09-30-2010, 03:52 PM
I just joined this forum and read the conversation a few months back about the mongoose problem with chickens. I live on Oahu and work at a nursery in Kaneohe where a feral hen befriended us about a year ago. On the 18th or 19th of September she hatched her first chicks - just two. She is a good mom - but we had a scare last thursday when the chicks were just 5 days old - thought a mongoose had carried them off. Turns out momma had told them to hide and was a little away from them squawking away - I'm assuming to distract the mongoose? Anyways, it was too scary for me and I started putting them in a rabbit hutch covered in chicken wire up on a shelf at night. I let them out in the morning and they scratch around freely all day.
I have a few questions for anyone who might know. I am new to chickens. When do you think they will be big enough to really protect themselves? 6 weeks? I see other hens and chicks around who are quite large at 6 weeks old.
Mongoose mainly hunt during the day right? Mom seems to keep them fairly safe during the day and I see the chicks starting to roost on low branches. What are the dangers to the chickens at night? Would the mongoose - or something else - come then?
How/where do feral chickens sleep at night? I am guessing my hen friend sleeps up on a branch up in the bushes at the top of the nursery. I've seen her up there some late afternoons.But until the chicks are a certain age they need to sleep under her to keep warm right?
Sorry for the long post. Love this chicken and her chicks and want to keep them safe - but also want the chicks to grow up free and self sufficient like their mom. It's a tough balance.
Emily
I have a few questions for anyone who might know. I am new to chickens. When do you think they will be big enough to really protect themselves? 6 weeks? I see other hens and chicks around who are quite large at 6 weeks old.
Mongoose mainly hunt during the day right? Mom seems to keep them fairly safe during the day and I see the chicks starting to roost on low branches. What are the dangers to the chickens at night? Would the mongoose - or something else - come then?
How/where do feral chickens sleep at night? I am guessing my hen friend sleeps up on a branch up in the bushes at the top of the nursery. I've seen her up there some late afternoons.But until the chicks are a certain age they need to sleep under her to keep warm right?
Sorry for the long post. Love this chicken and her chicks and want to keep them safe - but also want the chicks to grow up free and self sufficient like their mom. It's a tough balance.
Emily