One of the biggest challenges for the mobile laying hen farmer is to protect the birds from predators. In this regard, he is subject to certain rules nowadays. While the farmer used to take a shotgun out of the cupboard to protect his animals from foxes, hawks, wolves and co., today he no longer has this option and must come up with something else.

The goshawk – currently the greatest threat to free-range chickens

Goshawks have become one of the biggest problems for free-range poultry farmers. The hens instinctively try to defend themselves against them by making certain sounds that warn of the impending danger and help the flock to hide from the predator. In this way, they try to protect themselves from the threat. You may also notice that hens feel the need to be near elements that provide them with some kind of shield.  If these are not available, they usually do not move far from the mobile hen house for fear of being attacked by a predator. 

Another instinctive behaviour in the face of danger is to constantly look up and sprint for safe shield when a larger bird circles in the sky.

Importantly, the goshawk is a bird that does not circle in the sky looking for prey, but sits on high perches or branches looking for opportunities. It attacks quickly and uses the element of surprise. Female goshawks hunt mainly chickens, while males concentrate on smaller birds and small mammals.

The fact that goshawks are at home in cities is certainly also since their main prey, the pigeon, feels very comfortable there and can be found in flocks. However, since each pair of goshawks claims a certain breeding territory for itself and the offspring are driven out of it after rearing, it is understandable that young goshawks must acquire new territories. Thus, the settlement density of goshawks is also increasing in rural areas. Here, in addition to natural prey, they also find a richly laid table on free-range and organic laying hen farms.

How can we prevent our friends, the chickens, from being thrown to the hawks?

Nets over the run

The most popular and effective method of protecting chickens from birds of prey is to place a net over the run. This will prevent attacks from the sky. To prevent the penetration of birds of prey, the mesh size of the net should be less than 10 cm.

Appropriate fencing

The hawks are clever and hunt on the ground. Quite often “chicken thieves” roam the free-range enclosure on foot and look for gaps in the fence, so it is important that the fence works properly. This means that the vegetation around the fence must be as short as possible. An overgrown electric fence has practically no effect, as the current is diverted along the grass blades into the ground. In addition, the fence should not have a gap, because if a predator discovers it, not all hens manage to escape into the barn despite the alarm signal. A bird of prey needs only a few centimetres to enter a chicken coop, it needs much less space than a fox or a wolf.

Shelter in the chicken run

When a rooster or a hen sounds a warning, all the hens run away and hide. In modern chicken farming, an open run with no hiding places is common, although this does not correspond to the nature of the chickens. For large areas that cannot be covered by nets, hiding places significantly reduce the risk. To prevent attacks by birds of prey, low-mounted wooden roofs help.

Goats grazing together with chickens

Many holdings that have suffered flock losses because of aerial attacks by predators and have tried the protection measures mentioned above find that keeping goats exclusively on their herds is a relatively good remedy for hawk loss. Goats are large, fast, and aggressive and very reliable when it comes to defending their territory. It may be surprising that the hawks are usually unaffected by sheep and cattle and continue to roam among these grazing animals to meet the chickens. On the other hand, if you keep goats, possibly with a bell on the collar, the shy hawk stays away. It has been shown that the hawk reappears on the feeding ground within 24-48 hours when the goats are removed from the herd.

Special sound or light protection devices that emit sounds or light to deter predators or other animals may also be used in conjunction with the above protection methods.

Regardless of which protective measures you choose, it is important to regularly check and repair damage so that your chickens can live in a safe and quiet environment. Remember that your chickens are your friends, and it is worth taking care of them so that they can enjoy a long and happy life.

The animal world holds all sorts of secrets. We can look for them literally everywhere and there is a good chance that the results of our search will surprise us. Let us look, for example, at our immediate surroundings: did you know that chickens have developed their own language?

Recent scientific studies have shown that hens, chickens and roosters have developed cognitive abilities (they have the ability to learn and acquire information) and communication skills. Hens communicate with each other using body language or vocal signals. Another way they communicate is by secreting chemicals called pheromones from special glands or by marking an area with urine or faeces. However, what interests us most is their spoken language, in which more than 30 different sounds with distinct meanings are distinguished. With their help, hens express their emotions, raise their chicks, announce food they have found or approach danger.

The language of hens accurately describes their reality, there is no randomness in their noises, they do not noise mindlessly under fear. Their warning sounds vary depending on whether the predator is approaching from the ground or from the air. They respond to predators approaching from the ground with much louder and more frequent voices. A bird that makes a warning sound is trying to draw attention to itself and make the predator aware that the flock is already aware of its presence and is preparing to flee.

The signals that tell of food found are also not uniform. Some indicate that they have just been served a treat, while others indicate that the meal is inedible.

Below you will find some examples of the hen noises with which they attempt to communicate specific content.

Clucking

This is probably the most well-known sound a hen makes

When observing the clucking of hens, you may notice that they seem sort of… hysterical. This is not surprising, as clucking occurs mainly when hens lay eggs or shortly afterwards; they are then very excited. Clucking in young hens that have laid an egg for the first time can also be an expression of a kind of “surprise”. It is also assumed that the clucking hen wants to draw the rooster’s attention to the laid egg.

Cackling

Another sound used by hens is the cackling sound (which can be heard before they lay their eggs, as an expression of their desire to lay an egg at that very moment).

This sound is used by the hens if, for example, the preferred nest is occupied by a higher-ranking mate and the latter does not want to let her into the nest.

In addition, hens express needs in this way, such as to be fed or let out of the coop. The rooster only makes this sound when it is being stalked by a winning rival.

Crowing

Another very typical sound is crowing. It is one of the most characteristic sounds when it comes to this group of birds. After all, who among us has not heard a rooster, especially in rural areas? That’s right!

The sound of crowing, however, is never heard from a hen, as it is a sound made exclusively by roosters.

Contrary to expectations and stereotypes, this sound is not used to wake people up. In the wild, roosters crow to draw attention to themselves, thus showing their confidence and giving a clear message – “look – I’m the one in charge”.

In addition, roosters use their crowing to attract hens. In the wild, it sometimes happens that hens stray too far from the group and never find their way back. Through the rooster’s crowing they regain their orientation in the area and return to the flock.

Hens can scream too!

The screams of hens can be heard when they are attacked by predators or other hens, or when they injure themselves. It is a shrieking cry that can be louder or less loud, depending on the potential threat.

It is worth spending some time with the animals and observing their behaviour, listening to their conversations. You can really learn a lot this way.

The ability to understand and interpret chicken language is a very useful skill for the hen keeper, allowing you to make their lives as stress-free and comfortable as possible.

Mobile chicken coops are becoming an increasingly popular form of free-range chicken housing. They are often chosen by farmers who already have their own poultry farm, by farmers looking for an alternative use to manage their pastures and fields, or by those who simply see it as good, forward-looking business.

However, there is an opportunity for any farmer to get into this type of farming as it is an activity that does not require as much commitment and money as investing in stationary poultry houses.

However, many of you probably see the many advantages of a mobile poultry house and yet have wondered more than once whether buying one is really a good idea. Will it bring the expected benefits? One thing is for sure: if you don’t decide to make this investment, you won’t know!

In our last post, we described the main benefits of a mobile chicken house, focusing mainly on how its mobility and the chickens living in it affect the condition of the meadows and fields, and conversely, the impact that constant access to fresh grass has on the chickens.

However, this was only an introduction to what we would like to share with you in this post!

The undisputed benefit of mobile chicken coops is that they offer the possibility to keep fewer chickens (200-250 chickens). This makes it possible for small farms in particular to “start” keeping chickens without a great financial risk. This is because, unlike a stationary poultry house, a mobile hen house can always be sold in the event of a difficulty, just like any other agricultural machine. The purchase of a mobile poultry house is a low-cost factor compared to the construction of a stationary house. It is also often possible to obtain subsidies for the purchase of mobile poultry houses that comply with ecological standards and requirements, upon submission of the relevant documentation.

It could give the impression that the workload in a mobile chicken house is much higher than in a stationary house, but this depends on the number of chickens kept, the size of the house and its level of automation. In a mobile poultry house in our production, for example, no more than half an hour a day is needed to check the feed, to check the processes in the poultry house in general and to collect the eggs in the poultry house.  The 600-litre water tank is filled up every 7 days on average, and this does not require much effort either – just connect the hose and check the water level in the tank (this does not take more than 40 minutes, and in the meantime, you can do other work in the poultry house, such as refilling the feed containers). Also, manure removal will not take much time because, as in most mobile poultry houses, we used a belt system, and it takes no more than 30 minutes to remove the manure from the belt. 

So, by planning the activities in the mobile poultry house well, all the required activities can be done efficiently and in optimal time, and most importantly, you don’t need staff to manage it. Most of these activities can be done alone.

What deserves special attention is the power supply system of the mobile chicken houses.

Most of them are equipped with photovoltaic panels that can supply the entire poultry house with electricity on sunny days. It is therefore not necessary to constantly connect the poultry house to the electricity grid or to use a power generator every day, which significantly reduces the maintenance costs of the mobile poultry house. 

Moreover, thanks to this independence from the electricity grid, the poultry house does not have to be located on a plot of land right next to the farm but can just as easily be erected in a meadow some distance from the house.

Many farmers decide not to buy a mobile chicken coop because they have concerns about the safety of the animals outdoors, and these fears are partly justified. When investing in a mobile chicken house, one must expect that the lives of free-range chickens are at greater risk than those of chickens living in sheds or in much smaller runs near farms. However, manufacturers of mobile chicken coops are responding to farmers’ concerns by introducing several measures to protect chickens from foxes, martens, or birds of prey. One of these is the electric fence, which, in combination with other safety measures, ensures that the chickens feel safe not only inside the coop, but also outside.

In our offer you will find, among other things, a special protective net over the run that covers an area of 22.5 m2 and thus creates a “safe zone” for the chickens in case of danger.

When deciding to buy a mobile hen house, there are many factors that will affect the selection of the right mobile hen house tailored to your needs.

However, we recommend choosing a model that is largely automated, as you will then have much more time to focus on marketing and the well-being of your chickens.

Therefore, we invite you to take a look at our mobile chicken house models. Contact us for a non-binding offer.

As the world’s population continues to grow, so does the demand for protein, so we buy more and more eggs. Everyone knows they come from a hen, but not everyone is interested in the conditions under which the hens lay them.

Floor / barn husbandry:

At first glance, floor housing sounds good. However, on closer inspection, you can realise that the chickens are not particularly well off in this type of housing. Although at least one third of the floor must be strewn with straw, sand or peat, the rest of the area consists of grids under which the droppings pits are located.

Moreover, such a henhouse can accommodate up to six thousand hens. Exactly nine hens can be kept in one square metre, but in a multi-storey poultry house up to 18 hens can be kept in one square metre. The chickens in such a coop can barely walk, bathe in sand and flap their wings.

Many animals quickly become stressed and overwhelmed living in such conditions and having to share space with so many other chickens, so they often pluck out the feathers of themselves or their conspecifics.

In addition, many bacteria can multiply in such conditions when so many chickens live side by side and produce large amounts of water vapour. Eggs from barn-raised chickens carry a “2” in the egg code.

Free-range

Free-range chickens live in an enclosed coop, like floor-raised chickens. However, there is a big difference between the two systems: free-range animals, as the name suggests, are allowed to leave the coop during the day and roam outdoors. They have a large meadow to themselves where they can move around freely. Each hen must have at least four square metres of outdoor space, which is significantly more than in a barn.

This outdoor space must be available to all hens for at least eight hours a day, regardless of the weather.

There are also situations when the hens are not allowed outside, and the authorities order them to be kept indoors. However, so that the animals can move around, such a poultry house has a “winter garden”. This room has daylight and is well ventilated. It takes up about half of the indoor area of the house. The code of the egg begins with a “1”, which indicates free-range husbandry.

Organic farming

Organic rearing is primarily characterised by its naturalness. The chickens eat only organic feed and are treated only with natural and homeopathic medicines in case of illness. Hormones and antibiotics are prohibited in this type of breeding. Compared to floor and free-range farming, the available space is even larger, as no more than six hens per square metre can be kept in a poultry house.

The chicken flock is therefore smaller than in other types of husbandry and can number up to 3,000 birds. The perches are slightly longer – each hen should have 18 cm of space for itself. As with free-range husbandry, there is also a large outdoor area in organic husbandry. In at least four square metres, each hen can peck and forage for food without worry.

The producer code on the egg bears a “0” right at the beginning.

As you can see, organic and free-range farming differ in the way they are fed and the restriction of antibiotics. Also, in both cases, the hens have access to a large outdoor area.

Floor keeping is indeed the most productive because such a quantity of hens really “produces” a lot of eggs – but is it all about quantity?  Don’t forget that an organic hen means not only better feed, but also better living conditions, which affect the taste of eggs and poultry meat. Organic eggs taste more aromatic. This is because the feed contains more plant-based ingredients. So, do we want chickens to be just machines that lay average eggs? Decide for yourself! 🙂