Mother Nature Has Immense Power, Why Fight Her?
This summer, we are producing over 100 dozen eggs a week, but it wasn’t always this way. We’ve learned so much about these fascinating and entertaining feathered dinosaurs we call chickens. From their profound social order—where the term “pecking order” originates—to their curious nature around anything shiny, chickens are often seen as the easiest animals to raise. However, our experience proved otherwise. We struggled with raising chickens, not because they are difficult, but because we were fighting against nature. For years, we lost dozens of birds to hawks and owls, but today, such losses are rare. We eventually realized that by listening to nature, our work became much easier.
Chickens are prey for many animals. A large, relatively flightless bird with no defenses is an ideal meal for a predator. To make matters worse, chickens have strong social orders, so when one is lost, the entire flock becomes stressed, trying to reestablish that order. Stressed chickens don’t lay eggs, meaning every loss to a predator can result in weeks of diminished egg production.
Through trial and error, advice from experienced farmers, and studying our chickens’ predators, we found a simple and effective solution.
To prevent hawk and owl attacks, we introduced black Jersey Giant chickens into all our flocks. These friendly birds don’t lay as many eggs as our ISA Browns, but their large size and black color make them look like crows to hawks and owls. Since crows are the nemesis of these birds of prey, the predators tend to stay away. We went a step further by incorporating African Super Geese into our flocks. These large and protective birds alert the flock to a hawk’s presence, giving the chickens time to run for cover.
Finally, we credit our several acres of native Illinois prairie for providing hawks and owls with enough natural prey, so they don’t need to hunt our chickens. Sometimes, the best way to overcome challenges is to understand your adversary and turn them into an ally.
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