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Oh, we lose quite a few.  I have a coyote pack that lives in the wilds of 
the empty feild accross from my house; we are no strangers to predetors!  
But I have actually had better luck with free range than when I tried to 
keep my chickens in a coop.  Something would get in the coop and kill the 
whole flock.  With free range they only pick them off one or two at a time.  
And I went with the theory that if it was stupid enough to get caught I 
didn't want it in my gene pool anyway.  I still have a couple of the 
original 25 hens (purchased 1.5 years ago), but not many.  I just keep 
incubating and raising replacements.  I am hoping that the introduction of 
the jungle fowl blood will encourage "brooding" and they will raise their 
own babies.  Then they will be basically maintenance free, other than the 
occasional chicken BBQ to cull the excess roosters!

They may not be as good as the fly predator bugs, but they give something 
back in return.  I have wondered if you could use both, or would the 
chickens eat the good bugs?

Jena

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If we had free-range chickens they would disappear in a flash......coyotes,
hawks, foxes, dogs, cats, you-name-it predators.  I'd bet the hawks would be
near the top of the list in efficiency.

Barbara
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