This has been my experience. Sometimes a hawk that tries and fails will move on. Probably because its more efficient to look for something easier than to keep trying something that is healthy and constantly being hard to catch.
But I’ve also see the same hawk try daily, sometimes multiple...
I sometimes lose black chickens to hawks. Sometimes I lose natural, partridge-colored, chickens to hawks. And I have several hens of those colors and others that seem to be hawk-proof. Some of my best free-rangers have been white. I aggressively cull against white, but that’s only because I find...
I believe people correctly observe that various black chicken breeds survive well on free range. They’re just drawing the wrong conclusion as to why. Many black chickens have within their background rustic breeds that are simply good survivors.
I’m not trying to be argumentative, I just think its a worth-while debate. So please don’t take offense to my disagreement.
As to this point I would respectfully disagree for two reasons. First, it seems like many predators that are still around today are generally good at quickly adapting to...
I think you’re probably hitting right on why the myth seems to be true sometimes. Various black breeds may simply be alert and agile due to their genetics, and their black color may link to those other genes that encourage wildness, or may simply be present by coincidence.
I am also aware of an...
I think its a myth. Birds of prey have great eyesight. They ought to be abble to tell the difference between a crow and a black chicken by appearance over great distance. The science therefore proves the hypothesis to be very suspect.
Someone once had a good experience free ranging black...