Six free range chickens killed.

[gracienthegirls]

Wow.

Not only am i so very sorry for your loss, very sad, but what an eye-opener. I need to be more proactive with my chickens about safety. I free range them and recently they figured out how to get out of the backyard enclosure (VERY tall fence...with one itty bitty opening...you see where this is going) to the front yard. Because of the area, i didn't worry about it during the day. I lock them in at night. But now their safety during the day concerns me. I better close off that opening!!

Again...I really feel for you. Chickens are so sweet, and I would be devastated too...

 

[centrarchid]

Keeping chickens free-range does not mix well with low levels of vigilance. Frequent observations allow detection of early losses that can promote you to take action to curtail subsequent losses. With longer-term keeping it also pays to invest in a range of anti-predator systems which can include the following; fences, coops, covered runs, secure roosts and other methods. Breed selection sometimes important as well where some breeds are poorly suited for avoiding even the most inept predator.

Free-range is tough and forces you to be on your game from time to time. Invest more in the containment next go and work your way out from their. I keep birds out free-range and have found it is not the cheapest method when predator management is entered into the equation. Feed can cost less and you can learn more about the birds though.

 

[marathongeezer]

Thank you all for the great suggestions and the sympathy, as well. I was naive in my beliefs about the safety of my little flock, and now know better. A difficult lesson to learn, indeed. Now thinking about electric predator proofing and large run areas for the future, if I decide to try again. Again, thanks for the thoughts.- Vic

 

[JackE]

Been there and done that, and didn't like it at all. I got away with freeranging my birds for almost a full year. Then one day , I got the call at work, My daughter got home from school, and found clumps of different colored feathers throughout the front yard. Lost 9 out of 11 that day. They were her pets. The other 2 were kept in the coop, unless we were there to watch them. Seen the fox scoping them out. He didn't show himself when I had a gun handy. Got a shot at him one morning when he was nosing around the coop. First thing in the morning, me being kinda bleary eyed, I missed. Could see the dirt jump up just under him, and he was running, with me shooting at him all the way to the treeline.

We got another 20, let them out when somebody was there to watch. Which meant they spent a lot of time in the coop. That wasn't the best way, but then it was necessary. Then we started getting careless. We'd have the birds out, and we weren't with them all the time. Then one Aug afternoon, again my daughter comes home, yeah, she was the first one on the scene, both times. This time she interrupted the attack, again feathers scattered around, chickens missing. But this time, we had a badly wounded bird, that the fox hadn't taken away yet. She didn't make it, and that was a crappy experience too, and we lost 7.

Had to do something, because this was not working. Did a bit of reading, and seen that people had a good bit of success with electrified poultry net. I bought 300' of it from Premier, and set it up. It worked out so well I bought over the last couple of years, I bought 350' more. We are going on 4yrs with it, and it has proven to me, to be one of the best things I have ever done for these birds. They get to come out everyday, and I don't have to worry about them.

 

[kaestark]

i have had the same thing happen to my new hampshires and old english games. an easy thing to do is either put electric fence wiring over an area that you want your chickens to be yet keep thigs out of it. make it high enough for the chickens cant escape and predators cant get him yet low enough so you dont get hurt. another thing i do is put mesh wiring over your widows so the windows can be open. the wiring should have a strong almost rubber outide and thick. make sure nothing can get through it or out of it and nothing can chew it open. put cement around your inclosures so a preditor cant dig itself in. we do that too. also, if anyone is hone in the afternoons and morning, only let out your birds when the sun is up. it needs to be bright so theres a better chance nocturnal preditors dont come. also if someone watches them the person can run off them as well. i aso would say that you may want to invest in getting a dog like a puppy and keep it in the barn with your animals and not have alot of human contact. it will learn to take care of the animals and the animals could be out for longer periods

 

[CrazyTalk]

I'm still always a bit surprised when I hear someone say they're going to free range their birds, and they think it'll be fine without any sort of protection.

It doesn't ever go that way. Eventually something shows up and eats a whole bunch of birds, and then you're left scrambling.

Fences, dogs, or containment. Or all of those things.


I like to say I free range (and my birds don't 100% respect the fences, so I pretty much do), but what I really have is a couple acres of pasture with 4' high woven wire field fence, with a couple lines of hot wire at the top to prevent anything climbing/jumping over it. The fence is staked down, and another hot wire runs about 6" off the ground to prevent diggers. I'm not covered for weasels, so I figure I'll eventually lose some birds to that.

I'm working on a dog. He's fine with the poultry (ignores the ducks and chickens, terrified of the geese), but still thinks that the sheep are great fun - although that's getting better.

I put up almost 1500 ft of field fence this year. I've got another 1000 to put up next year.

 

[islandgirl82]

I'm still always a bit surprised when I hear someone say they're going to free range their birds, and they think it'll be fine without any sort of protection.

It doesn't ever go that way. Eventually something shows up and eats a whole bunch of birds, and then you're left scrambling.

Fences, dogs, or containment. Or all of those things.


I like to say I free range (and my birds don't 100% respect the fences, so I pretty much do), but what I really have is a couple acres of pasture with 4' high woven wire field fence, with a couple lines of hot wire at the top to prevent anything climbing/jumping over it. The fence is staked down, and another hot wire runs about 6" off the ground to prevent diggers. I'm not covered for weasels, so I figure I'll eventually lose some birds to that.

I'm working on a dog. He's fine with the poultry (ignores the ducks and chickens, terrified of the geese), but still thinks that the sheep are great fun - although that's getting better.

I put up almost 1500 ft of field fence this year. I've got another 1000 to put up next year.

I grew up with sheep and always had dogs around them (Great Pyrenees and a Golden Retriever). We would take the lambs who were orphaned and bring them in the house as soon as they were rejected to dry them, warm them, bottle feed them, etc. The dogs were always curious but we stayed calm so they did too and the lambs too weak to be scared so there was no prey/predator aspect happening. Eventually we started putting the lambs up against our golden retriever to keep them warm and he would curl himself around them. When they were warmed fed, and gained some strength, they would follow him around like he was their mum. They continued to follow him about even when they were fully grown and towered over him.

Glad your dog is coming around to your flock. Seeing them bond with animals they could easily kill is quite amazing.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: Please clarify something for me. You left the house for a couple of days, but did you have someone putting them inside a predator proof coop at night? The way it was written, it sounded like you left them outside for days without them going inside, but could be just the way you wrote it. Of course, any chickens left outside overnight are predator bait. Even free range chickens must be locked up safe at night.

 

[rancher hicks]

I decided to raise chickens on my daughters advice. She had free range chickens in Connecticut and assured me they seldom lost a bird. So, wife and I got 2 Rhode Island Reds and 2 roosters. A week later added 2 Buff Orpingtons. They were fine for a few weeks, then we left the house for a couple of days, came back and all 4 chickens were dead, 4 separate piles of feathers strewn around. Two blond piles and two red piles (they hung around with their own) A Web search suggests fox or coyote attack, both of which are in Florida where we live. A few days go by, and I'm still not recovered emotionally from the chicken deaths. I went out for a short run, (I run a lot) and came back 35 minutes later. No roosters in sight. Walked the 3 acres and found 2 sites of feathers spread around. So, all 6 of my chickens are now gone. I had named all 6 of them and got very attached to them, starting to see personalities traits in each bird. I really vested all my hopes into the roosters once the chickens were gone, and now they're gone to the great chicken coop in the sky. Wife and I are heartbroken, don't know what to do. I now have 2 new coops, food and supplys, etc and no chickens. I don't want to go through this again. Just sharing my misery. I can't do this again, too sad for this 68 year old man who seems to be getting melancholy in his old age. Thanks for listening.

Unfortunately this is what happens when folks don't do, do diligence in researching chicken keeping. Two of my nephews both lost complete flocks. I am sorry for your loss and hope you won't give up on chicken keeping but rather do some research first.

I too have lost birds to ignorance and bad advice, when I first got chickens. BYC has been a world of help.

Though I will say even with a chicken run, you simply can not leave chickens out. They must be locked up at night. Your coop must be predator proof.

If I go away I have someone come to take care of the birds, even if I have to pay them. Once I paid a friend to come and stay at the house.

What to do? Search predators on this site, read and learn. Look at all types of coops and set ups. Check for chicken people in your area. I'm sure they'd be happy to help.

I wish you well,

Rancher