kill the fox as a POTENTIAL threat, only in an IMMEDIATE threat scenario.

I've also had a skunk visit the yard, sometimes multiple times a week. It is a threat to small chicks and to eggs. As long as the coop is secure, that part isn't an issue. Now, seeing it roaming about in the middle of the day does warrant shooting as it's likely rabid. I can, however, come up with some scenarios where that isn't the case (creek is flowing extra high/washed out and took the den with it for example), so would definitely observe before shooting.

I think the idea of electrified fencing is a good option for you to ENCOURAGE the family to hunt elsewhere. I also think you need to be prepared to shoot if you find one in Hot Pursuit of your birds. That being said, I think you're approaching this the right way: not in anger, but in calm rationale.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

@fluffycrow, would a shotgun filled with rock salt work? - in an "ouch" rather than death way. Note: I know very little about shotguns, or any other guns besides water pistols.

 

[RoyalChick]

You're looking at this from the perspective of "land custodian" I think. I've lost birds to 1 or more foxes around here, and I live in a rural, diverse ecosystem area. I've chased a fox out of the yard when it was going for the chickens....and had it try to follow me back in. I now have a rifle to shoot it with IF IT IS ACTIVLY HUNTING MY BIRDS. I've seen it several times roaming around the valley hunting mice and rabbits. I have a responsibility to protect the birds as they look to me for food and care. But I do NOT need to kill the fox as a POTENTIAL threat, only in an IMMEDIATE threat scenario.

I've also had a skunk visit the yard, sometimes multiple times a week. It is a threat to small chicks and to eggs. As long as the coop is secure, that part isn't an issue. Now, seeing it roaming about in the middle of the day does warrant shooting as it's likely rabid. I can, however, come up with some scenarios where that isn't the case (creek is flowing extra high/washed out and took the den with it for example), so would definitely observe before shooting.

I think the idea of electrified fencing is a good option for you to ENCOURAGE the family to hunt elsewhere. I also think you need to be prepared to shoot if you find one in Hot Pursuit of your birds. That being said, I think you're approaching this the right way: not in anger, but in calm rationale.

To pile on to this which I agree with (though I never learned to shoot so that isn’t really an option for me), I have found that the foxes and raccoons learn about the fence and pass that knowledge down through generations.
They go out of their way to steer clear of it.