what is a good "flighty"chicken breed-thanks guys-got it.

[Johnn]

my ancona is always alert and when she goes out of the pen to free range can always spot my dog at the top of the feild and wont go any further towards it

 

[Johnn]

and apart from my hens that fly over like 10 metre fences and in trees she is the fastest out of the lot

 

[Pony Trotsky]

Quote:
Wow. I'd never heard of the Kraienkoppe, so I looked it up. It sounds kinda perfect:

The Kraienköppe was created on the border between Germany and The Netherlands and are thought to have been created from crosses between Malays, Leghorns and local farm yard fowl in the early part of the 19th century. Kraienköppe have a rather fierce look and have some inherited temperament from the Malay although generally they are good natured. They are active foragers and hardy birds so are best kept in a free range environment to thrive. Hens will go broody and will lay even in cold weather.

And really pretty, too. Thank you!

Apparently they come in both gold and silver - and you can even have them printed on your underpants!

Does anybody here have these? (The birds, I mean, not the underpants.)​

 

[colby318]

I know this is the exact opposite of what you're lookin for... I have wyandottes as my main breed. (I have several other breeds as my working egg layers) Wyandottes are too large for the hawks in my area. Any and all bantam sized birds were soon taken. The hawks always target my EEs and leghorns because of their smaller size. Thank goodness we have a lot of cover around the house. The wyandotte cocks are great protectors, they will gang rush a hawk if it comes to earth. Now the foxes are another story. They pick off the larger birds because they ARE too slow.
Good luck!
Colby in Kentucky

 

[papinator]

My Americaunas are nuts!

 

[Animalian]

RIR or EE

 

[Magic Birdie]

Leghorns are pretty flighty

Also BRs...

 

[cubalaya]

i had some kraenkoppes and they are flighty and noisy birds. not my cup of tea but they should work for what you want.

 

[Pony Trotsky]

Quote:
This is a good point - though I wonder whether they're too big for bald eagles? There's a pair that hunts on the river bordering the farm, and they worry me more than anything. Those babies are huuuuuuge . . . !

Generally speaking, the girls tend to follow the horses around - which helps, I think - but they do wander off at times, and, really, they look like awfully appealing targets . . .

Do you find that color makes a difference? Like, f'rinstance, would partridge be safer than SL or blue?

 

[HHandbasket]

We also live in an area with a lot of hawks, and as a result, I have rehomed most of my white chickens (easy for them to be spotted from the air).

I highly recommend white faced black Spanish. They're flighty, gorgeous, and can fend for themselves pretty well. I have 16 of them (4 males, 12 females) and absolutely LOVE them. We have Easter eggers, a couple of blue/wheaton ameraucanas, a partridge rock, a black austrolorp, a silver laced wyandotte, and a few other breeds, but the WFBS are my favorites. They will also be good layers.... as a general rule of thumb, white faced black Spanish chickens will give you 4-5 large, chalk-white eggs a week per hen, up to 6 eggs a week during peak laying months.

They also free range well. But they're just so darn PRETTY.