A Worrisome Time for Chickens is Coming
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 чер 2024
- Henlo! I am The President of Chickenlandia and I want to welcome you to Chickenlandia, a magical place where my pet chickens (and a few ducks) live an awesome life. Thank you for watching this video about the Springtime problems for backyard chickens. Hope you love it! #chickenlandia #welcometochickenlandia #backyardchickens
Check out my book "Let's All Keep Chickens! The Down-to-Earth Guide to Natural Practices for Healthier Birds and a Happier World" www.storey.com/books/lets-all...
Need more? Take my course Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for EVERYONE: course.welcometochickenlandia...
Listen to my podcast Bawk Tawk on all major podcast apps and here: welcometochickenlandia.com/we...
My nesting boxes: myfavoritechicken.com/product...
Check out all the My Favorite Chicken products from their website: myfavoritechicken.com/ref/2/
Or you can purchase their products on Amazon: amzn.to/3rAj7Yu
As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases through the above link.
Check out Small Pet Select here and use the promo code SPSCHICK15 for 15% OFF: bit.ly/3sC5kNc
I love my Redmond Real Salt and Agriculture products and you will too! (use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off): shop.redmondagriculture.com/?...
Visit @ScratchAndPeckFeeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here: glnk.io/91j5y/welcome-to-chic...
Heavy Duty Aviary Netting: amzn.to/3Fzqa68
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases through the link above.
Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens": • I Dream of Chickens | ...
Check out my website and join my mailing list! welcometochickenlandia.com
Get your cool Chickenlandia MERCH! welcometochickenlandia.com/shop/
Facebook: / welcometochickenlandia
Instagram: / welcometochickenlandia
Twitter: / chickenlandia1
Write to us!
Welcome to Chickenlandia™
2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125
Bellingham, WA 98226
Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia UA-cam Channel, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia UA-cam Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens. - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
Zero rats in Alberta (except politicians)
😅
I hope you don't mean Danielle Smith. You guys have it the best of all the provinces.
@@QueenBee-qd7vx True true true
I’m in Western North Dakota and I can’t get over how there’s no rats here.
We have those kind here in politics too!!
Make friends with Crows! When my husband and I lived in a little rural(ish) suburb of Los Angeles, I had a great relationship with my local crows.
I left eggs out for them, and they were relentless about keeping the local predator birds away from our little 3/4 acre property.
Lived in the house for 9 years and free ranged the entire time, and NEVER lost a bird to an Ariel predator ❤️
That’s amazing! I’ve been wondering how to keep crows around; we’ve had several in the vicinity the last week or two. Do you leave raw eggs out, and how do you keep your chickens from finding them?
@@nancymcfadden3039 I put them up on a fence post out of the coop. They also LOVE peanuts!
So true!! We feed ours as well. Crows hate birds of prey and the hawks dont think much of the crows, darn good watch dogs from the sky.
We do the same. We also leave other treats out for the crows. Crows will take little chicks, so be careful, when you have chicks.
Those of you that feed the crows happen to know if the same would work with Ravens? That's what we have more of here in my area of Alaska!
Don't have chickens but I can confirm that the proximity activated Halloween decorations work as critter trainers. Rabbits were eating my freshly sprouted peas in my garden a few years ago. I broke these things out of storage, hung em out in the garden and made sure they had fresh batteries. Rabbits were much more inclined to eat the dandelion and clover out in the yard after that.
That is both genius and hilarious. Scarecrows but for rabbit repellent
I so LOVE reading everyone’s comments and hearing their stories! I am constantly learning new things and it reminds me that there are still sooo many wonderful people out there!❤
Last year we had a bobcat jump on a pvc chicken tractor with the chickens inside. He jumped onto the hatch that we used to put the chicken feed and water containers in it every morning as we moved them to a new spot in the yard. I was cleaning the very secure coop at the time and they were 30 to 40 yards away. Suddenly I wondered what was framing and “banning” outside. The 6 nesting boxes blocked my view. And I moved to an open area inside. The bobcat was actually raising the door which was 9 ft square…at times he was also lifting the whole thing up 8 or 9 inches and 4 chickens were on the run. I ran and got my husband with a chicken under each arm. We saved all of them and though they were frazzled and scared they never missed a beat in laying eggs. The 10 chickens continued to each lay an egg every day. We gave away the chicken tractor… it was way too heavy for us to easily drag anyway…we are in our 70’s. About a week ago we saw that our game camera had been triggered. It was a bobcat at he came just before daylight.
Wow!!
Wow. Your chickens are lucky they have you!
Wow. That was bold. Maybe it had babies to feed? I had a small chicken tractor that was parked under the front porch of my barn. Saw a hawk perched right on top of it. Even with the entire tractor under roof!! I have had hawks get on the ground and chase a rooster under the lean to attached to the barn. The roo hid under the riding mower and I chased the Coopers hawk off. They are known to get on the ground like that and get a bird right out of a small bush. They run like a chicken. The roo was too big for that hawk to drag off but they can still deliver fatal wounds if they make contact with those talons.
Where are you - generally?
A few years ago when I had a horse in central Indiana, some in our area were being attacked and, judging by the claw marks and places clawed, we all thought it had to be a big cat! We put the horses inside every night. As suddenly as it started, it stopped.
I have also heard that running Christmas lights on your fencing can help detouring foxes, coyotes, wolves. They don’t like flashing or twinkling lights.
That’s why they make dog collars that flash.
Just a thought
Good idea!
Solar
I was unsure of my dog (sharpei/shepherd mix) around our chickens. After about 2 years of keeping them apart I introduced her to the flock and watched her. It was amazing. She protects them rather than eat them.
My pitbull is the best chicken dog. So tolerant to their pecking and helps me round the up when the time comes. Unfortunately, I can't leave her outside alone to protect the chickens. She won't stay . She's my shadow and goes where I go.
I spent a summer training our Pitador puppy. Lots of hands on holding, supervision, and cue words FREQUENTLY. I thought she would be out unsurvised but she got it! Now she spends hours with the chivkens.
Definitely motion lights- they also help deter sneaky human predators.. 😉
The worst kind!
Coyotes don't like lights!
I had a trapper tell me once when I was having a problem with a groundhog, that he could relocate it for me but it's pretty much futile. Nature hates a vacuum and something else will come right along behind it and take the place of whatever you got rid of.
Years ago I was having raccoon troubles. One night I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and wandered out to the kitchen for a drink of water only to catch sight of a raccoon amble down from the back of my couch, onto the armrest, then across the floor of my living room.😮 It had torn 2 screens before deciding to wander into the house. I asked a trapper for advice...apparently raccoons need to be relocated @ LEAST 8 miles from home to have a reasonable chance of a successful relocation.
@@birdieloo6168 That had to be terrifying!! You poor thing!!
@@kristen7775 It was kind of scary. I grabbed my cats and a phone and ran for the sanctuary of the bathroom…my dog (who was beside me) followed me. While I was trying to decide what to do, I peeked out the door just in time to see the little burglar climbing up on the couch, going out the same way he came in. Thank you Jesus! Too bad I didn’t have a home security camera inside…I’m sure it’d be pretty funny to see.
@@birdieloo6168when I was a kid, from about 3 years old until 9 or 10, my dad and step mom would take me and my step brothers to Wallowa Lake in Oregon for a week every summer. We always stayed in the same little one bedroom cabin and us kids would sleep on military type cots in the living room. We had all the windows open all the time and the occasional bird would come sit on the window sill inside, there were several squirrels that would come in and chatter at us for snacks and we'd usually have a few deer in the yard that we could feed carrots to through the windows. Once summer, I think I was 8 years old but would have to dig out the pic to verify, I woke up one morning with a raccoon the size of a small house cat sitting on my chest just staring at me. My dad took quite a few pics of it "inspecting" me and said it almost poked at my face, played with my hair and pulled on my nightgown similar to how toddlers behave. Even after I woke up it just sat there staring at me for the longest time until my step brothers woke up and scared it off when they jumped off their cots and tried to grab it. Jerks lol
We had netting on top and a hawk still got into the run.and one day it was in the run hanging out with the chickens.and when i opened the run door the hawk just ran out. Non of the chickens were hurt.
WOW that's incredible! Hawks are so interesting.
The young hawks seem to not know what the heck they are doing sometimes. 😂
Well I think when they hunt the fly down and grab and since the hawk couldn't grab and fly away it felt vulnerable and surrounded by hens! 😂 Lol
There was a young hawk trying to see how to get in to live with the chickens once for us on a rainy day lol.... I didn't let him in cuz I thought he might be lying xD
😂 Probably too frightened.
I only have five chickens but I love them dearly. My pair of bantams is going on 9 years old. I have three young one year olds that I "rescued" as runt chicks that were not thriving. One of my hens is full sized but has the shortest legs! She cannot perch so she roosts on the floor of our coop. She had a badly broken leg as a few days old chick. But she is so sweet and has begun laying. Her name is Hopscotch. My coop is inside of my barn so they are warm and safe in winter, but getting out is tricky. Many predators both on the ground and in the sky here. I let them out when I am with them. They get a dust bath and some sun but I can't let them free range. I lost one of my little hens to a hawk last fall right in front of us. It let her go but punctured her intestinal wall and she had to be put down. I so enjoy letting them out but I cannot tolerate another loss. So they get out when I'm out with them and that's it. They are very good about going back in their coop when I "shoo shoo" them in. I wanted to let you know about another interesting method my son uses. He has almost 100 chickens, 2 peacocks, several ducks, and he free ranges all of them EVERY DAY on many acres. He was losing chickens to hawks. He pens them safely at night, so these were daytime kills. He heard that hawks hate crows and if you get black chickens, the hawks think they are crows and will not come down on the chickens. Since he has incorporated black chickens he has not lost one to a hawk!! Zero hawk attacks! His chickens lay the most beautiful eggs with rich golden yolks and they are so happy. His channel is Toontucky Farms if you would like to see his operation. My granddaughter posts shorts a lot of their animals. His chickens go outside year round! He didn't lose any during the deep freeze we had this winter. I love your channel and your loving approach to your chickens. I am 70 and I have loved chickens since I can remember. My father was from a farm in Italy and he allowed me to have chickens even in the city of LA as a child. I live on 14 acres in Indiana now. I also have two ducks, one mini pig, 1 small barking dog, and 8 cats. My cats do protect my chickens and also keep rodents in "balance". I also love all creatures, even rodents.
That’s interesting about the black chickens! I have a few of them but never thought of that!
I’ve heard that too. There are several black and dark varieties in my flock and even though there are hawks, I’ve never lost one to them either.
I have a black chicken … still lost my buffington to a hawk…. Maybe the black one had wandered off…. Idk sigh…..
I live in Nashville Indiana and started raising Icelandic chickens this pass summer.
@@janenielander1963 I live south of you also in Indiana.
A great thing for rodents in the coop is the Flip& Slide. You purchase the top and snap it on to your own 5 gallon bucket. Put some peanut butter in the pointy end of the top; the mouse steps on a hinged platform to get the peanut butter, and its weight makes that flip. Mouse falls into bucket. You can put water in your bucket, and the mouse drowns. Or, you could just collect live mice in the bucket if you prefer. Works so well! Flip & Slide
Definitely works, but just want to add, make sure none of your chickens can fall in too.
Chickens love to eat mice
I have one of those bucket lid traps..I think the flip lid is too big for a chicken to fall into. I ALWAYS put a towel in the bottom so they don't get hurt and let them go in the woods a few miles away. NO REASON TO KILL AN INNOCENT ANIMAL JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE!!!
Could give the live critters to people that have reptiles as pets. They have to purchase rodents otherwise.
The way things are going, the human predators will be our biggest concern.
Premier electric fencing! Solves your problems. We have zero issues with predators. We also have runs and coops that are secure.
I agree. I have that around my coop and have had zero problems with predators. Of course I always close the coop at night just in case.
We have too many rocks to dig down a foot, or even 6 inches! The skirting didn't work for mice, they just backed up and tunneled under it. I extended it out even more, they backed up again. I had layed football size rocks on top of the skirting, still no problem for them. Tried the Flip and Slide, it didn't work. Finally had to catch and eliminate them.
We have a rodent problem since we moved in and didn’t have chickens.
They got into my house and pantry!
I had to get a service that put down bait that wouldn’t harm the wildlife, just the rats.
They’re still around. Saw two in the tool barn and all my feed and such is protected in metal containers.
My rescue dog is a 60-pound Chow mix. She is about 9 years old, I got my first chickens in August, nine of them (6 leghorns, 3 Rhode Islanders), and as soon as I acclimated them to the outdoors (in 120-degree temps) she began watching over them like a mother--at a distance. She is afraid to hurt them bec of her size, but also hates things that move fast, fall from higher up, and fly! So a blessing either way. She is awesome! Free range, 7,000 sq ft back yard, more desert behind that, no grass--sad--50% wide open desert (they're exploring the front deck however) (I'm netting sporadically--successfully at least twice--aerial predators as well as ground), and dog is almost always out there, running from one end to the other, barking at anything and everything (wasn't quite that bad before our babies arrived!). They eat 1/2+ cup feed each/day (3 cups dry pellets, 1 cup dry pellets fermented into 3 cups!), generous veggie salad mid-day, afternoon protein snack, and oatmeal thrown into coop to settle in for night. I think the dog is helping a bit. I thought one of the larger chickens was going to take her big bone last week! Circled her a few times while she was chewing on her bone, and then changed her mind when she got close to her head. (She probably gave her the ol' Evil Eye!) They aren't afraid of her, only if she moves fast up close, just like them to her! :) I'm 76, never owned a "farm animal", and love every second of it! And their eggs are beautiful and plentiful! I will be preserving! Thank you for all of your wonderful advice and entertainment and for your love and appreciation of these beautiful wonderfully curious loving poopy creatures!
You’re so very welcome!
I found this out the hard way. Last spring I got my first chickens…. Lost one in the fall and just lost one (my favorite one 😢) last week due to a hawk strike. I’m in Michigan and it got unseasonably warm for a week and I let the chickens out to free range (they have a protective coop with a completely fenced in predator proofed chicken yard) on the property. I was so sad. Keeping chickens locked up tight all spring now. Poor chicken….. I realized that the predators are extra hungry in the spring and fall the hard way….
We have raccoons around our area. Seen many thru out our yard on cameras. Hubby will pee out around the run and coop. So far so good. 🙏. Love Our Girls, they all know their names. 5 right now, that the big coop is done, more chicks in the spring. I have flags all around coop run and a Blue Blow up guy. Like used car lots use.
😂I ❤ this idea. I’m going to tell the hubs to get peeing!
My hubby has done the same thing. It was working fine until last week when we discovered something had pushed the wire away from the bottom of the coop and tried to dig underneath to get in. The heavy boards my husband had installed underground around the bottom of the coop and run stopped whatever it was, but the pee didn’t seem to stop it at all. 😕
@@peaches833😂😂
Ùùu8ù7⁷7⁸88⁸⁷⁸778 re
I love your upbeat, nurturing, common sense way of educating us chicken keepers. 💕 Thank you so much Dalia/ you are such a lovely human being- inside and out! 💐🐓💕🐓💕
You are so welcome!
My chickens are in an enclosed run…daily I free range them for a while….there are hawks that have gone after them. I found owl screeches on u-tube…I stream that sound through my “Aomais” speaker from my phone and set it outside and play while they are ranging…has been working for over a year now. My chickens feel safe with it…when it ends they are at my back door. I’m sure the neighbors think I’m crazy!
😂great idea I should try it!
Great idea!
What’s an aomais speaker?
It’s a speaker that you can sink…or connect with your I-phone…and it’s much louder outside than just your phone
These comments have me tickled to pieces - yours is hysterical. Might as well add dog barking and crow chirps! I use solar string lights, solar motion sensor spotlights, and battery operated motion lights above doors - my house lights up like a christmas tree at night! The moving trees/winds will trigger it too. I just moved on my mini farm. I also bet my neighbors think I am crazy. Even the deer used to come through my back yard. They keep distance now.
I have a small flock and instead of skirting my run with chicken wire, I have cinder blocks all along the outside of the run.
I have a cattle panel greenhouse that I covered in hardware mesh and converted to a chicken run, it’s been great for the chickens!
Oh I love the cinder block idea! That's what I used to build my raised beds!
@@user-fl9oo6rn6bit’s worked really well for the past year and a half! I know we have raccoons that visit my backyard at night, and they haven’t gotten into the coop/run yet!
Electric fence from Premiere Fences is works great with bird netting on top. Plus, you can move it around.
We put up "construction safety debris netting" over our huge run. We got it from Walmart because it was way cheaper. We just had a huge tree fall on our fence and the netting. It took down the metal fence but the netting did not rip. I highly recommend it.
Thank you for this!
@@Growstuff70 You're welcome!
Wow. Great tip!!
Awesome tip!!! Thanks so much!❤❤❤
@@christynm.8933 You're welcome 😊
You and I see the world differently, and I think it makes your excellent videos even better for me. Hold fast to the chicken mission!
I need to knock on wood but. . . My girls and my Roo sleep in either a small barn or a solidly built coop. They free range in my 1 acre backyard. I just lost one of my Ameracaunas to a hawk so I doubled down on diversions. Lots of silver holographic ribbon, pinwheels whirly things all over the yard. Tied on a ladder with a little scarecrow doll who moves from step to step and the ladder moves around the yard. Have dog agility jumps and my clothesline with silver tape flapping. I move my fake owls regularly. For rats I keep glad containers with a mix of baking soda and jiffy cornmeal mix or quickset plaster of Paris and Lipton chicken cup a soup. Installed no dig panels around the base of my 6 ft privacy fence originally to keep one of my dogs from digging out. Now to keep foxes and raccoons out. My 2 Aussies pee and poop all over the yard and that may help with coyotes, although they are not “guardian dogs.” They sleep on the bed with me. 😊 I don’t think anything can keep everything out but I have 5 girls who are pushing 9 years old and that makes me happy. Also have a handsome young roo named Roscoe (blue laced red Wyandotte - my favorite eye candy breed) coming into his own as a defender and general bad ass at almost 2 years. Although he does eat from my hand. 🥰.
Excellent video! We live in a rural area and I prefer to keep our chickens in a run. The run itself is a layer of security. The coop is predator proof. Hardware cloth is super useful for homesteaders and gardeners for multiple uses. The idea about fishing netting was great. Be well.
I raised my hens from day old babies with my dog. She regarded my girls as her babies. With her in my yard i don't have to worry about predators and she's a wonderful ratter. She would lose her mind if they were attacked. However she wants in with her babies so occasionally she tries to dig into the run. Mostly she likes to lay next to the pen and watch them. My girls think she's an odd looking chicken. They are comfortable with her. Yes, i have all female pets.
The flying hooves of our neighbor's donkey and mare were helpful, but we lost 2 hens anyway. Both losses in daylight. We do better now. ❤ Dalia!
In regards to people who decide to shoot predators, I'm reminded of my late uncle's tale about the new neighbors who were city folk just moved to the country. Uncle lived with my Grandpa on a small 5 acre farm, which was the size of all the farm plats along that road. They kept all the usual farm animals. Although Uncle was what's nowadays called "Developmentally Delayed" (or "cognitively impaired," meaning it took him decades just to learn a little bit of reading, like the names of family members), he knew so much about taking care of animals. They were successful in raising chickens. The new neighbors were having problems with raccoons and other predators going after the chickens, so instead of talking to the neighbors (i.e. Uncle and Grandpa), they just went and put out traps baited with meat. I guess they figured that since the predators were going after meat, then meat bait was the way to catch them. And they were cruel traps! They'd break the poor animals' bones, but not clean through, so the poor things suffered all night until some human came along and put them out of their misery. But they never actually caught a single predator. All they ever caught were my Uncle and Grandpa's cats 😡 The first time it happened, Uncle got up out of bed because of the cat's cries, and ran to its rescue. That was the first one-legged farm cat. The next day he advised the neighbors to use vegetable and fruit bait, not meat, because raccoons will eat that, but cats will go after the meat. He also advised them to use a live trap, not that bone-crushing kind, so it's not cruel to the animals, or at least not _as_ cruel. Uncle and Grandpa didn't have a problem with racoons going after their chickens, despite the size of the farms being kind of long and skinny. The "ribbon farms," they're called. That meant the chicken coops weren't all that far from one another, maybe 100 feet at the most. Yet one had raccoons going after the chickens and the other one didn't. It might have been because Grandpa's collie guarded her yard, and also because Grandpa and Uncle hunted raccoons for the meat, but they hunted them in the woods on the back lot of their property. It was sustainable hunting. (One of my aunts to this day will buy raccoon meat from a co-worker who also likes the meat and hunts the raccoons on his own land, which is kind of funny because my aunt lives in a fancy house with a designer kitchen that's not exactly meant to be cooked in, so preparing and cooking the raccoon is a bit of a comedy and a lot of work for her, but she says it's worth it). Uncle said the meat of a raccoon that's been suffering all night in a trap is bad meat, not good for anything, so I guess in his mind it wasn't purely an altruistic thing, but maybe a combination, because it's never good to cause an animal to suffer. He called it, "Rude!" To this day, that word to me means, "Evil." Anyway, those neighbors never took his advice, and they harmed all of Uncle's cats without ever stopping the raccoons from getting into their coops. I have to be honest and say they weren't as intelligent as my Uncle _or_ the raccoons. Raccoons are experts at evading tricks and traps. They waited until the cat snapped the trap, then they had their way in the chicken coop. And of course it was the younger, inexperienced cats that were caught in the traps. It's a wonder any of them survived, but Uncle took good care of them and so they went on to live happy farm cat lives, but they were more vulnerable to predators themselves, and became less effective at their jobs because of it.
Thank you for sharing that story and info!
I love that you explained this. We have foxes and raccoons around and have no issues with them because we know they are more beneficial to have them around than not have them around. We did have to relocate the girls water and feed due to rats and that made a huge improvement but the raccoons and foxes can certainly stay around.
Those rats are smart little suckers. I buried hardware cloth a good 16” out and those little buggers backed up further out and tunneled under still. 🤬
I attach chicken wire 1' out from the bottom of my coops, or have 18" pavers layed down, or three 2"×6" boards around the coops. All are working fine.b
I have guinea fowl. They're a great warning system.
I wish I could have them. I think my neighbors would just cry if I did that, though LOL!!
They sound like a rusty windmill!
I have them too! Unfortunately they refuse to go into the coop at night, so owls pick them out of the trees.
Every year I start with about 30 and end with 5-6.
@@cindyjohnson5242 Several years ago we had BIG problems with an owl...a Great Horned Owl. We had 24 or 25 chickens when the problem began, the owl getting into their pen one night, killing one of our beloved girls. that traumatized all of them to the point none of them would go in to roost after that. They decided to roost in a big Colorado Blue Spruce tree we had, right beside our garage. We would lose a chicken each night after that, before we were able to convince them to go into a safer area we had fixed up for them. The death toll for our ignorance was 13, and the remaining hens were emotionally scarred for months. It wasn't until we got another rooster that our girls began to feel safe again and regain some confidence. We strung CD;s with fishing line to hang throughout the spruce tree in an attempt to shoo off the owl, strung blinking Christmas lights in the tree, and blasted music throughout the night in an effort to ward him off, too. None of our tactics worked for more than 2 or 3 days. I guess our painful experience taught us a most valuable lesson. Just as a side note, we've even had a large Grey Wolf in our backyard chasing one of our hens.We live in rural Indiana, not out in some deep wilderness. I guess the moral of the story is to "be aware"...predators are literally everywhere.
Great information. Love the idea of getting fishnets from the docks. Overbuild that coop folks. I've seen a video where a coyote rips the hardware cloth off of a chicken run. Also, raccoons can open a gate latch so I lock those with a carabiner.
Monkeys of the Northwest! 🦝🦝🦝
We are having an owl problem. It actually sat on branch looking in at chickens through window.
Thank you for addressing predator presence Dalia - can never be talked about too much - great resources and ideas.
Thank you!!! So many good points. We have one additional predator or unwelcome 'guest' we find too often in our chicken palace.... the desert rattler snake. She/he finds its way in to hunt mice and has occasionally bit my roosters. We keep a snake hook handy to catch and rehome these dangerous visitors. Love your videos and I love your book! Happy spring, can't wait to see your new chickens.
We built our coop bullet proof. Wood and steel. Off the ground. The run has galvanized ½ in hardware cloth 2ft below ground. Our regular dogs keep predators away. We sought out a pup that was raised around chicken. We build shelters for our chickens to hide under. A rooster keeps my hens safe. A cat that was raised around our chickens since a kitten. When i found a rat had begun to dig under our fence we used expanding foam to fill the holes. We also use cds hanging from piles to dissuade hals from our large free range orchard flock. Its not as hard as this video says. You can do a lot on the cheap. You dont need a president or an Amazon link to keep chickens.
I had a great setup for my chickens and turkeys... until this morning 😞 I had bird netting covering the top of my pens to prevent the birds from flying out and to prevent predators from getting in. However, we had a heavy rain/snowfall last night and this morning that caved the bird netting 😞 straight up ripped it down. So now, my poultry pens are not predator proof. This weekend was supposed to be spent painting the inside of our house, but instead, it'll be spent building a new "rooftop" for our poultry pens to keep poultry in and predators out. Ah, farm life 🤷
Boy, it's the "life" huh?😆
A local landscaping place near me puts broken bricks and stepping stones out by the road for free. Good to put around the bottom of the run
When we bought our property 6 years ago, it came with a chain link dog kennel, which is about 30' long x 8' wide. It's made a great run in which we built an insulated coop with hen door. We did have to add a hot wire around the run this last fall, as we had Pepe La Pew come in and help himself to the left over feed. During the spring and summer months I've had to put the feed troughs in the run as the deer come by and help themselves as well.
Thanks for this honest information regarding a very real issue that isn't talked about that much. If you have animal feed you will absolutely have mice and field rats. Nature has a balance and it's best to flow with it than against. Recreating the wheel is a lot of work.
We're redoing our run. Found out rats dig with skirting....aaahhh. It was easier than digging down. We should have just dug down the first time. And weasels!!!! That has been our killer in the past. Both sets of my grandparents had chickens forever....they did not spend a ton of money. But they spent important money in the beginning. Doing it right in the beginning is a big thing.
Good to know. We have weasels and minks where I live.
@@user-fl9oo6rn6b It's crazy the tiniest crack a weasel can get into. I didn't see where it got in at first, but there it was...under the door where I did not put wire down. It was just a board on top of the ground. I was so mad at myself.
I had chickens for years and thought I knew what I was doing…. But I have learned so much from you after finding your channel!! I am so thankful for the budget friendly options and your vibe is so fun & positive!! Thank you!!!
When it comes to things like rodents I have kitties that help with upkeep, and for any predatory birds I’ve trained my dog to keep an eye out for them and he will alert us and run at it if one happens to swoop down in the yard. My chickens are in an enclosed run but sometimes I will let them into the yard so that’s when I have the dog watch them
FWIW, I went online and ordered a 10' x 50' baseball netting for $100. It hasn't arrived yet, but that's what I'm going with for the top of my run. Until it arrives, they just free range and I try to watch out for them. I have a cantilevered window in my bedroom and the girls like to sit underneath! Thanks for all you do. It's helpful.
I’d suggest to anyone wanting to freerange, have a ton of underbrush -trees, open sheds, bushes for your flock to hide under. The hawks want an easy dive to kill. They don’t really want to fight your chickens head on. Some will, like you said, be so hungry that their behavior will be out of the norm. Your chicken stands a fighting chance though when the hawk can’t get dive bomb it.
Other things that can help ward off land predators…. I’ve even heard of people using wolf pee (it can actually be bought online) to put around the perimeter. If you can’t afford wolf pee, this sounds sick, but you can take any human man’s first morning pee and put it around the perimeter. What I do is get hair clippings from my friend who has a hair salon and I put it all over the perimeter. You have to keep putting out fresh every so often. The human scent tends to ward them off, but if they’re hungry enough, they’ll try.
Eating our valentine's dinner and watching your youtube chanel. Love from Poland 🇵🇱.
Thank you so much. I got chickens for the first time this winter and it's been filled with life lessons...I have spent a fortune...I think I'm over feeding, they are pretty plump but have laid eggs all winter ..I have them sharing space with ducks they all get along pretty good. yeah I'm trying to keep my coop protected but this is great info I will consider, thank you.. My dog wants to kill my chickens so I'm having to keep them seperated...
I LOVE Animals of most all types, we got them around here, Milo started in the run is a very good deterrent for flying predators, rocks on the fence bottom and inspect daily, good CATS have helped me also 😮😊❤ VERY good advice, 👍
I buried hardware cloth two ft. out from my chicken run and still have predators come dig all the way around it at night. Yes, they still dig every night. The chickens are very very safe. I’ve not lost one chicken to predators yet!
Soooo I guess they're moving to the house...hope the hubs is gonna be ok with this! These girls need to be safe...and no place like home 😉🐓🐥 he he
😂❤️🐔
Love your videos and the content. I do free range knowing what predators I have as I live rurally and have 10 acres.
I find it interesting that you did not mention aerial predators. These are my most troublesome problem.
Since I added a rooster, the loss of my chickens is now zero. I do plan on adding LGD but this is also because of my goats and horse.
You missed the photo of the eagle?
Just found your videos!! Thank you for your kind and animal focused perspective. I love how you emphasize the importance of eco-balance while at the same time discouraging predatory behavior on in your space. Wonderful!! Thank you--Tess
We have the whole floor in 1/4 inch mesh
I had always let my chickens free feed but now get a family of squirrels that come into the chicken yard and coop and feed from the chicken food. So now I throw out a couple scoops of feed each am and pm. They now go out to free range and look for food because they are not full and lazy.
You are such fun and upbeat about chickens...... Fabulous
Dog kennels are perfect for baby chicks too. We use chicken wire over to cover sides.
We have a cat and a dog, and they do repel the animals pretty well. That being said, critters that are hungry enough to risk it are all over.
I ran a hot wire about 6-8" along the outside of my fence. Cheap, easy, and super effective from the ground predators.
After 4 years, we did invest in avian netting for one 25x40 area more to keep the pullets in than keep anything out. But it you are just wanting to keep birds of prey from swooping in, you can string bunting flags across criss cross instead of buying netting. You can make them from scrap fabric or old clothes. If birds of prey don't have enough room to swoop and grab, they have to land and that makes them more vulnerable and almost impossible for them to pounce on and pick up a whole chicken. My neighbor has plenty of cats that keep the mice down and we had snakes that were getting some eggs we didn't know the hens were laying on the carport and they ended up going under the house which meant NO mice in the walls all winter. That's okay by me. So if I have to trap the occasional raccoon or opossum and get wildlife out here to relocate them, I'm fine with that. But the reality is that if you have chickens, you will also lose chickens to something. My chickens are as spoiled as can be but I also free-range them as much as possible, because they LOVE it. And if every couple of years I lose one to a fox because they were free-ranging, well, they had a better life than being enclosed in a pen when I have an acre they can enjoy. Life is a risk no matter what we do. I had mine completely safe still in the pen in spring until some wild birds came around and deposited Marek's here. You never know what's going to happen. You do the best you can.
Some folks on a local backyard chicken forum were bemoaning snakes getting into the nest boxes and stealing eggs. Guaranteed that if they get rid of the snakes completely, within the year they will be back complaining about mice/rats getting into the coop/feed/etc. I will gladly share some eggs to keep my yard snakes fed when they've been working so hard to keep the rodent population under control 🙂
Thank you for what you do! I'll keep your advice in mind. We were using bird netting to prevent hawks, but they managed to get in. Finally we place on the top of the coop a fake owl 🦉, it's working so far!
Thank you for your kind and sincere advice. I’ve watched your videos for a long time and always pick up valuable information. My city chickens are happy and healthy and we owe much of it to you.
I live in an area where we have black bears, Coyotes, cougars, etc. We have never had one on our property (our neighbors have) but we also have a backyard Vietnamese mini pig whom is free range that we've had the entire time we've lived here. Rumor has it large predators won't come around the smell of pigs because we have wild hogs in the area & they are vicious & will attack large predators. I believe this because my pig has not been bothered in 7 years & has lived outside in the rain and snow 100% of the time (he has shelter for extreme weather). We've also had no rattle snakes which are incredibly common to our area. We do however have 2 red foxes who hang out between my house & my neighbors and tons of racoons.
I don't have chickens yet because of the predator issues & I want to be sure my chickens will be as secure as possible before acquiring them.
I like the plywood idea along the base of the pen
We have fox, I am aware of them. My puppy took down a 6 foot privacy fence to go after fox. We also have (had) a lot of snakes. The same puppy killed a six foot snake. I am glad she does not kill chickens. That said, I lost most of my flock to a neighboring dog before I got this pup. It is work to protect chickens from dogs. A dog can certainly destroy a coop or fence. We had a dog bend our steel gate.
Thank you so much! I am new at chickens learning from the best! Wendy❤️🙏🏻🇺🇸
Thankyou for giving such good advice. I live in Australia but watch your channel for advice for my backyard chickens. We live on the edge of a small town so we have predators like foxes and wild dogs goannas snakes. Our chickens are locked up at night but snakes can still get in. They mainly eat the eggs though and our red bellied black we have named Susie. She occasionally has a bunch of babies but the crows and kookaburras make short work of them. Our main problem is rats no matter how much we tighten the chicken house up they still get in. We recently had to poison them after trying every idea known to man. I hate doing it as it’s a horrible way to die but also there is the risk of wildlife eating them and dying. We have decieded to pull down the chicken house and put them in a new one that is mainly wire with shelter at one end No hidy holes for the rats to get in Thanks again for your advice. Love from Australia
I have bird net over my dog- kennel chicken run but recent snow and ice made a mess of it.going to have to get a better solution come summer. Had a predator last summer that killed 2 young ducks and a hen. Think it was a raccoon. He moved to a new area. I live near a creek, so no worries about having enough raccoons around. Pretty much all the predators are around me- I live on a farm. Did the skirting thing around the dog kennel -works great . However, a raccoon can easily climb the chain-link pen….
We used utility fencing, secured with jclips and zip ties, over the dog kennel we use as a run for one of our coops. So far, so good.
@@granitemoss1451 I would probably use wire to secure it- zip ties degrade and fail after a couple of years exposed to sun and weather extremes
🐣🐤🐓Dalia, I just ❤❤❤ your videos! You are well spoken, at a perfect speech level and pace, it's always 🎯 interesting and informative! I've watched for a couple years now, and some more than once because.. well, i need to get inspiration or remember something 😂. Thank you for all your amazing subject matter and time devoted. Have a GREAT year ahead❤❤❤ 2/15/2024
I agree! I live with a fox issue. I know that I need to protect my chicks therefore yes " I have and enclosed run, know my limits", There are 2 fox burrows on either side of my property. If I try to free range , I stand outside with them because within 5 minutes I have eagles, hawks and owls flying overhead. Yes Ariel predators! I have installed cameras so i can keep watch while I am at work. Even though I have a limited flock I do have a Rooster! Even though he may sometimes be cantankerous, I know he will protect my hens. I respect his instincts and !many times I have to remind myself, that yes he attacks! But Why??? Instinct !!!! Yes Yes Yes!!! I open the coop in silence in dark without letting him know it is me, he will charge " His Job" my stupidity. If I call out he knows it is me. Please research about your livestock and how they react before you deem them a horrible animal. They are probably doing what they are born and bred to do. Please research before you condemn them to a problem child. Am I always happy with my Roo? No!! But I know He will protect his girls!, Even when he thinks I am the threat! Does he come after me every time? No! I may be mad when he comes at me but I have to step back and try to analyze the reason for this. Sometimes the reason was so simple, my husband was letting them out in morning and I had to work late so my husband put them in at night. My husband never had an issue but when I went out on day off I was attacked. I took the time and sat down in run for 30 minutes and in the end my roo was settled. Projecting my feelings of course! I think he just missed me. They do have feelings and their own personality, we have to stop and figure out. Sometimes decisions need to be made with your flock that we don't want to make, it is a personal decision that is not always easy but we all have different circumstances and we all need to be respectful of others and their decisions. I am sorry so long in my statement .
I loved reading it!
I went out to put the chickens to bed (locked up their coop) and my light reflected on a beady set of eyes. It was a huge possum. I yelled and stomped.....terrified, he ran off. Haven't seen him since. I'm worried about the day time. Hmmmm.
Opossums are usually opportunists unless they are super desperate. They usually will come for the chicken feed and then might consider harming the chickens, so make sure your feed is put away at night.
Some great ideas. I am not a fan of netting for overhead protection because song birds and potentially birds of prey can tangle in it. However, I can say that chicken wire with some nailing strips where you are splicing the wire works great. I am in a high predator area and so my entire run is made with chicken wire. However, on its own, it is not great for turkeys. But, putting a layer of stucco wire over top of the chicken wire on the inside of coop works great. Regardless of what one does, the biggest thing is at the bottom have a 12 - 24 nch strip of plywood, old metal siding or whatever to deter the ground predators. Or even dismantle old pallets to get the lumber to build the skirting. My run is over 10 years old and other than a few minor repairs and replacing the OSB skirting (bad idea) with old metal siding, I have not had to do anything to it.
Predator Guard found on Amazon works and is not expensive
Great video! Thank You for these encouraging words. GOD BLESS YOU!
I free range my chickens during the day. I have a fenced area that’s about 1 acre or so. I’ve lost 1 hen and a young rooster (he sadly had just started doing rooster stuff) to a raccoon. That was a couple years ago. I figure the raccoons have to eat too. So do the hawks. I haven’t lost any to a hawk.
The chickens have good cover and shade around. I also now have a mature rooster who is doing a good job. And a secure coop for night time. Whoever built the coop put the metal siding down into the ground. I just replaced the old chicken wire with hardware cloth.
You are soooooo...comical! Yet very informative! I too live in the Pacific Northwest.... rainy, cold and yes mudddddddddddy! This video as well as your other videos are a help for me to keep my three chicken girls in their Kitsap area home made coop and enclosed area safe. LOL! I guess I will need to find a product sponsor and also continue saving for a lot of things necessary for the girls upcoming move to the lower backyard. Thanks for the great information! 😀
Hey neighbor! I live just north of the Columbia. I'm getting chickens again after the knee replacements I had a few years ago. 70 isn't old, right?
I do wildlife rescue and rehab and I have chickens. I have rehabbed a lot of raccoons and have many still on my property and a heavy fox, coyote and skunk population. All of which are quite comfortable in my yard, even those that are totally wild. All pets must be confined at night to protect from predators here. I used to free range my chickens, but there were always a couple that had to push the limits and not cooperate with coming into the pens until it was really dark and I've even had some that didn't want to come in at all. Those that survived staying out all night were usually quite willing to come in every evening after, so I assume they had a rough experience and there were some that didn't survive the night.
I kept a few chickens in a chicken tractor that was made of heavy metal mesh panels with 1" square spacing and some nesting boxes. I beefed up the lock on it to prevent the raccoons from opening it. The next morning I thought that I was short 1 chicken, but there was no sign of anything happening. Not a single feather, no damage to the pen, no holes or scratching around the perimeter or anything, so I convinced myself my memory was off. The next night I kept the back light on to watch. I saw raccoons try and give up and the chickens stayed comfortably in their boxes all night without incident. I watched another night until 4 AM and it was the same, so I decided I must have counted wrong when I put them in there and went to bed for a couple of hours. When I got up I was short another chicken and this time I knew for sure I had lost one. I thought it had to be a weasel to be able to fit through a 1" mesh and even that would be pushing it. I had nowhere else to keep them as I was introducing them into the flock during the day and it was not going well, so I had to stay up another night to protect them.
It was a trio of half grown raccoons working together. It was actually pretty impressive watching them work their system. One would climb on top of the nesting boxes, bounce around to stir up the chickens and then reach into the box. If the chickens would have stayed put they would have been fine because they weren't reachable, but one panicked and flew out. Then the other 2 raccoons were working on cornering her where they could reach her. She was playing right into their hands-literally. I of course put a stop to it, scolded the raccoons and spent an hour wiring on hardware cloth so raccoon hands couldn't fit through. I've never lost another in that pen. My fox never bothered my chickens when they were free ranging. She tried once, but I corrected her and she never bothered them again. When she was 2 her new boyfriend did get one of my hens though. I really wanted to be able to let my chickens out during the day, but I figured since fox stay together I needed a new plan. It was their home too after all. I ended up using electric netting that I move around every few days so the chickens get fresh ground. The fox could easily jump it and the raccoons can and have climbed over the shed or the coop to get into the pen, but we've all reached an agreement. Nobody is allowed in with the chickens during the day, but a couple of the raccoons clean up anything they leave behind at night. It's been over a year and so far so good except the other day I had a cat sleeping on the eggs in one of the nesting boxes. I guess she didn't get the message, but at least she doesn't bother the chickens.
So far my chickens really haven’t stop laying
I live in the country with lots of predators. I placed my dog kennel next to my chicken coop and have not had a problem in 6 years🎉.
I have a dog kennel right at the back of my house that I used to keep my bantams in. Then one night I lost one and could not figure out what in the world had happened?
A couple of nights later there was a Ruckus in the kennel and I ran out to see what was going on. Lo and behold there was a tiny barn owl who had slipped through the openings but I got it out in time. But the owl would fly through the opening and onto the roost and the chickens just thought it was another bird and it would slip up next to him and cut ones throat.
For the last 5 years I have outsmarted almost every Predator except one bear who came down a hill and jumped over my electric fence and they have two of my chickens in a chicken tractor and took off the electric fence has stopped all of the other Predators but that battle with the bear was really hard it did take electric fencing to stop her eventually.
Then last fall I was hit by a house in my large run which is too big to put a covering over the top. So I ordered some of that reflective poultry tape online. I tied it to every tree and put posts up and attached it to the top of the post now it is very lightweight and it flutters in the slightest Breeze and it also reflects Sparkles if the Sun or Moonlight is out so the hawk doesn't like it in the daytime and the owl does not like it at night. So far after 6 months that has worked very well and I am very grateful.
Sometimes it seems no matter what you do it is a losing battle I had a secure building that I locked my duck stuff in every night the last song a whole family of raccoons came and tore the whole back wall off of the building and killed all of my ducks everything likes chicken nuggets Our Duck nuggets. I am still heart broke over that attack.
When my husband was alive he used to go out at night and come back saying there's a whole Army of raccoons coming get ready
Thumbs up to you. That's what we do,
Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
I failed my chickens!! I got busy with making dinner & didn’t put our chickens away at dusk!! We all heard an animal run across our rooftop deck & though I seriously ran outside to check the chickens, it was too late. A raccoon had grabbed our very best egg layer and we think tried to pull her up & over our 6 ft fencing!
It can happen so fast!! 😬
My chickens has never been attacked by aerial predictor thank to the crows that live on my property. They keep the hawks away.
Great advice! I put up solar motion activated lights and bug zapper around my coup so the chickens get dead bugs and predators get spooked.
Thanks so much for sharing. You always give me such good ideas for my chickens.
I have an outdoor run for them but am thinking of using a good size of chain link fence I have to let them free range more. That means securing the bottom when I'm not out watching them and covering the top. Such good information. Thank you so much!
You’re welcome!
As an individual on a fixed income, I appreciate the budget friendly options, and I haven't even watched the video yet! 😂 I'm trying to raise chickens as close to naturally as possible while also keeping them contained for their safety.
Chicken watching is very relaxing and peaceful
❤Good video!!! Enjoyed it very much!! Thank you!!!
100% right on all of it! Especially about the rodent issue!
Great ideas, thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome!
Very informative! Thank you!
I've found a way that's SO FAR kept at least the coyotes away from my chickens, and its been a combination of scaring them away from the coop area, and encouraging massive growth of grasses, native fruiting plants etc in the VERY other side of our property. This has led to an explosion of the population of multiple prey animals way the hell away from my birds 🤣 As of the past year or so, the only major issues I'd had were from aerial predators, but thankfully they're often too wary to stick around. Just as well, the crows are returning and they'd usually keep the other birds away.
I don't have chickens but I do have Guinea Fowl. I built them an enclosure (40'x20') and their house is inside of it. That's where they stay when the weather is bad, otherwise they are free ranging in the yard. I have three Malinois and a Labrador and I haven't had problems with land predators due to my dogs protective natures. However, one day I went out to check on my birds and they were screaming 'bloody murder' so I ran over to their enclosure and I spotted a rather large hawk tangled up in the netting that I installed over 1/2 of their run (the rest of it is completely secure and there is a door that I close between that portion and the super secure portion). I ran back inside to get a beach towel and I walked over to the hawk and I covered its head and the rest of it's body with the towel. I then started cutting off the net that was so tight, it never would have escaped without assistance. I calmly told it that I was giving it mercy this one time but if it ever came back and bothered my birds again, I definitely wouldn't be so nice next time. Once the netting was off of it, I gently put it on the ground and it stared at me with its mouth wide open. I pointed to a tree about 200 feet away and it promptly flew off to it. That was last year and it has not returned. I'm always watching, though.
One day I genuinely want chickens
We have livestock guarding dogs, great way to control predation. We use Grandpa Gus spray to keep mice away!
Wish I would have saw this two weeks ago when you released it lol we lost 7 chickens including our beloved rooster at 3 pm to a fox!
My neighbors free range their chickens- I have been chosen by the young rooster that has been kicked out-I call him HeiHei. He eats the wild bird seed that is spilled by the feeders I have out & hangs out in the dense growth. We have 4 acres.
I can not provide this rooster much, neighbors don’t want him back- any basic advice would be appreciated.
I have a hawk it got one of my chickens I am now sitting outside right now with them😢I need to come up with something. They have a beautiful coop and a small run but they love to free range. First time ever we lost one to a hawk 😢😢
Ugh I'm so sorry. It happens to the best of us.
Love the content!!
I have more of a survival of the fittest mentality with my birds. I let them range on 15 acres of grass, forest and wetlands and hatch new ones when I lose them. My main threat is hawk predation so I use crow and owl decoys. Hawks won’t snatch chickens if they are above a certain weight and tend to avoid black birds because they hate crows.
Bravo bless you and your common sense.