From installing houses forbluebirdsandeven owlstoleaving my drop impart alone , I do a lot to draw in area wildlife . So , it should n’t have come as a surprisal when a family of hawks set up a nest in a nearby tree .
The one affair I had n’t counted on ? finally , the hawks and their offspring set out doing blue flybys directly over my out-of-door chicken foot race . When their shadow passed overhead — and when , invariably , they made their evident margin call — my alarmed hens would scatter .
At least at first , the hawks plausibly thought they had a pretty good shot at a chicken dinner party . But I had completely covered the top of the chicken ’s run with netting and also reinforced some areas with supererogatory chickenwire . Still , my hens did n’t necessarily empathise that they were really secure .
Egg Effects
as luck would have it , the country hawks eventually block off buzz my chicken streak . But , if they had n’t ? The add tension could ’ve taken a cost on my hens ’ health and feign their egg - egg laying . tenseness can negatively affect an ballock - laying volaille .
“ The process of releasing the vitellus , the vitellus come about down the uterine tube and place on the bollock flannel and the shell membranes and the shell — it ’s all a very routine mental process , ” saysUniversity of Florida College of Veterinary MedicineProfessor Gary Butcher . “ But when there ’s any kind of stress , hens can become irregular in their egg production and can decrease ballock production . You may see some eggs where the shell is only partially formed . ”
He add together , “ If there ’s a large enough universe , you ’ll get hold some that even — whenever they give up the vitellus into the torso cavity — it ’s not even pick up . They start to accumulate some nut yolks in the body pit , if they are stressed out . ”
Susan Brackney
Read more : What can you severalize from an eggshell ? A lot , in fact .
Sources of Stress
Not all source of volaille tension are as obvious as hawk flying overhead . “ If you put [ your chickens ] into a secure cage at night , they get to have nice , reposeful eternal sleep at dark , ” Butcher says .
At least theyshouldbe able to rest easy . “ Let ’s say there are predatory animal coming around all night long , and you do n’t even know that they ’re there , ” he continues . “ Maybe there are waver brightness level in the henhouse . Or rats endure around frighten off the hen all dark long . There could be dogs alfresco barking all the time . Or there are raccoon scratching and trying to get in .
“ Those all can stimulate hens to be distress . And , when hens are distressed , anything that interrupts their normal pattern can be a problem . ”
Susan Brackney
Other sources of strain may let in too much noise from people , the effects of disease , or even mite infestations .
“ I ’ve consider position where … all night long , these mites jump on them , ” Butcher take note . “ They suck [ the hen ’ ] blood and crawl all over them . Then , the hens are really nervous and they do n’t sleep comfortably . ”Susan Brackney
Extra Protection
Eliminating soupcon and other potential wellness issues is one obvious way to reduce wimp focus . deter would - be predators , so that they simply mosey along , pays dividends too .
Just how can you make the chicken coop and out-of-door run virtually predator - validation ? First , I swallow up chickenwire about 12 column inch below the soil line all the way around my outdoor crybaby run .
“ When you bury your wire , check that that it curves away , ” Butcher recommend . “ You want to curve it because a lot of these piranha will start to dig down . If the conducting wire is [ swallow ] straight down , they can get to the bottom and then go underneath it .
“ But , if they go down and it commence to curve away when they hit that , they do n’t think about compass backwards and conk out under . They keep on trying to grok straight down and then they realize that they ca n’t get in . ”
As for the fencing you choose ? check that its interlocking size is small enough to foil especially prehensile critters . Before he had reinforce one of his own chicken run , Butcher lose some of his hens to racoon .
“ Somehow , they would convince those volaille to get near the fence , ” he recall . “ And then they would attain in and grab the chickens ’ heads and try out to pull them through . It was horrible . ”
Raccoons also may be able-bodied to get underneath raised cages and grab your chicken ’ feet .
record more : These 15 lead will help you predator - proof your chickens .
Above & Beyond
In increase to my swallow chickenwire , I ’ve also space cementum block around the margin of my run . And , I topped the run with a pair of layers of hiss net . To keep the netting in place , I wired it to the top and sides of my fencing at 3 - inch intervals .
Finally , I spaced strips of snowy cloth along the top of the gauze . ( This has helped to keep area wild birds from accidentally getting catch in the hard - to - see nett from above . )
