Fox leave a pile of feathers, but I once watched one pick up my hen and run off with it. She did not kill and run, just picked up the hen. I yelled at her and she dropped the hen, who was just fine. Raccoon and opossum eat then leave, so you always know what happened to your bird.
Wonderful idea to bring your son to a real class. It makes chicken raising more important to him. It gives him a chance to experience going to local LIVE events. Good job!
I would put her in a pen by herself for a couple of hours and then put one or two of the other ladies with her for a couple of hours, and then another couple. The next day with first feeding, I would put the other ladies in and watch them. Make sure you have more feeding dishes than you need so...
An intact male dog seems to help. A dog that will attack intruders will help, something like a rat terrier that you can train to leave the chickens alone.
The tarp or some extra roof is a good idea. One of my birds prefers to sit on the ground under the over hang of a shed instead of going inside his bachelor pad. Even in rain, snow, or hail. My current new crop prefers being under a big bush.
My chickens are outside and get what they need from drinking from puddles. Yes, they have fresh clear water from my well, but I guess it doesn't taste as good.
Our coop years ago was built so it fit directly over a bale of straw, plus 2 feet for the entrance. DH would just lift the coop up off the bale of straw and place it over another bale of straw. They only slept in there or laid eggs in the nests that hung over the side. Very simple, easy...
Someone on this forum made little hats for the chickens with large combs. Sewed, I think, not knit or crocheted. Too cute.
Prevention being the key, next time get birds with small combs and wattles. I now have a big Brahma and his comb and wattles are fine after our recent winter, even...
Years ago I never lost a chick. Now, I have been loosing them. Like you, just about 10%. I have been told a 10% loss is normal. I think the chicks and ducklings we are getting are not as well bred and some are just not healthy enough to survive.
That being said, after loosing a few this year...
Right. You could breed your own. Maybe do a search for most flavorful chicken breed. Sell three different breeds, labelling each as such. When you see what people prefer, which I am sure the customers will tell the store staff, you can focus on one or two breeds.
You need to keep your chickens confined so they can't walk onto your driveway and run down the street. I agree that is not a good neighbor, but you have to do your part.
When anyone gets scared they enter one of three zones: fight, flight, freeze. Your chickens went into freeze. If they are feathered the rain should just roll off. Next time they will probably run to the coop.
My working border collie, on predator raw, lived to 16.5 years at which time a put him down. My vet said he was the oldest BC she'd seen, most don't live past 14. I feed my rescue/foster dogs raw also and have seen sickly dogs get better real fast.
I do not cook the organ meat, just hand it...
I would ask how many birds they wanted per week. You will want to raise your birds to be of age only so many at a time. Also, I think I would not breed CX because that is what everybody sells. A tastier breed would be better.
We found that were RIR were much better than our CX, but took...