It can be done. The hawks have entirely given up on my chickens. Lots of aerial coverage, ideally trees and brush, will really help. Expect casualties in your first generation but they'll adapt to the local predators and teach their young these same skills. Every generation outperforms the last one
I have a ton of free-range black chickens of many different types. Black Sumatra, Sumatra mixes, and some lavender Brahma mixed offspring that are a flat black color
Hawks still come here and attack, though to this day they're unable to catch any of the black chickens. Only offspring of a...