Help! 4 lovely ladies just moved in, coop and all

When my ducks started getting killed, I would lose one a day. These two that are left stay out on the water all the time. The ones that died loved to sit on the bank. We saw a fox and a coyote (different days) down there right before they came up missing. I would really suggest that you keep them up or you may be sad again. The hawk knows your address now.

I'm so sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, it's the nature of having chickens. Either you keep them up all the time (and I feel horribly guilty when I have to keep them closed in) or you frequently get made sad because one or more gets taken. It's really tough to handle sometimes.

Roo Man Choo











I think the girls missed me. They came running up when I stepped outside this morning and they stayed hovering around my ankles and under foot all day. Silly hens....LOL!

Last year about this time, I bought 4 baby easter egger pullets. They were so cute! When they got big enough, I put them in an outdoor pen. One of them got out. I chased it, then lost it, then searched for it for 2 hours. I finally just sat down and cried. I felt so stupid. A 54 year old woman sitting down and crying about a $2.25 bird. The bird finally came back and started trying to get back in with the others. I was SO happy. We can get really attached to our chickens.

I do keep my hens up all the time; however, I have a really nice chicken house that is well lit and ventilated, and very roomy. I have one rooster that stays out all the time. He has been surviving out for months now. He follows me around like a dog.

We DO get attached to them, don't we? I had gotten a bunch of new day old chicks and had had them, maybe a week or 2, and one of my dogs got all excited and jumped into the stock tank I used as a brooder. Squished several of them to death. I think my poor husband thought I'd lost my mind. I knelt by that brooder and just bawled for an hour. I felt sooo terrible about those chicks.

I felt the same as you, was about 53 at the time, and sitting in a FREEZING A$$ cold garage, kneeling on the concrete floor, HOWLING over I don't know, maybe 5 $2 chicks......How silly is that?

Well I am a mature 55 now. Do you think I would cry over chicks? Lol. I'm sure I would.

Oh, I KNOW I would. When I do a new batch of chicks now, instead of going from the house to the garage where I brood them, I go outside and around to the OUTSIDE door of the garage. That way I know my dog can't come in there with me. She didn't try to kill the chicks, but they were still just as dead. I made that whole brood area into Ft. Knox after that little disaster.

I am really glad that I have a dog that would never intentionally hurt a chicken or a cat or a human or anybody. Except maybe a couch cushion.........

I so appreciate hearing the different perspectives on this free ranging issue. I'm really conflicted about what to do in the future.

On the one hand, Celeste, I hear you saying loud and clear that if you let them range around, they are going to get killed. Simple as that. On the other, DA, I think what you're saying is that you feel guilty keeping them penned up all the time and have decided that losing one is the price for letting them range around (forgive me if I've mistated what either of you were saying).

I was definitely feeling more of the "guilty about locking you up" side of things before this weekend's incident. Not to anthropomorphize too much, but they just seem so happy out and about exploring. Of course, it's not such a happy thing when one of them is killed, I get that. So, I still don't know where I stand on what to do with these chickens. But I do know it will be awhile before I could let them back out unsupervised.

My husband helped me finish improving their pen area yesterday. The fencing still isn't perfect for protection from spring predators, but the ground is frozen so we couldn't actually sink any posts. So, although it's still a little rickety, it's the best we can do for now. It gives the chickens probably 3x more room to move around while still fenced in. The bonus for them was that they found some non-frozen, soft dirt to roll around in, and they sure went crazy with the dirt baths yesterday- they were really cute.

And on the topic of crying over chickens, I bawled like a little girl when we moved Irma back down into the woods. I think I told you all that we had named them after Jazz vocalists...so, we had a little "jazz funeral" and played for her, and gave her a toast at dinner ;) She was a good chicken.