IF you have hawks?
Birds of prey are in all corners of the globe. If someone says they have hawks, I say, "so does everyone else". And you likely have all variety of other predators depending on where you live. If you are on a small island, you may have few predators other than dogs and cats. But in most places, there are lots of predators afoot whether they've been seen or not.
People speak of predators as singular entities. People always say, "I caught it", as if a predator appears by spontaneous generation. If you see one, there are many. Predators don't come in ones. They don't appear out of thin air. They have mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, cousins, et. al.. If you kill a predator, it will be replaced by another - or many others. I never see raccoons here until they show up in leg traps or in the form of dead chickens if I don't get a building locked by dusk. On my game cams, it looks like a raccoon, coyote, mink, opossum superhiway here after dark.
Everyone's situation is different. How many birds, one's geographic location, how much property, roosters or only hens. If I had a few chickens, I would keep them from free ranging unless I'm present. But I have multiple flocks and it isn't feasible or desirable to have them all confined. Prior to having good roosters running with each flock, I would occasionally lose a bird to a hawk. Prior to having extremely wary breeds, I would have a bird taken by a fox. Now I rarely lose a bird to a terrestrial predator (a coyote attack took a rooster a couple years ago). I haven't lost a bird to a hawk in the last 10 years.
All my birds free range every day whether I'm here or not. The selection of breed and the number of roosters allows me to do so with few or no concerns.
Birds of prey are in all corners of the globe. If someone says they have hawks, I say, "so does everyone else". And you likely have all variety of other predators depending on where you live. If you are on a small island, you may have few predators other than dogs and cats. But in most places, there are lots of predators afoot whether they've been seen or not.
People speak of predators as singular entities. People always say, "I caught it", as if a predator appears by spontaneous generation. If you see one, there are many. Predators don't come in ones. They don't appear out of thin air. They have mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, cousins, et. al.. If you kill a predator, it will be replaced by another - or many others. I never see raccoons here until they show up in leg traps or in the form of dead chickens if I don't get a building locked by dusk. On my game cams, it looks like a raccoon, coyote, mink, opossum superhiway here after dark.
Everyone's situation is different. How many birds, one's geographic location, how much property, roosters or only hens. If I had a few chickens, I would keep them from free ranging unless I'm present. But I have multiple flocks and it isn't feasible or desirable to have them all confined. Prior to having good roosters running with each flock, I would occasionally lose a bird to a hawk. Prior to having extremely wary breeds, I would have a bird taken by a fox. Now I rarely lose a bird to a terrestrial predator (a coyote attack took a rooster a couple years ago). I haven't lost a bird to a hawk in the last 10 years.
All my birds free range every day whether I'm here or not. The selection of breed and the number of roosters allows me to do so with few or no concerns.
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