Lost my favorite chicken to a hawk this morning 😢.
Discussion
The farm prepares you for the cycle of life, doesn't get easier - but knowing that you're part of something larger keeps you going - the feeling of connection to this planet only strengthens in these moments.
I assume you're free ranging them.
That's how it goes if that's the choice you make.
If you protect them with a chicken tractor of sorts, they could graze an area, protected, and then you could move the tractor so they graze a new area, still protected.
It's not free range but as you can see, freedom is dangerous, making compromise with the chickens' freedom may be wise. In the cost/benefit analysis, what is the benefit of free range vs tractoring? We know the cost is getting your birds picked off by my fellow hawks.
Lost almost all of mine to a series of fox attacks early winter. One silky managed to survive 3 attacks that took some feathers.