I lost 20 birds out of a flock of 30 this spring. I feel your pain. Did they come back to their coop last night? Did something get them during the day or night? If it was during the day and no sign of struggle, I'm thinking bird of prey. But 3 in one day is a lot for a bird. When an owl got my rooster there was a sign of struggle and we found the body by the fence post. Maybe a dog got them? I'm sorry that happened. I ended up getting a livestock dog and haven't had any problems since, the dog even saved us when a loose pitbull came into the yard looking for a fight.
Komondors are really cool, how are they as guardians? We have a Pyrenees who is great but pretty nocturnal and likes to bark at night. Still, too bad you had a loss. I hope you catch whoever got them. I still don't know what bent hog wire 90 degrees to break into our coop.
Yes. The Geese are huge, and they make the birds of prey think twice about trying to attack. The goose will 100% get in the face of anything that tries shit.
Geese, Guardian Dogs, and Donkeys have been traditionally used by farmers for thousands of years.
Ducks are dicks too, not sure if they get as big as geese but I have a buddy who got some ducks to protect his chickens. Duck eggs are better than chicken eggs too imo but chicken meat is better than duck meat.
Guard geese, lol. It makes total sense now. They bite hard when they caught us but it was mostly the flapping wings that scared us. Grandma would just laugh and tell us to leave the geese alone.
[ - ] Fascinus 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 14:14:53 ago (+1/-0)
We used to have a neighborhood retard that would come by every so often while making his rounds.
Hadn't seen him for a while, so I asked the kids, who told me last they'd seen him was running down the driveway back towards the road after the geese had bitten the fuck out of him.
Lost 3 to a god damn raccoon. A 4th lost their eye but my wife interrupted the raccoons dinner. Now I’m down to 7 of 10. Reinforced the coop, put in a fenced in run, haven’t had a problem since. I’ve got barred rock, which are super sweet and gentle but dumb as shit. Like extra dumb even for chickens.
I think losing chickens is just part of having chickens.
Now what the hell do I do with 4 dozen eggs a week? The neighbors don’t seem to want any more.
Auto door, big feed bucket, big water tower, I only have to do chicken upkeep 1x/week.
We used electric poultry fence with excellent results for over a year. I put up a more permanent fence with t-posts and field fencing a couple of months ago. So far so good.
We have speckled sussex, but a buddy of mine keeps Australorps. He claims the birds of prey think they’re crows and leave them alone.
I had three wild chickens join my farm. I had them free range for months since they clearly seemed able to handle themselves.
I lost two to a fox within the span of two days. The third is in the bird cage now. I have dogs, and while they do stay inside at night, they spend most of their time outside during the day, which is when the chickens got killed.
The only way you can keep chickens alive is to keep them in a coup, nothing else works.
We've lost three of our six this year, and we have no idea why. Just finding them in the coop and dying with no signs of injury. It's been tough because we also raised them from chicks, and treated them as pets instead of livestock. We weren't raising them for meat.
[ + ] Endo_Aryan
[ - ] Endo_Aryan 6 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 10:26:32 ago (+6/-0)
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 17:44:05 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] Endo_Aryan
[ - ] Endo_Aryan 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 18:28:04 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 8, 2023 13:25:04 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Belfuro
[ - ] Belfuro 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 18:26:34 ago (+1/-0)
(our rooster is pathetic).
They do not tolerate hawks
[ + ] Endo_Aryan
[ - ] Endo_Aryan 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 18:29:54 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Autismo
[ - ] Autismo 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 14:03:01 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Endo_Aryan
[ - ] Endo_Aryan 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 18:33:08 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] KosherHiveKicker
[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 4 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 10:21:06 ago (+4/-0)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDeI8j55wwY
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 17:52:05 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] Portmanure
[ - ] Portmanure 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 10:52:42 ago (+1/-1)
[ + ] KosherHiveKicker
[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 5 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 10:58:45 ago (+5/-0)
Geese, Guardian Dogs, and Donkeys have been traditionally used by farmers for thousands of years.
[ + ] Nosferatjew
[ - ] Nosferatjew 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 12:46:23 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] NaturalSelectionistWorker
[ - ] NaturalSelectionistWorker 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 13:30:00 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] Portmanure
[ - ] Portmanure 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 11:02:10 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] KosherHiveKicker
[ - ] KosherHiveKicker 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 11:13:51 ago (+1/-0)*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovxJXZdhRdM
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 17:53:13 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] Fascinus
[ - ] Fascinus 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 14:14:53 ago (+1/-0)
Hadn't seen him for a while, so I asked the kids, who told me last they'd seen him was running down the driveway back towards the road after the geese had bitten the fuck out of him.
[ + ] Unreasonable
[ - ] Unreasonable 3 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 11:52:12 ago (+3/-0)
Reinforced the coop, put in a fenced in run, haven’t had a problem since. I’ve got barred rock, which are super sweet and gentle but dumb as shit. Like extra dumb even for chickens.
I think losing chickens is just part of having chickens.
Now what the hell do I do with 4 dozen eggs a week? The neighbors don’t seem to want any more.
Auto door, big feed bucket, big water tower, I only have to do chicken upkeep 1x/week.
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 14:29:28 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] NaturalSelectionistWorker
[ - ] NaturalSelectionistWorker 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 13:31:21 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] 2Drunk
[ - ] 2Drunk 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 12:12:51 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] Fattyjiggles
[ - ] Fattyjiggles 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 17:53:03 ago (+1/-0)
We have speckled sussex, but a buddy of mine keeps Australorps. He claims the birds of prey think they’re crows and leave them alone.
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 19:19:59 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] s23erdctfvyg
[ - ] s23erdctfvyg 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 17:15:39 ago (+1/-0)
I lost two to a fox within the span of two days. The third is in the bird cage now.
I have dogs, and while they do stay inside at night, they spend most of their time outside during the day, which is when the chickens got killed.
The only way you can keep chickens alive is to keep them in a coup, nothing else works.
[ + ] Speakfreely
[ - ] Speakfreely 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 15:00:41 ago (+1/-0)
I thought I lost one the other day but ended up finding her going on a little adventure on the plot.
We have bears coyotes and the works.
Thinking of getting a guardian dog, any suggestions?
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 19:26:08 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] RabbiKinderschtupper
[ - ] RabbiKinderschtupper 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 11:11:05 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] NaturalSelectionistWorker
[ - ] NaturalSelectionistWorker 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 13:32:24 ago (+0/-0)
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[ - ] deleted 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 16:01:16 ago (+0/-0)
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[ - ] deleted 2 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 19:22:32 ago (+2/-0)
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[ - ] deleted 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 19:26:15 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] NaturalSelectionistWorker
[ - ] NaturalSelectionistWorker 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 13:29:07 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] MaryXmas
[ - ] MaryXmas 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 13:16:35 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Spaceman84
[ - ] Spaceman84 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 11:00:01 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] TheOriginal1Icemonkey
[ - ] TheOriginal1Icemonkey 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 10:33:50 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic
[ - ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 10:31:52 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] inaminit
[ - ] inaminit 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 09:47:41 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Portmanure
[ - ] Portmanure 0 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 09:41:04 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] inaminit
[ - ] inaminit 3 points 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 09:48:59 ago (+3/-0)
[ + ] Portmanure
[ - ] Portmanure 1 point 1.6 yearsOct 7, 2023 09:51:59 ago (+1/-0)