Overhead netting for bantams

My partner and I are busy with chicks arriving and coop building and I am just starting to do the fencing for the new coops. In doing so and having constructed a makeshift outdoor pen with netting over top for my young pullets and cockerels, I was thinking how old or big they would have to be before I cut them loose into their much larger fenced range and I thought of my bantams - Silkies, Dutch, Cochins, Wyandottes and d'Uccles - which are permanently small. We do not normally have a problem with hawks or owls taking out our standard birds, although they are around but the hawks leave our adult standards alone and we are far enough away from the forest that the owls never come around but the ravens will pick off the young standard pullets and cockerels (and probably the hawks as well) up to a certain size and that had me thinking about the size of my bantams. Do they need overhead netting to keep them safe from raptors and ravens even as adults?

Thanks kindly!

With our bantam ducks we've always kept them under netting. It got to be a pain though because we'd have to take it down before snow so they were vulnerable all winter. We've started stringing fishing line, an idea we picked up from the forums. So far so good...and we won't have to take it down.

I also read that some people hang old cd's on the fish line, they blow around in the breeze and hawks etc. avoid going close.

Gee whiz, my concern in getting bantams was whether or not I could put them in with standards and when I learned I could, I went and ordered these little fellas. It didn't occur to me I'd have to do the overhead netting/fish lines/cd's........more work. We're so busy building coops and fencing and all the other stuff that is required on a homestead, where am I going to find the time?

Does anyone free range their bantams without overhead protection?

Sorry for the complaining. I know I brought in on myself.

I have free ranged bantams with no issues for years, of course I do not have the predators overhead that you obviously have. We free range our bantam ducks, even our stubby little call ducks. Last year was the first year we lost anything for a long time and it was because our guardian dog died and the pup was not old enough to protect, and most of those losses were coyote.
I find most bantams are very fast, can duck and dive under cover quickly, of course silkies are another story, never have free ranged them, not sure I would.
I think if you provide cover for them to get under like boards up against the fence on an angle, boxes to get into etc they would be ok.
The other thing I read about overhead predators is they do not like to drop down into what looks like a trap, so tall sided narrow pens. So for example my pens are 8 ft tall, 10 ft wide and 20 ft long, with a house in the mid back section, an overhead predator would most likely not drop into a pen like that for fear of being trapped.
Even if you did the refelctor tip chickees mom said in amongst your trees around your chicken area it might detur them enough to leave the chickens alone.
The other option is a livestock guardian dog, once trained to hate overhead predators they are excellent at keeping them away.

Okay, that's good. Ideally, next year (if I can talk DH into it after building me a coop last year and two this year) I will have a small coop just for bantams and will do an overhead pen.

For now, we'll do tall fences and they'll have plenty of shelter under and around the coop building but will provide some kind of tasteful looking little shelters away from the coop.

As far as a LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog) goes, funny you should mention that. We are getting a second dog next year (cancelled this year's pup because of being so busy) and we were going to get a lab but are now talking LGD. Another thread...........

Thanks everyone.

All our birds free range during the day but I find the bantams don't stray far from their secure area. I agree with Hidden that most of the bantams we have are super fast and at any sound or disturbance head straight for the coop. We have not lost a single bantam as for full sized hens well we've lost a few but that's the risk of letting them freerange.

I'm interested in the fishing line though.... how does this work? I put some of my ducks in my garden area but I've been looking for netting (without any luck) since the ravens have discovered the ducks occasionally leave eggs outside Grrrr I do not want to encourage ravens to hang around but I also don't want an eyesore in the front yard

standard chickens, bantams, young birds, geese, ducks area all together, no netting. Have never had a bird taken by an owl or otherwise. We do have a very secure perimeter fence that doesn't allow weasels etc in.

Also we have a dog that stays with the birds.

Ducklings and chicks, if they don't have an adult bird near I would think might be in need of extra protection.

i free range all my bantams even my silkies, i see hawks all the time at my place. But i do have alot of trees and hedges for them to go under. i have never lost any bantams to any flying birds. I think covered pens are unnessary need that cost you money.

I free range my poultry in several places - one is a 1 acre field, another is about a 1/3 acre fenced and completely treed area, the last place is about 1/2 acre or more of half treed and half open. I have now lost two bantam hens to ravens in the fully treed pen. I would cover the pen if you can. There is nothing worse then finding parts of your beloved bantam pets

I free range all of my poultry, and haven't lost any to hawks or eagles. The ravens are more interested in the chicken's treats than the chickens.
People I know tie up black material or garbage bags to look like a dead crow and hang them about, supposedly the crows and ravens won't come around them.

We have netting on all our pens. After an owl went through last year and got 6 or 7 birds it's well worth the investment to tie up a bit of net, it will make birds of prey think twice before going after the birds.

I used to have my bantams in a covered pen. But they always walked back and forth so i just take the chance and i havent lost any to hawks becuase when they see any they run underneath something.

i use deer netting for all my out door runs. its very strong, big enough holes to let snow through!~(i found out the hard way that this is very important! LOL ) and its UV protected, so it shouldn't break down!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for reigniting this thread. Here's my update.....I did the overhead fishing line approach back in late June and then, the one night my husband and I went away in August and had our son close up the coops, he forgot........hence we came home the next day to 5 young large fowl and bantam birds dead, some half eaten some heads missing, all outside the coop in their yard. We have electric fencing and so it was a mystery as to what it was. However the next morning at 6 AM my husband was outside on the deck and there, sitting on the fence line (7 feet high) over their yard was a red-tailed hawk waiting for his breakfast. What we determined was that because the chickens had not been closed up two nights before they were out very early the next morning when predators are hunting and the hawk had no problem dropping down through the fishing line and killing a number of birds.

Anyways, I was devastated and so upset with our son. We now have very good quality netting. One could ask, would the hawk have caused all that damage if the birds were let out at their usual time - around 7:30/8:00AM instead of 5/5:30? Maybe not, but regardless, the hawk would not have been able to access them whatever time they were out there if I'd had proper overhead protection. My conclusion is that overhead predation is not as common as ground predation but definitely the chances go up drastically first thing in the morning when they're hunting for their first meal of the day. A good lesson. Thanks again for everyone's input.