something is getting my chickens

[wowmanacat]

I lost one yesterday and then another one just now. I did not see what it was to well but I think it was a fox or something like that. I will have to keep them all locked up for a while an I really don't like that. The first one that it got was Tiny and today it was Blackie. I think I am going to have to build a new coop in the front yard to get it away form the woods.

 

[airmechreed]

You should only free range if you are watching. My Chickens are in a protected run with hardware cloth all around. They are happy and laying eggs. They really don't mind being confined to one area. And I love if a preditor comes in the yard I have no worries or losses.

 

[chicmom]

Quote:
I have to respectfully disagree with this post. If I had to watch my flock every minute, they would rarely get to free range, and they wouldn't be as happy as they are now. I'm very pro free range, I guess.....

 

[wowmanacat]

I am sitting right by a window. I am watching out there most of the day. I have hens that will not lay if they are cooped up all day. I am going to be keeping the cooped for a few days till I get what ever it is.

 

[MetalSmitten]

sorry to hear

were you able to find the bodies? sometimes you can get a better guess which predator you've got if you can see how the carcass looks. (conversely, if you find no body, no feathers, no signs of struggle, it may just be that you have two broodies gone off to hide someplace. but usually that's wishful thinking.)

 

[airmechreed]

Quote:
I have to respectfully disagree with this post. If I had to watch my flock every minute, they would rarely get to free range, and they wouldn't be as happy as they are now. I'm very pro free range, I guess.....

That's ok you can disagree. I live in an area full of fox, raccoon , skunk, possum, coyote,hawk, eagles, bear,mountain lion,bob cat, and wolf. So I guess it all depends on where you live if I free ranged I would not have chickens for long.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
I have to respectfully disagree with this post. If I had to watch my flock every minute, they would rarely get to free range, and they wouldn't be as happy as they are now. I'm very pro free range, I guess.....

That's ok you can disagree. I live in an area full of fox, raccoon , skunk, possum, coyote,hawk, eagles, bear,mountain lion,bob cat, and wolf. So I guess it all depends on where you live if I free ranged I would not have chickens for long.

Ohio has a lot of trappers at large this may be the difference. I trap and dispatch predators here where I live ,I have very few bother my birds they are simply not here for a large part of the year I keep an eye on my girls when they are free ranging most folks change to this strategy after the first time of their flock being decimated by a pred . strasburg with the river running through the middle of it that river is a predators buffet as long as the river don,t dry up the preds will stay there and eat if what they are eating at the river goes away they will find another food source

 

[Ole rooster]

Yesterday I opened the gate for the first time to let the chickens out. Now mind you they were totally free ranged when I got them. It took all of 20 minute for any to decide they even wanted to come out. When they finally did the furtherest any got from the gate was 10 feet. They had fun while they were out but didn't care to wonder off very far at all. I'll see what they do today. They do like new grass.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

We just mowed the frount pasture and the chickens love it! So much so that the domestic ones are out there into the twilght and evade coop time, while all the appalachian chickens are safely tucked on their respective roosts...long before...any guess as to who is going to get eaten next?

 

[wowmanacat]

well I am thinking that I have a fox that is getting my chickens so for the time my chickens are going to be staying in there coops. I am sure that the animal that is getting my chickens will be coming by today to get its daily meal and it is not going to be able to for the chickens are locked up nice and tight. I am keeping an eye out for what ever it was and have my BB gun at the ready, need to get the other one. The really bad thing is that my feed bill is now going to go up.