Backyard Chickens?

I'm so sorry for your loss @Ravenbird I'm such a softie when it comes to animals. I feel each and every loss. Even a chicken! I've never had them but find them very entertaining. If I didn't have so much to do already they may be something I would be interested in. Although I don't think my husband is interested LOL so I enjoy reading and learning from the members here who have them and a couple of friends of mine that have them. One of my closest friends down the road just bought five! I believe it's the first time she's ever had any but they are a family of farmers and raise cows and used to have their kids in 4-H with lots of animals. The kids are all grown now. I knew my daughter-in-law knew somebody who was trying to rehome some chickens. So yesterday we were trying to get the information and found out that a hawk already got five of the chickens! :shock:And the other four have been rehomed. But I was a little taken back by the 5 that died. That's the one part of this that always bothered me. I know I would be devastated. But I'm looking forward to my friends new chicks. And eggs! LOL
 
So the rest of the story. Since October, the strikes kept happening and it wasn't a hawk. I put the chickens on lock down, confined to the coop & run with wire roof - it's like Alcatraz. After a few weeks I'd let them out for a few hours & another would be taken down if I left the area for even 30 minutes. This with 2 dogs running about. I was thinking coyote. finally got a bobcat the last time one was taken. Lockdown again for a month. Twice the Hotwire was hit hard enough to bring it down & I thought maybe this cat has learned, so I let the chickens start having a few hours out in the Hotwire paddock, from well after daylight and putting them back before dusk. It's been good for almost a month. This afternoon I was working around outside until about 3, went in and at 4 went back out to lock up the chickens and another one gone. UGH. I can see the skid marks in the pine straw, the feathers plastered all over the fence and a body part on the other side. Bobcat or coyote got hit with the Hotwire going over the top of that 5 foot fence, but way too late for poor Blondie. I feel awful for trusting my handiwork with the electric fence, and just hate chickens having to be kept in a 20 foot run. I guess better to be cooped up than dead. I had incredibly good luck with no predators for 5 years until now, totally free range on 7 acres. I'm now down to about a 1/8th acre paddock with 5 foot chain link with electric on the outside and over the top and still am going to have to lock them up. :confounded:
Here's the bobcat back in November.
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Ravenbird said:
So the rest of the story. Since October, the strikes kept happening and it wasn't a hawk. I put the chickens on lock down, confined to the coop & run with wire roof - it's like Alcatraz. After a few weeks I'd let them out for a few hours & another would be taken down if I left the area for even 30 minutes. This with 2 dogs running about. I was thinking coyote. finally got a bobcat the last time one was taken. Lockdown again for a month. Twice the Hotwire was hit hard enough to bring it down & I thought maybe this cat has learned, so I let the chickens start having a few hours out in the Hotwire paddock, from well after daylight and putting them back before dusk. It's been good for almost a month. This afternoon I was working around outside until about 3, went in and at 4 went back out to lock up the chickens and another one gone. UGH. I can see the skid marks in the pine straw, the feathers plastered all over the fence and a body part on the other side. Bobcat or coyote got hit with the Hotwire going over the top of that 5 foot fence, but way too late for poor Blondie. I feel awful for trusting my handiwork with the electric fence, and just hate chickens having to be kept in a 20 foot run. I guess better to be cooped up than dead. I had incredibly good luck with no predators for 5 years until now, totally free range on 7 acres. I'm now down to about a 1/8th acre paddock with 5 foot chain link with electric on the outside and over the top and still am going to have to lock them up. :confounded:
Here's the bobcat back in November.
View attachment 115317 View attachment 115318
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Hmmmmm. Maybe you need a Maremma who lives with the chickens. Apparently we have Maremmas who successfully guard huge flocks of sheep from Dingoes out here. I even saw a sign beside the road on my recent trip advising that there were white dogs guarding stock present, I guess to stop helpful farmers from shooting them! Downside is that they have to be reared with the stock they need to guard so can't be a house dog.
 
jazzies mum said:
Hmmmmm. Maybe you need a Maremma who lives with the chickens. Apparently we have Maremmas who successfully guard huge flocks of sheep from Dingoes out here. I even saw a sign beside the road on my recent trip advising that there were white dogs guarding stock present, I guess to stop helpful farmers from shooting them! Downside is that they have to be reared with the stock they need to guard so can't be a house dog.
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That would work, but I just don't have it in me to have an outside dog. I understand that livestock guardians like what they do, but it's not for me. It's been pointed out that fresh back yard chicken eggs would come to about $1 each if you added up all the expenses.:rofl: I really like my chickens and the fresh eggs though. I'll keep them on lockdown and either work on the electric fence or design something new. Or just keep them in the Alcatraz Pen and never mind free range. :down:
 
That's a shame about the chickens. :( We don't have any because I know the weasels and fox would prey on them.
Ravenbird said:
I just don't have it in me to have an outside dog. I understand that livestock guardians like what they do, but it's not for me.
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How about a llama or alpaca? They're meant to be outside and I know a lot of people who have them as livestock guardians.
 
JanS said:
How about a llama or alpaca?
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Yeah, good advice here for sure. I just don't want another animal right now. It actually makes me wonder if the horses that were here were helping keep the predators at bay? My last horse died in June of 2019, so it's been quiet of the large animals here for a year & a half. Hmmm. But no, Asha keeps me so busy, I haven't the time for a horse now, much less the energy. But thank you all for your thoughts.
 
Ravenbird said:
Yeah, good advice here for sure. I just don't want another animal right now. It actually makes me wonder if the horses that were here were helping keep the predators at bay? My last horse died in June of 2019, so it's been quiet of the large animals here for a year & a half. Hmmm. But no, Asha keeps me so busy, I haven't the time for a horse now, much less the energy. But thank you all for your thoughts.
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Ugh sorry you are dealing with mammal predators that can just jump any hot fence. I do agree your horses probably kept them away. They say donkeys make the best deterrent and that they will actually defend livestock. If it were aerial predators it'd be a little easier. Supposedly black chickens keep hawks away because they think it's a crow or raven and they don't like to mess with them, lol. I have black chickens but I always am happy to see the crows stay nearby..they give an extra warning to the chickens and will harass hawks. The only thing I think you could do is keep them locked up and set out traps, if legal, until the predators learn there isn't a good meal to have there. Is it possible to build a covered run to give them a little more room? Nothing as good as free ranging but maybe with plenty of enrichment its better than being locked inside. So sorry about all your loss. They are certainly special to us.
 
Thanks, @Rits. You can see the coop & run in that last photo. The coop is 8 x 10 and the run is 20' long & covered, with the far end having shade cloth & the ladder to roost on. It has a door I can close, I used it for the broody pen when chicks were raised so they would "be" with the rest of the flock, but not harassed by them. I also used it for a rooster jail when we had a bad rooster, or a sick bay if one was injured. I'm down to 10 now, includes the rooster and the cockerel that was hatched in Sept. So they aren't really over crowded, We have ravens, so very few hawks. We've looked into traps, & talked to the Fish & Wildlife Dept., but consensus is that bobcats/mountain lions & coyotes are extremely difficult to live trap + the trap would have to be where the dogs couldn't disturb it & I'm absolutely against leg traps. It is really up to me to build a better fence. LOL, I'm envisioning something that would really start looking like a prison!
 
Lucy the leghorn is 11 today! I probably shouldn't admit this but I wasn't all that excited about a leghorn. They just didn't do anything for me.
I take it ALL back now. She has been wonderful! Very friendly, a GREAT layer and always the first to try something new. I just love her! :love:
 
JanS said:
Wow that's pretty old for a chicken, isn't it? Happy Birthday Lucy!
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They can live as long as dogs. If they are lucky...! Being prey animals they typically don't and being birds which can be hit or miss on hardiness. Since most chickens are seen as livestock that dont typically live past 16 weeks for meat or 2 years for egg production, not a whole lot of research is put into curing diseases.

Genny that's amazing and I'm sure you love her just like you would any other pet!! I've always heard leghorns are flighty but I imagine there's always special ones that defy their norms.

Our ladies are really happy theres no more snow on the ground. They protest winter and are quite content staying in their coop even with the door open lol. They only come out on sunny days when there's snow out there. Even then we have to give them a nudge and a shoveled path.

Hanging out yesterday on the warm day! Getting ready to snooze under the a frame.
PXL_20210309_191327847.jpg

Laying is ramping up as the daylight hours get longer. The girls like to support each other and watch. Really they are patiently waiting (and some impatiently!)
PXL_20210306_193423333.jpg
 
I made the girls a special treat this morning to celebrate Lucy's birthday. I made the mistake of mentioning it to hubs. He's been teasing all day because I know the hatch day of all our girls.
Rits said:
If they are lucky...! Being prey animals they typically don't and being birds which can be hit or miss on hardiness.
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We have been VERY lucky! All the girls have been healthy and for the most part protected by dobermans. We have had a Cooper's Hawk pair hanging around so they haven't been out much unless someone can be out there with them.
 
GennyB said:
I made the girls a special treat this morning to celebrate Lucy's birthday. I made the mistake of mentioning it to hubs. He's been teasing all day because I know the hatch day of all our girls.

We have been VERY lucky! All the girls have been healthy and for the most part protected by dobermans. We have had a Cooper's Hawk pair hanging around so they haven't been out much unless someone can be out there with them.
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I love spoiling the girls and hearing others spoil theirs! They enjoy it! We do the same if there's any sign of hawks hanging around. The ravens have been real good to us out here and will attack them and give my rooster a heads-up. He has learned to key in on their sounds.
 
Happy birthday Lucy! What a great life you have. :thumbsup:

My good friend down the road just got some chickens last fall. I think she has six at the moment. Right now they're delivering six eggs a day!
 
Aww cute! They sure like checking out the camera. I hope that was a cell phone and not a regular camera with a lens or you'd be saying noooo. LOL
 
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