Easter Egger club!

[gander007]

Since the fox attack 2 days ago the rosster's favorite, Luci has been depressed.Anankos,the rooster and Luci were inseperable, always together. Has anyone had chicken depression? I've been trying to get her to eat and drink since noticing this morning...All she does is sit in the nesting box, away from the other hens, facing the corner...And no she is not sick. It began happening after the fox attack.

All animals have feelings not any different then humans and what you are describing is very normal it lasts for a wile and in time she will go back to some sort of normalcy .

 

[Greenthumb83]

Sorry to hear of these losses and the poor depressed hen. I hope she comes out of it.

I just saw a coyote when I went for a walk yesterday (live on a dirt road). It stood in the road for a bit and stared at me, then trotted off to our treeline around the field. It was very unsettling, because I hadn't brought anything for protection and had my 1 year old in a stroller. Today while mowing near the treeline, I found a dead opossum with its organs eaten. My DH also went out after dark last week and saw one hanging near the coop. It got spooked and took off. It isn't new news or anything. Coyotes have always been here. When my son was 2, we had them coming up in the yard! Now, with chickens, there seem to be more than usual and we are more aware of what we have to lose. It makes me really afraid for my birds. Our coop is very sturdy and predator proof. We also decided to do the whole run in hardware cloth. That has been a pain in the wallet, but if we cut corners and use something else, we could lose them all. Will this be enough though? I still feel something could happen to them.

 

[Intheswamp]

Gt83, do you have anything other than hardware cloth around your run? A dog/coyote can chew/tear through hardware cloth. 2x4 welded wire or even better, woven wire would be best. The 2x4 could be some 4' tall fencing that is ran around the lower part of the fence. Also, dogs are great fence climbers, though would have a hard or nearly impossible time with hardware cloth.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Greenthumb83]

Gt83, do you have anything other than hardware cloth around your run? A dog/coyote can chew/tear through hardware cloth. 2x4 welded wire or even better, woven wire would be best. The 2x4 could be some 4' tall fencing that is ran around the lower part of the fence. Also, dogs are great fence climbers, though would have a hard or nearly impossible time with hardware cloth.

Best wishes,
Ed

Thank you for the advice! We just have the frame, with the hardware cloth stretched over the walls and top. It isn't complete yet, so birds are only out with me in the day. We are finishing it tomorrow (had to order some materials). I am so glad I posted here! Everything I've read so far led me to believe hardware cloth would be all we needed. We actually do have a 330' roll of woven wire field fence sitting outside. We had started collecting materials for the pasture we plan to build next spring. I will see if DH will put it around the bottom. It is 4' tall. I hope it will be enough. We can hear the coyotes in the fields howling most nights.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Youtube has a lot of videos on attacks on chickens/coops, it can be rough to watch the videos by folks but it is also educational as you can see weaknesses in coops that you may have, also how different animals hunt. Many folks do follow up videos on changes they made to their coops and how that worked out too. Understanding how the various critters hunt helps in developing a defense.

There is one video for instance that shows a hawk landing in the run area and then walking into the coop to kill the hens.

 

[cabinchicky]

Welded wire the smallest spaced I could get all around,top and dig barrier here. Hawks,eagles, coyote, Fox, coon,cat, dog and Lord knows what else. Hardware cloth over windows, but it takes time and not cheap I get that but it can pay off. Makes one feel good to see a hawk smack into the wire top and knock itself stupid! Only have lost one since building run and it was my fault I didn't lock them in at night and lost one through the fence a piece at a time to a old female coon we caught the next day. Maybe have a look at the Coop/run build thread too. Great ideas there and lots of help too.

 

[Seiryu]

It's so hard since she's only 3 months old..to see her so depressed.. But I'm going to keep nursing her back to health. She has so more strength or muscle she's all feather and bone. This Saturday I'll be getting 3 blue wheaton ameraucana's. The same kind that her rooster was. Hopefully that may help her feel a bit better. I read sometimes getting them a new buddy could help.

 

[Greenthumb83]

Youtube has a lot of videos on attacks on chickens/coops, it can be rough to watch the videos by folks but it is also educational as you can see weaknesses in coops that you may have, also how different animals hunt. Many folks do follow up videos on changes they made to their coops and how that worked out too. Understanding how the various critters hunt helps in developing a defense.

There is one video for instance that shows a hawk landing in the run area and then walking into the coop to kill the hens.

I hadn't thought of that. I will definitely take a look. Thank you.

@cabinchicky We have been learning from this site since February and started building the coop in April. I am so thankful for all the great info! I have followed many builds. Our birds have been in their coop for a couple weeks and seeing the coyotes already stalking made me want to get opinions and make sure we are taking every measure possible. I forget the square footage of our run, but we are $400 in just on the hardware cloth. I was told it was what we needed and we didn't want to use anything we were unsure of. We also buried it and have cinder blocks around the border. I am definitely going to use the woven wire around the bottom though. Coyotes will do doubt be our biggest issue here. We have fields on all sides and our property has pines between us and the fields for windbreak. We are in the process of cleaning up a lot of it. Lot of overgrowth and downed trees. Plenty of places for predators to hide. You likely have the same predators next door in Ohio. (I used to live there

).

 

[Greenthumb83]

I will take some pics this weekend and post them here. Y'all can look and see if there is anything we missed. Never hurts to have another set of eyes on our feathered friends.

 

[BertandMary]

Our daughter with her favorite EE.