The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

I see her! She blends in great. Read once never get white chickens if you want to free range. They say free meal like a flashing neon sign to predators.

 

[bruceha2000]

And I've heard the opposite Micro! Doesn't look like "regular" food so they ignore them. Personally I don't think it matters at all, at least not to a fox. I've lost a Partridge Chantecler that blended in really well and a White Rock that didn't blend in at all.

 

[microchick]

I think I read about it in an article talking about free ranging. The better the bird can blend in, the safer it is from airborne predators. A white chicken will stand out against grass for a hawk. While a darker or mottle brown and black bird will blend in with shadows. Which if you think about it, may be true.

Are ground predators more likely to be sight predators? I know some are attracted by scent but if they are sight predators would they be more attracted to movement and therefore color not matter?

 

[CapricornFarm]

 

[lovesfarms]

And I've heard the opposite Micro! Doesn't look like "regular" food so they ignore them. Personally I don't think it matters at all, at least not to a fox. I've lost a Partridge Chantecler that blended in really well and a White Rock that didn't blend in at all.

I haven't seen foxes this summer but they were around last winter and spring and I assume they will be around as the weather gets colder. I see the big black hawks soaring overhead every day and the smaller white/ gray ones come pretty close. The chickens are very skittish- even in their house they move away from the closed window

 

[CapricornFarm]

I haven't seen foxes this summer but they were around last winter and spring and I assume they will be around as the weather gets colder. I see the big black hawks soaring overhead every day and the smaller white/ gray ones come pretty close. The chickens are very skittish- even in their house they move away from the closed window

I had hawks break 2 windows to get into coops, in one case , the hawk killed my rooster. Now i cover windows with hardware cloth.

 

[microchick]

Cap, I love your ceramic pumpkins. I used to do ceramics and porcelains. Loved it. Did you create these yourself or did you buy the greenware and do them yourself? I would be so frightened (no pun intended) to set them out where somebody could A) Steal them or B) break them.

And I have hardware cloth over all my windows. Plus both of my pop doors are metal. The only uncovered glass I have is in the shed door and it has 9 cottage sized small insulated glass panes in them. The hawk that tries to break through them is going to get a headache, LOL.

My birds get nervous when a vulture flies over. The roosters have all the hens under the tarp I have hung in the run for shade. I've seen them herd the hens into a corner under cover and put themselves around the perimeter as guards. To get to the hens, the threat has to get through the roosters.

Those bantams may be small but I've seen them pile onto a bigger rooster and inflict potential death by a thousand pecks on them. I wouldn't want to mess with them.

 

[lovesfarms]

Cap, I love your ceramic pumpkins. I used to do ceramics and porcelains. Loved it. Did you create these yourself or did you buy the greenware and do them yourself? I would be so frightened (no pun intended) to set them out where somebody could A) Steal them or B) break them.

And I have hardware cloth over all my windows. Plus both of my pop doors are metal. The only uncovered glass I have is in the shed door and it has 9 cottage sized small insulated glass panes in them. The hawk that tries to break through them is going to get a headache, LOL.

My birds get nervous when a vulture flies over. The roosters have all the hens under the tarp I have hung in the run for shade. I've seen them herd the hens into a corner under cover and put themselves around the perimeter as guards. To get to the hens, the threat has to get through the roosters.

Those bantams may be small but I've seen them pile onto a bigger rooster and inflict potential death by a thousand pecks on them. I wouldn't want to mess with them.

The hawks would have to come through the pine tree to get to the window. All summer I had a fan in the window and now that I took the fan away, The chickens feel unprotected.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Cap, I love your ceramic pumpkins. I used to do ceramics and porcelains. Loved it. Did you create these yourself or did you buy the greenware and do them yourself? I would be so frightened (no pun intended) to set them out where somebody could A) Steal them or B) break them.

And I have hardware cloth over all my windows. Plus both of my pop doors are metal. The only uncovered glass I have is in the shed door and it has 9 cottage sized small insulated glass panes in them. The hawk that tries to break through them is going to get a headache, LOL.

My birds get nervous when a vulture flies over. The roosters have all the hens under the tarp I have hung in the run for shade. I've seen them herd the hens into a corner under cover and put themselves around the perimeter as guards. To get to the hens, the threat has to get through the roosters.

Those bantams may be small but I've seen them pile onto a bigger rooster and inflict potential death by a thousand pecks on them. I wouldn't want to mess with them.

Thanks! I made the pumpkins from scratch, lumps of clay from a 25 pound bag.
No one lives within a quarter mile of here, and we know our neighbors. We all watch out for each other.

 

[microchick]

The hawks would have to come through the pine tree to get to the window. All summer I had a fan in the window and now that I took the fan away, The chickens feel unprotected.

Yeah, you need hardware cloth. On my south window, I put in hardware cloth and then I took a piece of goat fence, curled wire into circles and screwed it into the window frame as a secondary line of defense.

Can't be too safe.