the predator is my chicken and a hawk!!!

[featheredfriendlover]

i had a chick hatch today under a serama hen. well it was only out of the egg for 1 hour or so. well i have a RIRxBO mix and she wanted to lay an egg where the chick hatched and since the RIRxBO is so big she kicked the little serama hen off the nest and squished the little chick. IM SO SAD!!!! so now i have a guinea egg under the serama hen and have it to where NO BIG CHICKEN!!! can get it but the littler banties can.

AND ANOTHER THING THAT MAKES ME SOOOO MAD AND SAD!!! i was inside while my grandpa was throwing the chick out and he heard and SWOOSH and he saw a hawk swoop down and take away a serama hen i hatched in the incubator in january. it was like the hen and the hawk planned it. DANGIT!!!!

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Sounds like a broody hutch and some netting on the top of your run are in order!

 

[featheredfriendlover]

you know thats exactually what i did. now no big chicken can get in there. and since the serama is so small its hard for some of the banties to get it. and i dont have a run they free range.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I would really advise against letting small banties free range, letting Large Fowl free range is risky predator wise, but having Serama's out there is like a direct invitation to dinner!
This is probably going to keep happening.

ETA, I don't leave my Chihuahua dog outside unattended because at 5 pounds he's small enough to be carried off by a large Hawk!

 

[featheredfriendlover]

well im not being inpolite but i have had seramas free ranging for years and this is the first time something has gotton one of my seramas. yes i do understand it is risky but this is the first time.

 

[featheredfriendlover]

anyone else out there?????

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Quote:
I don't think you're being rude!

I just worry that this hawk now knows where to come for free chicken dinner....

 

[Judy]

Free ranging is a personal choice. I don't want them taken by predators, but I also don't want them to spend their life in a cage, even if it is several feet of grass, no, that's dirt, isn't it.

Four of mine free range; the rest are in a very large yard which cannot be covered (about 75' X 75'.) I have lost chickens to ground animals but never to a hawk, although they live all around here, as do owls and bald eagles. Despite losses, and plenty of greenery in the fenced yard, I am actually more comfortable with the free ranging.

I don't care for those 4' tall, little coops, and those little covered runs, even if they are big enough to provide 10 sq ft per bird.

 

[featheredfriendlover]

PineBurrowPeeps :I don't think you're being rude! wink I just worry that this hawk now knows where to come for free chicken dinner....

the hawks have been here before and i kept them in for 2 days and he hasnt been back till now and that was 2 months ago.​