Who has NEVER had predator loss (and why)?

[Buff Hooligans]

With all the awful stories of killings by raccoons and neighbor dogs, I thought I'd start a thread of happy stories to prove you CAN have control over predator loss (if you take the right precautions).

There's no need to watch all your chickens be decimated over time and then give up chickens entirely because you are disheartened. (This happened to a man who was walking his dog by our house yesterday evening. He commented about our chickens, then told his own story from where he used to live. He had tons of chickens, and then over time, raccoons killed ALL his chickens. (Meanwhile, I was thinking, 'after the first few, didn't you use your head and change something in the way you keep them?????!!!!')

I haven't had loss from a predator (since we got chicks in May 2007), because our run is made of hardware cloth on all sides (and buried deep), and the coop and latches are built like Fort Knox.

Anyone else with no horror stories?

 

[kurby]

So far here so good. I did lose one to my dog, the chicken hopped over the fence and my dog attacked her and she died later from shock and a hole in her neck But, so far all has gone well with NO other pests. I do lock my dog up when the girls are out. They free range most all day.
Karen

 

[Crazy4Chicks]

well I have had my flock for just over a year - and I have only lost 2 hens - one died from - dont know why - and the other had impacted crop - both passed as adults.

with all the dogs and cats that live around me I was worried we loss all the chickens/ducks but so far - lost none to predators ( knock on wood )

Julie

 

[jeaucamom]

We have had our chickens for all of.....almost a year.... and haven't lost one to a predator. Why? I chalk it up to praying for their safety. We lived in town until a month or so ago and they free ranged in the back yard. We only had the occasional cat, hawk, skunk and squirrel to deal with. Now, we are out on several acres. They free range during the day and still get locked up at night. I am working on an enclosed area for them because we have dogs, coyote and hawks out here too, but it wont be done for a week or so. It is the only responsible thing to do out here. I even forgot to close them up last night (BAD CHICKEN MOMMY!!!) and woke up to the sound of them talking outside my window. Ran outside in my birthday suit and they were all present and accounted for. Geesh, almost had a heart attack.

 

[kurby]

Jmom that was funny! but scarey to remember you didn't lock them up. Mine are locked up at night too.
K

 

[silkhope]

Well, after my initial loss of my flock from a German Shepherd, I started over last June - I reinforced the bottom of the run with hog wire, the top is covered and I ran heavy duty barbwire all around the bottom, about three feet (height). So far so good... (hits sumbit and knocks on wood and prays she didn't just jinx herself)

 

[Mrs MIA]

My girls are inside a coop, inside a pen, that's HOTWIRED to a car battery. We've had a couple of neighbor dogs nosing around that won't go near the pen anymore (poor widdle noses), but I'm waiting for the day that a black bear comes around again. We almost lost our young turkeys to a blackie - he knocked the door in (the door opens out), but one of the 2x4 roosts was in the way so he couldn't get to them. We now have one more dog, and shotguns near the front door... my babies are safe.

 

[Redfeathers]

So far so good. We burried the bottom fencing about six inches down, we have two layers of fencing at the bottom of the run on all sides, we close up the coop at night and have hardware cloth over the window. When the girls free range I sit outside with them or watch from a window. They aren't allowed alone for more than ten minutes. I think I have my male dogs to thank the most, they pee around the perimeter of the yard and the field behind our house so no predators ever seem to come this way. I've only ever seen a cat on the other side of the fence since the dogs took over the tree line for their personal toilet.

I pray things continue peacefully and they live to be old women. It certainly takes diligence and over protectiveness to insure the safety of all our pets but it's a responsibility that I take gladly.

 

[wife4life92]

We've been fortunate not to lose any pets to predators, although it's an eventual probability.

I have a question about hawks and vultures. For the last two days, they have been circling in large numbers while our hens range. I know that hawks are infamous predators on chickens and other small animals, but I don't understand the vultures. They are scavengers and don't prey on live animals. Do they typically hang around hawks, "waiting for the leftovers?" Or is this coincidence?

All I know, is if they ALL don't scram soon, I'm gonna have to take matters in my own hands!

Interested to hear what you have to say....

 

[speckledhen]

Naturally, it could change at any moment, but we've had chickens (freerange) for two years and have never lost one to a predator. We have roaming dogs, raccoons, possums, foxes, coyotes, bears, hawks, stray cats, etc. The coop is tight at night and probably only a bear or human predator could break into it. The pens are fairly high fencing with outward turned hardware wire and/or chickenwire at the bottoms. They are not covered, except for one, but they have mason's line strung with dancing CDs on it. They are locked up before dark every evening and during the day, we are often walking around, so possibly human presence deters some predators. We've even had a fox's den ON our property 200 ft from the coop and it didn't take a chicken-why, I'll never know, because I did find chicken feathers at the mouth of one of the den entrances, just not my chickens! We have livestock fencing around all but 25 ft of the property, but that is easily circumvented by a digging dog or climbing fox. That is mostly to keep the Girls IN and roaming dogs from easily passing across the property. So, I don't know why, but so far, we've been very fortunate.