I love watching my chickens enjoy their new coop and scratch yard. We have three hens and one rooster left over from our flock from two years ago; and 22 pullets and two roosters (oops, hatchery mistake!) from our December day-old-chicks order.
Total: 25 hens, 3 roosters
The shade tree has been great for them and they can also go underneath the coop. here’s a picture of a moment in the life a chicken flock:
As I was snapping pictures of my flock, a hawk flew low overhead. In one instant the scene before me changed to this:
Isn’t it amazing how they just know? How they sensed danger and reacted in the blink of an eye?
And later, when crows were flying around, they didn’t mind a bit.
Any adventures in chicken raising from your backyard? Please share!
Beautiful pictures! Your flock looks so content.
We sometimes have crows come to eat with our chickens. The hens aren’t happy about it but they don’t hide away either. I have yet to have any hawk problems, knock on wood.
Thank you! We have crows come around too, and they make a horrible racket when there are predators around — a great warning system.
We have this problem as well so we now have chicken wire over the top of the yard. They sit in the tree above the coop. We let some of the leave stay on it after the fall to break up the hawk’s view. I’d love to let them walk around the yard but way too many hawks.
Enclosing the top is a great way to keep hawks at bay — do you have center supports/ posts to keep the netting from sagging?
That is one of the prettiest coops I’ve ever seen! Gorgeous!
We see hawks around but haven’t ever lost a chicken yet. I think it’s because of our two big dogs…
Thank you — we love this coop! Dogs are a great deterrent for predators — I wish we had a flock guardian!
LOVE the chicken coop! Having so many chickens must be a lot of fun. It’s neat to see the God-given healthy fear of predators they have.
Lord willing, I’ll have some hens next spring. It will be my first experience of owning chickens. I’ve been searching the web for cool chicken coops for hubby to make. Yours is beautiful.
Holly, I hope you are able to build a great flock! There are plans available to make a coop like the one we have — linked to from my side column.
Have fun!