Sadly i lost two chickens on Monday. One was my little bantam silkie and the other a leghorn x.
I believe it was a wedge-tailed eagle as my wife did see one rather low during the day. She was so in awe of how big and majestic it looked that she forgot all about our free-ranging chooks. She feels so bad she didn't put two and two together.
There was no sign of the silkie so i did have some hope she just simply got out of the yard and will show up sometime but 4 days later the window has now closed. The black leghorn was a different story. There was a massive pile of feathers in the far corner of the free range area and only the head left behind. I guess she met her fate there. Poor little souls.
So I need to figure out a solution and I think getting some overhead netting up might be the solution.
If anyone has any other ideas I'd be happy to hear them.
Also, If I was to put overhead netting up, what's some good material to use for the corner posts? I need something fairly high to go right over their house. I don't want to do the sides as i think that will be an over-kill.
Happy to hear peoples thoughts on this.
I really didn't know what predators were in my area. A neighbour said their chooks got taken by a fox at night as they forgot to shut them up for the night. It seems there are more threats than I first imagined. I feel I've let them down and my wife hasn't slept well since. Maybe it's my military background that allows me to deal with it a bit better but it's still a real bummer losing those in your care.
Cheers,
Steve
I believe it was a wedge-tailed eagle as my wife did see one rather low during the day. She was so in awe of how big and majestic it looked that she forgot all about our free-ranging chooks. She feels so bad she didn't put two and two together.
There was no sign of the silkie so i did have some hope she just simply got out of the yard and will show up sometime but 4 days later the window has now closed. The black leghorn was a different story. There was a massive pile of feathers in the far corner of the free range area and only the head left behind. I guess she met her fate there. Poor little souls.
So I need to figure out a solution and I think getting some overhead netting up might be the solution.
If anyone has any other ideas I'd be happy to hear them.
Also, If I was to put overhead netting up, what's some good material to use for the corner posts? I need something fairly high to go right over their house. I don't want to do the sides as i think that will be an over-kill.
Happy to hear peoples thoughts on this.
I really didn't know what predators were in my area. A neighbour said their chooks got taken by a fox at night as they forgot to shut them up for the night. It seems there are more threats than I first imagined. I feel I've let them down and my wife hasn't slept well since. Maybe it's my military background that allows me to deal with it a bit better but it's still a real bummer losing those in your care.
Cheers,
Steve