Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[Terry S]

Wow! Keeping chickens safe is harder than I thought

 

[EeyoreD]

Wow! Keeping chickens safe is harder than I thought

Yes and no. Don't be discouraged by this thread. I've posted here and lost a lot of birds in one go, but if you read around (and it seems like you are) and you adopt a multi-prong approach to safety you'll be fine. By your posts you already know that chicken wire is useless but hardware cloth is good. Not perfect but good.

My experience on this thread was basically - I had Fort Knox above ground but I didn't account well enough for digging. And while I won't say that everyone here made the obvious mistake I did, this is a place to learn about vulnerabilities.

I lost a ton of birds my first year. Since then I have extended the apron on the coop to prevent digging under, use hotwire (electric fence) in periodic places and aggressively trap. After that first year? I've only lost birds to disease brought in from wild birds.

But a lot of what I learned to protect my birds I learned from this thread - from others (and my) mistakes. Threats to your poultry will vary by region and habitat. This thread alerts you to what MIGHT be a problem and often tells you how to protect against it.

I guess what I'm saying is that I hope you're not discouraged by this thread. I don't think that's the intent of it.

 

[ll]

Several years went by without incident. We took some precautions, only letting them out while home / leaving them out with the dog / many bushes & hiding places (lawn furniture etc.) placing pinwheels around the yard to throw confusing reflections of light, and looking up at the sky often.
As the years went by, we admittedly eased off.
Started looking up less. "They'll be fine while we run to the store."
The dog passed away - no more yard dog.
A few weeks ago was the attack.
It was a rough winter, we had ice cover in the yard for weeks on end - I'm sure they were hungry.
A Cooper's Hawk pinned my largest strongest hen - I was upstairs, my husband in the front yard.
We heard her squawking, thank goodness she was squawking - if the hawk took her quietly we wouldn't have known, but she put up a fight.
We both ran to her to find out what all the noise was, we thought our girls were fighting? (They've never fought) Or she was stuck in something or hurt somehow? As we both reached her location the hawk flew up off her & away. Since we were so close by she lucked out -missing some feathers from tail & wing and one gash to the neck. One more she could've been done.
The next morning as we were putting Veterycin on her neck while sitting in a lawn chair, the pair of hawks were circling high above and screaming at us.
A week later they killed a yellow tail flicker - huge pile of feathers left over.
We've found lots of mourning dove remains in the past, they've been hunting our land for a while.

The hawks still visit. I pick up the pinwheels & wave them around in a circle motion until they leave.
We do not let the girls out when we're not home anymore.
If they are out we faithfully check the skies every 15-20minutes, no longer.

What prompted me to type this today is ....
It's a calm wet morning, rained a bit overnight so I let the girls out for some wet grass & bugs.
Other birds out there with them too, chirping away. Blue Jays, Chickadees, Robins, Cardinals, and the doves - I can hear & see them all fluttering thru the brush.
Sitting at my computer - - - I hear the blue jays scream and can almost "feel" the whoosh of birds from my seat as everyone dashed into the trees. I ran to the door and there's the hawk up high!
Grabbed my pinwheel and escorted the girls into their run for a mealworm treat & locked 'em in.

Moral to this story:
Listen to your wild outside birds too.
I'm happy & relieved to have learned the jays warning call - and believe me I listen to this pair of jays screaming and squawking daily. This warning sound was different.
The pinwheels may be helping a little, but they sure didn't help that day.
Eyes to the sky!

 

[bruceha2000]

Thank everyone for their advice. I was going to use chicken wire to fence until I read about the hardware cloth. I will definitely use that instead.

I think the general consensus is that chicken wire is good for keeping chickens where you want them. Pretty much any predator can either get through the holes or rip it apart to get in. I expect it could keep a raptor out, assuming you have all the sides and the top covered. But if they want to get through, their beaks would make short work of it. I think, in general, they are mostly out for the silent and deadly attack. BUT ... I think way back in this thread is a video of a hawk getting into a run and WALKING INTO THE COOP! So they are quite able to take time to work through obstacles if they want to.

If you are new to chickens, here is a fact I learned once my girls got full size:
A 4' tall fence will keep the chickens exactly where THEY want to be. Mine go to the top of a 4' fence to beg for food. One flew to my wife's head. She is 5' 6". All it takes is a hop and a couple of flaps. But you would think they didn't know what wings are for otherwise. If they want to get somewhere in a hurry, most of mine will clamp their wings to their sides and run like mad. The Cubalayas will sometimes fly though. They are about 2/3 the size of the other girls and don't run as fast. But they sure can fly if they want to!

Bruce

 

[ll]

These are "our" Cooper's Hawks - they are a menace

Took these photos today ... after hearing that "warning" from the wild birds in our yard. Again.

 

[suebee]

I agree about wild birds. Thanks to several bird feeders I keep helpful hawk haters around like blue jays and crows. They alert my free range silkies and haven't had a kill ever. Bird seed is expensive but worth it.

 

[MrSelf Destruct]

Great thread. Lots of great ideas here for new and veteran chicken owners. Has anyone ever used human hair around the outside of their coop? My wife and I read somewhere to put human hair around our garden and it will deter deer due to the human scent. I started putting my sons hair (I cut it myself so we easily have it on hand) out there after we lost a bunch of tomatoes and I saw a doe track right under the vine. Haven't lost anymore since then. Just curious if it might deter potential predators from a chicken coop as well. Not something I would solely rely on but possibly used in conjunction with a good coop and run.

 

[Terry S]

Along that line - maybe dog hair would help too. I have 3 dog that shed. I will try the stuff I brush out of them.

 

[EeyoreD]

Oh this is actually a good point. Most of my birds just run free. Last spring I had one of those "learning experiences".

My turkeys are the flightiest of all my flock. Last spring one started a nest within range of the dog tie out. The dog is VERY good with the birds but she does snuffle at them. So I moved the tie out not because I thought the dog would do anything but because I was worried the nervous turkey wouldn't tolerate it.

That was a mistake, the turkey had tolerated her when laying eggs, she KNEW the dog was nearby. But in moving the tie-out and thus the dog, I removed the scent of dog. About 10 days later the turkey was chased off her nest. I still have NO idea what it was but it bit the tops off the eggs and sucked them dry. Not all of them but the turkey never went back to that nest.

I can't help but think (NOW, Monday Morning Quarterbacking) that that hen laid that nest there BECAUSE the dog was there. Maybe whatever it was would have come around anyway but I suspect not.

 

[MrSelf Destruct]

I don't have any dogs so hopefully my crazy 4 year olds hair will work! I'm pretty confident with the security of the coop itself. I'm in the process of beefing up my run. I started out with chicken wire. Left it on there and have been covering it with hardware cloth and have that buried into the ground about a foot into the dense NC clay. I've also been running cinder blocks around the bottom of the fence to the run for added protection. Next project will be to put some kind of roof on the run made out of fencing. I want the sun to still be able to get in but also deter the hawks.