How to Better Protect Your Free-Range Flock

Reader Contribution by Tammy Taylor
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When we moved to our Texas homestead we decided we really wanted to raise free-range chickens along with our cattle and goats. We fortified the coop of our 1880s barn so we could house our hens there. Each morning, I’d let the chickens out to free range and then lock them safely inside the coop each night when they came to roost.

Free-Range Chicken Predators

But one day as I went to check for eggs I spied a pile of feathers. Although my heart sank, I realized this is just part of the circle of life. But a few days later, yet another hen was attacked and killed. And another. And another, until they were all gone. Wow!

So we replaced those hens and one by one they also disappeared. We even set out a wildlife camera to try to catch sight of the daytime predator so we’d know what we were dealing with. Coyote? Hawk? Something else? We were never able catch a picture of the predator so we could never tell for sure.

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