Who Knew I'd Love Raising Chickens?

Date sort Score sort
C

Chapel Oak Farms

Chirping
Oct 3, 2020
26
72
76
Hello, my name is Colleen. We moved to a beautiful four-acre property early this year and promptly added a cow and some chickens. We found a local lady on Craigslist and adopted some chickens and two roosters. Some of our chickens ended up dying en route, which was so disheartening. The lady gave us three replacements, a very motley trio with sad-looking feathers and mites. Admittedly, the roosters were not a great idea. We ended up keeping the speckled Sussex and giving away the Americana (boy was he mean!).

We had a lavender Orpington that we nursed back to health after almost losing her upon arrival as well. The hens were older than we asked for but they have been good layers. The lavender, Opal, died after a few months. We lost one from the trio just last month, who was healthy but again probably older than we thought.

My husband and I decided to get some new chicks from our local animal feed and supply store. We have them in a separate enclosed pen. We got 6 Easter Eggers and 4 New Hampshire Reds. About a week later my hubby surprised me and bought 4 Barred Rocks. They are growing quickly and anticipate them beginning to lay eggs around Thanksgiving. My husband is going to build a chicken tractor so they can forage in a safe environment. The little ones LOVE to eat grass and weeds.

We seem to be getting to the end of the molting season. The egg-laying slowed way down but is picking back up again. There is nothing better than collecting fresh eggs every day!

QUESTION: What have you found to work best to keep hawks away? There is a breeding pair very near our property. One of them perched on top of a gate post near the little chicken pen. We need to protect our flock and encourage the hawks to find a new home!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC! :frow

So sorry for your losses. Glad to hear the chicks are doing so well! There is really no easy way to deter hawks and other predators other than protecting the flock. You might build a secure covered run and supervise free ranging only. We are overloaded with predators and supervised free ranging is the only way to keep them safe.

Good luck with your flock and welcome to ours!
 
Thank you! Our rooster does a phenomenal job at keeping watch over his girls, thankfully. They are in a large fenced area with a covered coop. We open the gate and they forage very close to the house and a big oak tree near our cow's open barn. We have mature trees that offer great protection from bird predators. I wasn't sure how effective a statue decoy might be.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC. I’ve had hawks attack my chickens 3 feet from me. If you do not wish to accept the occasional loss, then free-ranging is not necessarily the best, imo. Here are some helpful links:
  • Great go-to resource - Articles
  • How to start a new thread
  • Find other BYC members nearby using the links in my signature, below (turn your phone to landscape to see them).
Best wishes
Pork Pie
 
Chickens 4 Acres said:
Thank you! Our rooster does a phenomenal job at keeping watch over his girls, thankfully. They are in a large fenced area with a covered coop. We open the gate and they forage very close to the house and a big oak tree near our cow's open barn. We have mature trees that offer great protection from bird predators. I wasn't sure how effective a statue decoy might be.
Click to expand...
Trees and cover does help, but hawks are pretty brave and focused. I once walked right past a hawk sitting in a nearby tree while on my way into the coop. Moments later it dove directly on the the hardware cloth on the run at chicks that were right there along the inside. The hawk just clung there as I walked into the run! Amazing and interesting, but thankfully they stayed safe! Scared me to death, :D Hawks are quite brave and fearless. Decoys are pretty useless, I've seen Owls sit right next to them. :D
 
Hi Coleen!

I have hawks and bald eagles where I live. I hear/see them just about every day. I originally planned to free range, as a place a mile from me does. Another place nearby has a large, fenced in area where their chickens roam.

I decided against free range because of the hawks, eagles, and a lot of other ground dwelling predators, including dogs. My neighbor asked me to tell her when the chickens would be out, as she had no doubt her dog would attack them, if he saw them. My dog might too. Rather than risk losing chickens and being upset with the dogs, we built as large a run as we could and made it as secure as possible. We covered the top with chicken wire and I put a tarp over most of it for shade/keeping out rain.

I only have four chickens, so my situation is different from yours. It sounds like you have a lot more. I still see/hear the hawks and eagles. I still have all my chickens. The place a mile from me doesn't have chickens anymore; I don't know if they were culled or killed. I'm too fond of my birds and nervous about their safety to let them out.

And, welcome! Glad you're here.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom