They've found us!

[LaurenRitz]

Does the coop have any ventilation?

Yes, there's a foot wide strip along the back, a six inch strip on the front low down, and the current door is also hardware cloth.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Hi, My first suspect would be the dog.

Mine too, but with no proof I won't push it. In any case, keeping them out of the garden and the neighbor's yard eliminates one direction of risk.

 

[Shadrach]

It is very bare. I'm working on that. There is a big tree over this coop, the other coop has a 20x40 covered area. They all spend a lot of time under the deck and under or around other structures (truck, water tanks, decks, barn/garage).

Hawks don't seem interested, they fly over, look, and drift away. The birds usually don't move away from cover except early morning and just before lockdown.

The rooster was killed in the main garden, which is wide open to the neighbor's yard. They forage over there all the time. He said he doesn't mind, but they also have a big dog so I try to discourage it. I hope the changes I made today will keep them out of that area, so one less risk.

It seems to me that an essential point about chickens gets forgotton over and over. Despite all the various physical changes they've undergone over the centuries, chickens are jungle creatures. Their survival is base around not being seen and being able to move from cover point to cover point at speed. Check out a free range Fayoumie group in anything similar to the cover a jungle would provide and you may stand there all day and just catch movement out of the corner of your eye.
In short, if one wants chickens to free range and thrive they need a jungle.
There will still be losses and if the breed/s one keeps are not from the same area as where they will live and they are not bred from free rangers then they have an awful lot to learn.
Good cover, particularly dense bush cover below trees not only provides cover, when it gets hot it makes wondeful shade.
In general chickens will range over a defined territory and this will often revolve around their area of their coop and their sources of food and water. You want heavy cover close by to these things.
Bamboo clumps make good cover and if they will grow in the climate then I highly recommend them. Fruit bushes and thorn hedglings can also be good if the lower branches are managed.

 

[Shadrach]

A few examples of cover.

 

[LaurenRitz]

My plan is a chicken food forest, but I'm working with heavy clay and very little water so it's slow. Next spring should be a little better as some of what I planted this year starts to mature.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Excellent points, @Shadrach.

 

[SourRoses]

Sadly, as you allow predators to take the less preferred birds, you are teaching them how to hunt chickens and that it's quite yummy.

 

[McChooky]

The only way you'll prevent more losses is lock your chickens up until these predators move on. Unless you have a secure run this isn't going to be fun for you or your chickens.They only have a coop.

 

[123RedBeard]

Dog "may" have done the tail feather plucking, but most dogs aren't gonna get up on that roof, and most dogs would leave the squeaky toys there after it stopped being "fun" ... May have more than one type of predator though ...

 

[McChooky]

Dog "may" have done the tail feather plucking, but most dogs aren't gonna get up on that roof, and most dogs would leave the squeaky toys there after it stopped being "fun" ... May have more than one type of predator though ...

I'm tempted to set a camera on the trail behind my house because if any of my chickens went missing that's where they'd be taken