Been a long time since anyone posted here.. But I thought I'd give it a go. I live in an area of HIGH predators. I have 2 coops, which 1 has my established flock and the other had the new hens and some rooster's. Well, there was a break in the door of the "new" coop, and we found this out by coming to a scene of horror. One chicken leg with no sign of a body, one chicken with it's head missing, and one that was barely alive and had to be let go from his misery. Needless to say- we had some hens that REFUSED to go back in at night. The next night I put a covering over the entry point and checked on it throughout the night (only until about 1am b/c I found 3 juvenile raccoons inside eating chicken food before, no doubt, another massacre. So I "took care" of that quickly, and covered things much better, fixed the entry point in the morning for good...But there was STILL no getting the hens back in. My black white faced Spanish hens stay in the coop- but the 8 leghorn refused. I try to go out and protect them through the night. Chased some predators away- but still lost 3 hens. I'm grateful to still have the 5. So... Tonight, I FINALLY figured how to get them in the coop- and one by one I did it. I then moved the Spanish hens to the established coop with the new leghorn girls. But as my daughter was closing up the coop- she found that our feisty buff Orpington had at least 3 baby chicks.... I'm thrilled about that! But, I am concerned b/c the plan was to keep everyone inside to get them used to the coop & the situation. I've HATED them in the tree's. Losing 3 hurts- and I would've lost many more if it weren't for sleepless nights. So the ONE night I finally got them in- with the plan to keep them there at least a week or so- I find out chicks are involved. Any idea's??? B/c they're all normally free range. The last time there were chicks- even with a bantam Silkie as their mama- they were fine and still with us. So. It's a big coop, they all get lots of food, water and love. But the new 5 hens are absolutely not used to us #1 and scared of coops #2. I can't stomach the thought of losing one more to the tree's! But I also cannot imagine losing any Of the new chicks b/c I'm making free range chickens stay in the coop!!! (20 hens total & 2 bantam rooster's that are actually dominant among the rooster's from other coop and are fanatic and living protectors of the girls. They were AMAZING protectors or the last chick- but Idk if it's b/c the mama and baby were bantam?) Should I move the mama and baby's? Should I keep all as is & hope for the best, or should I give up on the MONTHS is taken me to finally get the tree dwelling girls to the coop and allow them all to free range per usual!?! Please please if you read this and have ANY insight please help. I don't wish to let any out...I'm so glad I don't have to worry about going out at night to protect the girls in the tree- and I was hoping to use this time to bond with them as I have my other girls (which yes, many are leghorn and they are SO loving and fun. I don't have one chicken owning neighbor who isn't jealous of the relationship I have w/my leghorn. They are so sweet if raised on LOVE!) But I am SHOCKED at my buff Orpington's strength- all 4 of mine are that way! Will they be ok?? She ran a rooster off that got in the coop w/her chicks when my Daughter found them and my daughter said all looked well...shall I keep them in as planned... Or should the new chicks have a normal surrounding to Benin their lives??? HELP

People who have the room should plant more medium and large sized trees instead of skulking around in the understory all the time. Love the cladastris lutea (yellowwood) suggestion above. Have one in my yard. I also really like nyssa sylvatica (black gum). Again, have one in my yard. Carpinus also great -- got one of those too. If I had the room, I'd have an aesculus flava (yellow buckeye) and maybe even an aesculus x carnea. Love those buckeyes and already have the much smaller a. pavia and a. parviflora. I'd have a acer rubrum (red maple). I'd have a beech, fagus grandifolia (If I lived further north where they do better, I'd even have the non-native copper beech, because, WOW). I'd have more big hollies, probably ilex opaca cultivars. I'd have a magnolia grandiflora and give her room for glory rather than cramping her and limbing her up. I'd have liriodendron -- tulip poplars. I'd have oaks, oaks, and more oaks -- particularly quercus alba and other white oaks. That's where I'd start with the bigger trees anyway.

Claire, It was lovely here today as well, up into the mid-50's. I went for a walk near one of the oxbow ponds and although the water still had ice on about half of the surface, the birds were enjoying the entire area. Ravens and gulls walking on the ice, geese, ducks, and 2 kinds of mergansers in the water, and chickadees and a mockingbird in the shrubs on the margins. There was also an eagle overhead, but I didn't have a camera with me. Do you put the lawn dragon in the same spot each season or does he migrate around a bit? Jane, your chipmunk looks about set to pop with all that seed in his cheeks. I love the kestrel photos. Kestrels are another favorite bird of mine; they are quite common in Ohio, and their rarity here was one disappointment when I moved to New England. I love the feather patterns for both sexes, and also like watching them fly - they can hover to look for potential prey.

Here's a bit of that scenery from that part of SW Ireland. https://www.google.com/search?q=lough+leane&complete=&tbm=isch So the low mountains, such as they are, have grasses and moorland plants. But they look bare from a distance. In this case the lowlands are a forested park..in other cases I suspect the agricultural land has winter crops that are green. So those two probably account for some of the green you see. My question about the British Isles landscape: what I assume is that after the ice ages and before humans came (back?) most of the UK and Ireland were completely forested. Not some parts like the top of Ben Nevis or the marshes of East Anglia, of course, but most of it. But it's not clear how much land use patterns influence the current state of affairs. Do the hills, moors, and coastal cliff edges not become reforested because nothing can grow on them, or because they are browsed by animals that eat any tree seedlings? If you take the white cliffs of Dover, for example, and moved them to New Jersey or Connecticut haha - they'd soon be covered in some sort of weed trees. Our rampant population of antlered rats would not prevent this. I mean the land behind the cliffs, of course: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cliffs_of_Dover#/media/File:White_Cliffs_of_Dover_02.JPG Ahh...to live in a tower overlooking the sea ;-). See if anyone gets that reference.