Hold up, before you start sniping me about overcrowding, read my post. I said i was only thinking about it.
Right now, I have 8 bantam ladies, in a 4X6 coop, with a 12 X 6 run. They usually have free-range time during the day for a couple of hours in the woods that surround their coop every day dependent on the weather, etc.
I try to hang out with them during their free range period because I worry about them and predators....one of my girls got taken out by a bird of prey last year.
My girls will be celebrating their 1 year birthday February 9. I am not sure whether I should purchase a couple of bantam chicks now to cycle into the group in the summer with the idea that most likely, a couple of my current girls may meet their decline via raptor every time I let them out to free range. Sometimes i wonder if I should've bought standard size girls to prevent MORE loss due to raptors, because I am pretty sure that it was a coopers hawk or sharp shinned that snagged my girl last year. And a cooper's hawk is more adept at maneuvering in the woods (as opposed to a red-tail, for instance), so I know my bantam girls are little feathered snacks running around.....
Right now, I have 8 bantam ladies, in a 4X6 coop, with a 12 X 6 run. They usually have free-range time during the day for a couple of hours in the woods that surround their coop every day dependent on the weather, etc.
I try to hang out with them during their free range period because I worry about them and predators....one of my girls got taken out by a bird of prey last year.
My girls will be celebrating their 1 year birthday February 9. I am not sure whether I should purchase a couple of bantam chicks now to cycle into the group in the summer with the idea that most likely, a couple of my current girls may meet their decline via raptor every time I let them out to free range. Sometimes i wonder if I should've bought standard size girls to prevent MORE loss due to raptors, because I am pretty sure that it was a coopers hawk or sharp shinned that snagged my girl last year. And a cooper's hawk is more adept at maneuvering in the woods (as opposed to a red-tail, for instance), so I know my bantam girls are little feathered snacks running around.....
