Oh I get the point about the bands especially living in a city. Where I live if they get out the neighbors would let me know or the predators would quickly make dinner out of them. I learned that when I first started raising them, thought I could free range them out here. Went from 15 to 3 the first year. Got smart and fenced them in a large run, probably 1000 sq.
I bought 8 new chicks the following spring, things went smoothly for awhile. Then a coon came in before I closed up the coop and snatched my fav, Shoeless Joe. He wasn't done either as he came back crawling up a cedar tree to access the roof then climbed in between the rafters killing two more. I knew he'd be back so put hardware cloth and 2x2's covering enough of the space so he couldn't get back in then set out the traps. He went for the sardine in the live trap, coons are suckers for them. Since he was an ornery fellow he got a dirt nap instead of a trip out to the state wildlife area nearby. This year I've been lucky and only lost 1 chick to a hawk but I've seen it landing in the big oaks overlooking the run.
I guess the point of all that rambling is out here there is no animal control for loose chickens, only predator control which is an ongoing effort. That along with the dispatcher would no doubt laugh if I called in a escaped chicken call, simply no resources would be used for a chicken as this is a poor county. Honestly even in a city I would consider sending animal control out for loose chickens would be a waste of resources.
I bought 8 new chicks the following spring, things went smoothly for awhile. Then a coon came in before I closed up the coop and snatched my fav, Shoeless Joe. He wasn't done either as he came back crawling up a cedar tree to access the roof then climbed in between the rafters killing two more. I knew he'd be back so put hardware cloth and 2x2's covering enough of the space so he couldn't get back in then set out the traps. He went for the sardine in the live trap, coons are suckers for them. Since he was an ornery fellow he got a dirt nap instead of a trip out to the state wildlife area nearby. This year I've been lucky and only lost 1 chick to a hawk but I've seen it landing in the big oaks overlooking the run.
I guess the point of all that rambling is out here there is no animal control for loose chickens, only predator control which is an ongoing effort. That along with the dispatcher would no doubt laugh if I called in a escaped chicken call, simply no resources would be used for a chicken as this is a poor county. Honestly even in a city I would consider sending animal control out for loose chickens would be a waste of resources.
