My property is backed by forest/blm land. I have a LGD that is more of a pet but she lives on about an acre and follows me around to do chores or on my day off. My goats are on 3 acres towards the front of the property and my birds/barn setup in on the right side of my house. I had to fence off the barn as the neighbor recently sold his bare land and i couldnt fence that property line as its a right- away to a road/driveway.
So its been fenced off from the dog for a month or so. Like i said, she still goes with me and scouts around the barn/chicken area when im feeding at least twice a day. Well, on my day off i was up at the barn most of the day fencing an area for the does and kids. I let the birds free range on my day off. there is two roosters and 11 hens now. They do really well. The birds wanted to go back in the coop/run to be fed so i shut the gate around 4pm. then i let out the trio of silkies so they can sun bath,dust ect while i went to feed my horses. This took maybe 15 min at the most. I came back to only two silkies. And finally found a pile of feathers about 5 feet from there coop. the two silkies were browsing by the pump house which is 20 feet or so from the barn and 10 feet from there small run/coop. My dog was with me and we tracked the feathers to the neighbors tree property. I couldnt go any further as it was steep down hill and lots of poison oak.
so, it was not a hawk that got her, it has to travel relatively fast, so i doubt it was an opossum. So either a raccoon or maybe a fox, although i havent ever seen a fox. Wasnt the owls either, as its daylight and the feathers were on the ground. silkies are not huge, but still work to move the whole thing in less then 15 minutes. She also could see so she had to run from it a little bit before getting caught.
If it is a raccoon, was it just lucky i let the silkies out? i usually only let them out for 10 min when im filling hay nets, never seen one during the day. So, i decided to sell the remaining pair of silkies.
I also stopped letting my birds free range when i was at work, not sure if that will make a difference but the birds are not happy about it.
So its been fenced off from the dog for a month or so. Like i said, she still goes with me and scouts around the barn/chicken area when im feeding at least twice a day. Well, on my day off i was up at the barn most of the day fencing an area for the does and kids. I let the birds free range on my day off. there is two roosters and 11 hens now. They do really well. The birds wanted to go back in the coop/run to be fed so i shut the gate around 4pm. then i let out the trio of silkies so they can sun bath,dust ect while i went to feed my horses. This took maybe 15 min at the most. I came back to only two silkies. And finally found a pile of feathers about 5 feet from there coop. the two silkies were browsing by the pump house which is 20 feet or so from the barn and 10 feet from there small run/coop. My dog was with me and we tracked the feathers to the neighbors tree property. I couldnt go any further as it was steep down hill and lots of poison oak.
so, it was not a hawk that got her, it has to travel relatively fast, so i doubt it was an opossum. So either a raccoon or maybe a fox, although i havent ever seen a fox. Wasnt the owls either, as its daylight and the feathers were on the ground. silkies are not huge, but still work to move the whole thing in less then 15 minutes. She also could see so she had to run from it a little bit before getting caught.
If it is a raccoon, was it just lucky i let the silkies out? i usually only let them out for 10 min when im filling hay nets, never seen one during the day. So, i decided to sell the remaining pair of silkies.
I also stopped letting my birds free range when i was at work, not sure if that will make a difference but the birds are not happy about it.
