It is unfortunate, but nonetheless a fact that although your chickens are just going about their everyday business, there are dangers that may befall them if you, as their responsible owner neglect to see to. Chicken Hutches and Runs as a centre of security can ward off many of these dangers. In this article I shall describe the potential dangers your chickens can face, and ways you can tackle these issues.
Adding New Chickens As you are keeping chickens, it is natural you will be considering getting more. If you do choose to add to your current chickens, my advice to you is that you ensure you do it safely. By this I mean buying only from a well-known well-respected breeder, and make sure that you see the chickens in their current home before you buy them. Additionally, Ideally, you will want to keep these new chickens in a separate chicken hutch for at least a couple of weeks to ensure they are free of disease. They will also need to be treated for lice and mites before you add them to your current flock of chickens. This goes a long way to protecting them against disease and infection. Last and most definitely not least, always ensure that you add your new chickens when it's dark. If you do not heed this warning, then it will inevitably lead to fighting and some of the birds will end up being bullied or injured.
Your Pet Dog! Now, as you are a chicken owner, you are likely to be a pet lover in a few areas. It must be said that your pet dog, however adorable and reliable, is likely to love chasing anything and everything and this does unfortunately include your chickens. Now I am not insinuating that your particular "man's best friend" is out to purposely hurt these chickens, far from it, the dog often has no intention of hurting the chickens, however due to their differences in size, strength and demeanour; it is the chicken that invariably comes out on the worst end of things.
The Cunning Predator: The Fox No matter where you live, the fox is one of the most, if not, the most, dangerous threat to your chickens safety. Foxes will take an opportunity whenever it presents itself. Due to fox hunting being outlawed, whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing, it does mean that there has been a large increase in the number of foxes. There does seem to be a new kind of urban fox, it does not fear people, lives and breeds quite comfortably, especially as people often feed them in an act of what they perceive to be kindness. All that is needed is for you as a chicken owner to make one mistake and the fox will take advantage. The fox will attack the chickens with no thought or consideration. Chickens that are not attacked are not let off in anyway, as it is often the case that they unfortunately die of shock anyways. This is one of the most prevalent reasons that drive home the fact that you need to ensure total security in regards to looking after your chickens.
Lapses in Security The greatest risk to your chickens is actually one that you are responsible for and can avoid. Lapses in security are the greatest threat your chickens can come under. This is because if security becomes compromised, then all other risks can present themselves easier. Any measure you can take to protect your chickens, I implore that you take it. Your chickens are at risk if you leave them with someone else to lock them up, the person could forget or not be bothered to lock them up. This is easily preventable, make sure that you only ask people to lock up your chickens, if they are reliable people whom you trust implicitly, and ensure that you know that they fully understand what to do, or that you have shown them what to do, and that they understand the importance of the procedures you have left them to do. Make sure that whilst they are under your care that you always lock the chicken hutch thoroughly and always make sure the run is in superb condition with no access points for foxes and other such predators.
Adding New Chickens As you are keeping chickens, it is natural you will be considering getting more. If you do choose to add to your current chickens, my advice to you is that you ensure you do it safely. By this I mean buying only from a well-known well-respected breeder, and make sure that you see the chickens in their current home before you buy them. Additionally, Ideally, you will want to keep these new chickens in a separate chicken hutch for at least a couple of weeks to ensure they are free of disease. They will also need to be treated for lice and mites before you add them to your current flock of chickens. This goes a long way to protecting them against disease and infection. Last and most definitely not least, always ensure that you add your new chickens when it's dark. If you do not heed this warning, then it will inevitably lead to fighting and some of the birds will end up being bullied or injured.
Your Pet Dog! Now, as you are a chicken owner, you are likely to be a pet lover in a few areas. It must be said that your pet dog, however adorable and reliable, is likely to love chasing anything and everything and this does unfortunately include your chickens. Now I am not insinuating that your particular "man's best friend" is out to purposely hurt these chickens, far from it, the dog often has no intention of hurting the chickens, however due to their differences in size, strength and demeanour; it is the chicken that invariably comes out on the worst end of things.
The Cunning Predator: The Fox No matter where you live, the fox is one of the most, if not, the most, dangerous threat to your chickens safety. Foxes will take an opportunity whenever it presents itself. Due to fox hunting being outlawed, whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing, it does mean that there has been a large increase in the number of foxes. There does seem to be a new kind of urban fox, it does not fear people, lives and breeds quite comfortably, especially as people often feed them in an act of what they perceive to be kindness. All that is needed is for you as a chicken owner to make one mistake and the fox will take advantage. The fox will attack the chickens with no thought or consideration. Chickens that are not attacked are not let off in anyway, as it is often the case that they unfortunately die of shock anyways. This is one of the most prevalent reasons that drive home the fact that you need to ensure total security in regards to looking after your chickens.
Lapses in Security The greatest risk to your chickens is actually one that you are responsible for and can avoid. Lapses in security are the greatest threat your chickens can come under. This is because if security becomes compromised, then all other risks can present themselves easier. Any measure you can take to protect your chickens, I implore that you take it. Your chickens are at risk if you leave them with someone else to lock them up, the person could forget or not be bothered to lock them up. This is easily preventable, make sure that you only ask people to lock up your chickens, if they are reliable people whom you trust implicitly, and ensure that you know that they fully understand what to do, or that you have shown them what to do, and that they understand the importance of the procedures you have left them to do. Make sure that whilst they are under your care that you always lock the chicken hutch thoroughly and always make sure the run is in superb condition with no access points for foxes and other such predators.
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