Neighbors had a chicken massacre

[Just-Moxie]

That reminds me...your mentioning "free food". There is a chicken operation out behind us, maybe a quarter to half mile away. I think the wildlife gets good picking from them, when carcasses are possibly tossed out the door. I don't know how they operate, but can see them all over from the road approach just to our place.

The wild dog vermin.....if DH is around, they'll get a bullet and a proper burial. But it is usually just me here, and I don't need to be shooting off any firearms. I caught 2 last night out by the chicks tractor. Sniffing around. The female lab that killed my OEGB's the first 2x...and her new companion..the brown mangey dog she now has 2 puppies by. But I chased them off. She has been shot at twice.

I am just hoping our scrawny (!) little flock of yard birds isn't as appetizing as commercial poultry operations that are close by. Nothing has tried to dig under the fence in the pen so far. And we had electrified the chicken tractor after the dog and fox excitement. Might be time to plug it back in again.

 

[baymule]

When I decided I wanted chickens, I studied BYC's predator and coop forums. I learned from other's mistakes. Even though I live in the middle of our little town and have a chain link fenced yard, I built a strong predator proof coop. Then I was given a chicken killing Great Pyrenees! Brilliant move huh? Paris hated the chickens and would rush the wire snarling and growling at them. I would softly scold her, never raising my voice. Even though she hated them, she inadvertently protected them by protecting "her" yard. It took over 2 years, but I can now let them out of their coop and she patrols the yard, barking at cats, dogs, buzzards, people, anything and everything that might threaten "her" chickens. She has treed at least one raccoon (that I saw) and several possums. Between my coop/run efforts and Paris the GP, my girls are secure!

Moxie, you have some beautiful chickens!

 

[Just-Moxie]

Thank you baymule!! I am learning I need to go outside for a while and get some wood ash going. My chickens need their dust baths bad right now.....they are growing webbed feet!!
I am burning some of our cleared tree limbs in the fire pit to make them wood ash...and i have been burning now for a week. The little metal trash can is only 1/2 full!
I keep a plastic concrete mixing tub in the coop for the big kids.....but the chicks can't use that one yet. They have to stay in the grow out tractor till they are big enough to be integrated.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

My chickens dig along the run for their dust bath. They have a nice size hole dug on one corner.... I wish they would dig somewhere else. I keep a close eye on where they are digging incase I have to fill in the hole a little.

 

[catjac1975]

I had a chicken hating alpha dog when I first had chickens. He could walk around in the coop with me and not harm them. If one got loose outside the fence that was different. For him it was free game. I think they love all the noise and flapping of wings. I think a dog's presence is a good deterrent for a lot of predators. We had a young hawk land on a post in the coup. The roosters ran over to boast and scold it. A cat hopped up and started over towards the bird. Thankfully it flew off.

When I decided I wanted chickens, I studied BYC's predator and coop forums. I learned from other's mistakes. Even though I live in the middle of our little town and have a chain link fenced yard, I built a strong predator proof coop. Then I was given a chicken killing Great Pyrenees! Brilliant move huh? Paris hated the chickens and would rush the wire snarling and growling at them. I would softly scold her, never raising my voice. Even though she hated them, she inadvertently protected them by protecting "her" yard. It took over 2 years, but I can now let them out of their coop and she patrols the yard, barking at cats, dogs, buzzards, people, anything and everything that might threaten "her" chickens. She has treed at least one raccoon (that I saw) and several possums. Between my coop/run efforts and Paris the GP, my girls are secure!

Moxie, you have some beautiful chickens!

 

[journey11]

Moxie, those blue and splashed roos are gorgeous. What kind did you say they were?

 

[Just-Moxie]

They are Plymouth Rocks, bought locally here in SC from a BYC member. That was when they looked good last fall...now the ladies have bald spots on them from the roosters.

 

[Just-Moxie]

This is the one rooster all grown up. Turns out he is an Easter Egger project.

 

[bj taylor]

I haven't had my chickens attacked in quite some time. I have a couple acres fenced back yard that holds my two dogs. the chickens range back there all day. I lock them up at night. the coop is wrapped top, sides with hardware cloth. I was paranoid a rat, snake, or some other predator would slide in there at night. I like feeling that the coop itself is safe. I hate to think of them blind in the dark with a monster killing them one by one & they can't do anything.

moxie, that is a pretty rooster. those Plymouth rocks are beautiful too!