a reply to:
TheRedneck
Chickens are annoying if there under your feet all the time. We have them around here, we moved here some years ago. Or at least my parents did.
Really kind of the wrong place to have chickens and or farm setting, being on the edge of a forest and seeing here in WA the trees pines really are
feet apart thick. Its literally a rain-forest, and people just dont know it yet.
And there surprised that they keep dying. I was like, really you didnt read the newsletter from the local wild animal sightings before you decided it
was a good idea to raise chicken there.
I mean i read it, and it went like. Local woman has horse killed and eaten by cougar. Man spot's what he thinks was a wolf in the back yard. Pet left
in the front porch disappears. Oh, and man on a bike ride with his two dogs, runs into black bear, which proceeds to grab him by leg and lift him
upside down breaking arm and legbone mauling him, then gets bored drops him and walks away. And the two dogs they found a week latter still running.
And your surprised that your chickens are disappearing? Talk about being clueless. But anyways.
It was a pain in dealing with chickens, there were about 22 or more. I don't really count them, and over the years I think about 15 died, and one
rooster I accidentally sort of killed because it just would not shut up, also 4 ducks likely that same bobcat got them to. I think a bobcat got most
of them in fact, and they were fenced in and had a pretty spacious chicken house I built, about 8 ft by 10 ft, and they got space to really get up in
to the ceiling a good 8 to 10 feet up, if anything ever chases them in there.
Anyways a 6ft wire fence is really nothing for a bobcat to jump over, or even the cyots, but over the years and generally in winter, few disappear or
you find there bones here and there. They will eat a chicken in literally minutes. So a few months ago I got a puppy, bullmastiff, just to not
encourage that bobcat or the coyts from getting to friendly when nobody is around. They may jump in over the fence, but now they will have a hard
time jumping back out.
But then my sister who gets pets but ultimately always end up just unknowingly getting pets for other people who did not want pets. Well she got a
dog to, and months before I got the puppy, but now we now have two dogs an Australian cattle dog or something. Now both of them are running around
chewing and biting anything they see.
And while its good my dog has somebody to play with. It leads to issues, including chewing on chickens if they are both let in, they go in straight
pack mode and chase them in corners, they think there playing, but there not, and one chicken had to be put down because they were chewing on her
badly. Caught my dog and the other doing that about two times, had to spank them, even picked him up by the neck and threw him on the grass. Just so
they will get the picture. Next time I will punch them in the balls if I catch them.
There basically like two teenagers now, making a mess and tearing things up. And yes they will eat them when in pack mode. But now we dont let them
in the chicken yard but one at a time, they don't really pay attention to the chickens when its just one of them in there, even the hyper one gets
bored after a while trying to chase them around. That and there still young, in a year or two they will mellow out. Or at least my sister will get her
dog back.
That dog is way to hyper, and while he is a good dog, but is kind of stupid, even heard it chased after a cayote or something in the bushes. Not smart
as that's how they hunt, one goes out and shows himself, here I am come get me. Gets dog to chase into bushes, and then all 8 attack at the same time.
Nope not smart at all, the bullmastiff though just kind of sit's and waits, its not chasing after anything, to much work. Though if they come to
him, its a different story. So ya, even though there still puppies really, we have had no more dead chickens since they were old enough to run around
the property.
Oh and hawks, I know a few must have been caught by hawks, but I only saw it one time in these few years. It was a new chicken to, as we replace them
every time one gets killed, it was wondering in the bushes alone, a hawk attacked it, and it ran but got caught in another bush and well, when i was
going down there all I saw was a hawk take of from that spot. When I went down there it was already gutted. And checked around and saw feathers from
the scuffle some ways off, were it first got attacked.
Now I got to make little wire shelters for them to run under all around there yard, but before all that got to clear a bunch of bushes and trees. So
ya, kind of hassle as I don't even eat the eggs because I don't have time to in the morning when I go to work. So ya, chickens are kind of a pain.
Next will be goats, which may attract a bear or two and likely other as large predators, but hey, if they do there job, and eat all those bushes
saving me lots of hours and pain in the assery. I'm all for it.