Hay is on a hay box. I’ve never seen them in the hay. They roam from
Field to field. I never bought the chickens and cocks. They have always been there. I try my best and feed them. If I didn’t feed them then no one would. It costs me a fortune in chicken feed. I did take in three ex batteries beginning yesr as the rescue centre had 8,000 to find homes. It’s past 3 months she has been vile towards ‘them’ And I repeat ‘she’s not a vile horse’. Don’t know why I was told that I obviously hated my hirse. Three ex batteries are fine. Dolly recovered and stays away now. The other two she stamped were the feral ones. All the yard ones are feral. You can’t get near them. I shut them up at night but that’s as close as I can get. It’s hard trying to work out how to stop them going in her acre field when I don’t have much money as I work as a cleaner. And they will fly over too. Maybe it’s her hormones. I can discuss with vet. She’s quite marish at times. Always in season. I did post about that. Apparently that’s normal. Especially at a young age. She’s started a supplement. Or she just hates them full stop. The yard cats snooze in her fields. And she ignores. She’s seen dogs when out riding. And ignores. Absolutely fine with humans. Other horses. Wouldn’t trust her with a dog in her field though. She’s very territorial it seems. Even when tied up .. if they come to near then she kicks out. Hence Dolly hurt her leg. Now I watch her like a hawk tied up. I felt terrible when it happened. I splintered her leg and looked after her for 6 weeks. So I do really care about all animals. I am shocked that some of the comments have been to sell her. Rehome 50 feral hens that are not even mine. And that I have no compassion to the chickens. I really do. It’s a working farm. And units are let out to others. All I can do is investigate a form of stopping them getting in her field.
To stop them getting into her field would be around 250 pounds sterling for polypropylene black plastic tensile fencing with square holes that are around 2 inches. Its really lightweight stuff - even lighter than the builders orange plastic fencing mentioned.
You’ll need about 2 rolls of 1m x 100m fencing. If you have post and rail permanent fence its easy to pin to the outside. Its lightweight enough to even hook onto electric fencing posts but youll need some short wooden firm posts here and there to provide strength so the electric posts dont bend too much.
Or you build them a 1/3 acre run with the same fencing material i mention, just 1 roll - they do 1.8m tall rolls too that are 150 each roughly uk suppliers. (Ill searchfor link and post if interested)
I had around 40 hens, ducks and geese on 1/3rd acre by a river when young and they thrived, nested, bred etc…all healthy birds. They didnt fly too high, and 1.8m should enclose them - 6 foot..
Do you think theyd fly the 1m tall fence around your mare’s paddock? If they have so much other ground available to peck at i personally cant see why theyd make a special attempt to fly into her paddock.
The only other solution is sound frequency/sonar devices - youd have to research them a bit - as specific frequencies deter specific animals. Is there ones for deterring chickens but dont adversely affect horses? You could place the device on a post of your mares paddock - depending on reach of signal maybe youd need more than 1 device either side of her paddock.
I really dont know if this is a viable option for your situation but there could be devices that shoo birds away but dont affect larger mammals like horses.
These devices are usual 10-20 pounds each…much cheaper than fencing IF, a big IF, they work for your situation.
The other option regarding erecting a large 1/3 acre run for the chickens - maybe financially the land owner would chip in some of the cost? You could ask as afterall youre paying rent and if the chickens HAVE to stay on that land and theyre disturbing any of the animals the owner rents the land for - there has to be some compromise and solution brought about also by the landowner to the problematic situation. It shouldnt just be on your shoulders to solve this. If the land owner had jack russell guard dogs on the yard and insisted they were kept on the yard but they were a problem for some of the horses, many on here would be in sympathy with you.
My gelding would also chase chickens if they were in his field - possibly stomp them, i dont know but he’d surely chase them and probably maul them - he was gelded at 6months, and is respectful to humans completely, but smaller animals than him, he loves to investigate them, and if they run, he’ll turn from prey to predator. The animal instincts just kick in.
If smaller animals stop and let him sniff them he’s fine, curious - just wants to sniff. But they normally run because theyre daunted by his size. But if they run, he’ll chase.
Tiny birds peck at the grass seed at his legs as he’s eating hay in winter - they dont run, he doesnt chase them. So its not aggression with him to get everything out of his space. Once there’s running and chasing going on, the gelding will play that game...and due to his size/weight it wouldnt end well for the smaller running creature,probably.
I’d tell the landowner about the problem and also ask them for suggestions - with having a build a cheap run suggestion as an idea - and both parties pitch in financially. Although really, as a landowner myself, if i want to make money from renting my land and yard, collect rent, and i want to leave my flock of hens to also free roam the entire rental area, and found out the rentee was having troubles between their animals and my birds, i’d feel responsible to think of a solution, and more than likely fence the birds in, or re-home the birds.
As other posters have stated, they know/have horses who would react the same to chickens in their field, so its not highly unusual behaviour - you’re lucky its just 1 horse out of 5 reacting. Either way, the landowner wants money for your use of their property so also have a responsibility that nothing impedes your agreed use of the facilities.
They are responsible for the birds ultimately. You’re already doing extra trips to look after them so the fox doesnt get them and spending out on bird feed.
It may not have been a problem in the past, but now is - so thats why a discussion with land owner is warranted.
