|
Post by heavyhitterokra on May 25, 2024 9:59:56 GMT -6
I sure hate to hear about your poor little flock, Frosty. That's really sad, I know how much you loved those birds. I'm glad you've got one left though. She might come in handy someday if you ever snag a few Atwood's chicks. (I have two hens who are broody right now, though I have no rooster). They'd love for me to bring home a couple of chicks, but I've got more than I need already.
We've lost lots of chickens here over the years, but none to anything other than old age lately.
That stray German Shepherd (Sunny) the one with the 4 broken metatarsals that I took in a few years ago has proved to be the best livestock guardian dog I've had since we lost old Duke to a stray dog, dog fight back in 2012.
I've got about 10 old hens here right now. Only two of them actually belong to me. The rest are vagabonds from the neighbor's house, but they all think they're my kids. I feed them and water them like they're mine. I've never seen so many raggedy old red hens vying for a position in the petting line-up each time they happen to see me outside. They all think they're dogs.
You should see them trying to figure out what's going on when they see me now with the crutches in hand. They crack me up! They usually walk right beside me, trying to figure out where I'm going next, so they can rush up ahead to line up to get me to stop and give them all a good neck rub, but with the crutches, they all run up ahead and run tight circles with their heads cocked, trying to see why I'm carrying two sticks. They don't know whether to run or come give me a hand.
Back when we were still having stray dog problems, I built an electric fence right around the henhouse, (Just about 5' feet out from the walls) and two strands high, so they'd all have a safe place to run and hide. I insulated a crossing for myself, by sleeving a top portion of the wire with an old scrap of water hose.
(Electric wires don't hurt chickens). They just run right through it unscathed. The geese liked to stop and 'taste' it though. The geese were not fond of the electric fence, but they eventually learned that it wasn't made of chocolate and left it alone.
I cut a little chicken-size door into the bottom half of the person-size door, so no dogs could fit in through the opening. That seemed to help a lot, but it didn't solve the possum, coon, chicken hawk, or chicken snake problems. Sunny solved most of those. Now, he's got the other 4 dogs trained to help him patrol. Sometimes, they bark all night long, but I've not had a chicken come up missing in a long, long, time.
|
|
|
Post by FrostyTurnip on May 28, 2024 22:13:02 GMT -6
Thank, Heavy. We have a local fox. I told Lil Miss she had the right to take it out if she wanted. If she did, I’d skin it for her. Hasn’t nailed him, yet. He’s a sneaky little bugger.
|
|
|
Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 25, 2024 19:29:53 GMT -6
Welp, we’re getting chickens. little miss and I miss them badly BUT it wasn’t my idea. Bill demanded it. I mentioned that I haven’t a way to keep them truly secure.
“It’s cheaper to replace an egg laying chicken.”
That gave me pause. He’s right. We’ll do what we can to secure them.
Looks like we’ll be tempering them for cold weather after they are fully feathered. How boy.
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Aug 26, 2024 7:38:54 GMT -6
It costs more to raise chicks which are hatched late in the year but I have taken to doing a fall hatch, as our granddaughter visits us every October. It's part of her tradition to help Grandpa take chicks from the incubator. Then, for the rest of her week, she babies them.
Hatched the first week of October, we have not had any problem with them adapting to the coming colder weather. Of course, these are Buckeyes, which tend to thrive in cold weather.
|
|
|
Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 2, 2024 11:16:31 GMT -6
Baby chicks coming this week. I ordered them last Sunday and cleared my mornings for the next 4 days. No chicks. On Sunday night and Monday morning, we cleared the dining room, washed all the walls, mopped the floor and set up the stock tank, attached the heat lamp, purchased feed and bedding and poured some bedding in the stock tank. Little miss did not express her excitement for the new chicks. However, when I got up to slowly begin removing items from the dining room, she suddenly appeared and helped in a hustle. She’s excited! Afterward, we both waited. No chicks.
When we walk by the stock tank, Lil Miss and I would make these weird pathetic crying sounds while pointing at the barren stock tank commiserating our mutual disappointment. I continued to clear my morning schedule in anticipation of their arrival.
Finally, I called Tractor Supply and apologized for appearing impatient during their off season, but needed my mornings back. When will they arrive? Wednesday, but No later than Friday this week!! WOOT.
Chicky Boop Boop! Plymouth Barred Rocks, of course.
We’ve decided to split the back end of the property with a fence for flock and land management, add some shelter belts, at least one covered area, secure the existing fence from coyotes, fashion some type of wire grid as a lid for a portion of its area, build a sturdy and fortified makeshift coop under the tree shade and toss in a 4 sided compost bin for their eating pleasure. In total, they’ll have at least 900 sq ft to destroy, 1/2 of it at a time. Instead of spending money on a chicken run, we’ll be spending money on much needed fence repairs.
Anyway, it’s fun to think it through. Doing it is an entirely different page. Not looking forward to digging in wire around that perimeter, but oh well.
Curious fact: The city of Cushing requires a minimum of 950sq ft of run for chickens.
|
|
|
Post by woodeye on Sept 2, 2024 11:54:58 GMT -6
Sounds great, Frosty! I hope it all works out for you and your new babies.
Hmmm, that is a curious fact about the minimum requirements for a chicken run. I searched online real quick and saw that it's for the chicken's health & the safety and welfare of the town residents.
That might be better for the chickens, but then again there is probably some free-range residents out there that need penned up instead...🤔
|
|
|
Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 2, 2024 15:28:28 GMT -6
Sounds great, Frosty! I hope it all works out for you and your new babies.
Hmmm, that is a curious fact about the minimum requirements for a chicken run. I searched online real quick and saw that it's for the chicken's health & the safety and welfare of the town residents.
That might be better for the chickens, but then again there is probably some free-range residents out there that need penned up instead...🤔
LOL It is better for the chickens. You know it. And the city probably had issues with some stank in the past.
If it weren’t for the new neighbor’s dog, I’d let continue to have the whole block. That’s against code, but nowadays people care more about the chickens than code. EMS was frustrated when they were in the street, though.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 6, 2024 16:39:19 GMT -6
Wow! Frosty! I'm excited for your new chicks and I'm not even near there! Nothing says "Home" like a few Fall chicks.
I lost two hens to possum attacks earlier this summer. I've since then killed 3 possums caught in live traps. All three were adolescents, probably from the same litter. I hate that they have to be killed that way, but they are such vicious little devils when it comes to chickens that there is no other way.
Our neighbor has a rooster that occasionally visits here, or vice~versa, so I had one broody hen last month that hatched two chicks. Then, after they hatched, she refused to bring her babies back to the henhouse. Every night I'd have to go look for her and her babies with a flashlight and put them back inside the henhouse and close the door for the night. A few nights ago, I was unable to find her anywhere. The next morning I only found one chick. I'm pretty certain a possum got her and one of her babies.
The one baby chick took up with the flock after that though and has been going to the henhouse to roost ever since. So that was a lucky break. I close the henhouse door every evening and open it to turn them loose every morning. The hens have been laying like crazy lately. I've got 3 dozen eggs on hand right now and all is well on the farm again. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png)
Best of luck when your chicks arrive, Frosty. I'm looking forward to the day!
|
|
|
Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 6, 2024 18:08:53 GMT -6
Thanks, heavyhitterokra ! What did you use to bait the trap? If I get started now, maybe I can eradicate the population in about 6 years with about 20 traps. Just kidding, but I should be setting one out.
This morning’s arrival. I think there’s a roo in there. It’s the one running. I’m okay with that. Chicky Chicky Boop!
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Sept 7, 2024 5:05:51 GMT -6
Frosty, opossum will eat most anything but they are really drawn to fruit or things that smell strongly, such as canned tuna fish or cat food. I'm with Ron about dealing with them. We spent thousands of dollars, saving our daughter's horse after it contracted EPM from opossum contaminated hay. Most days I'm out doing chores before daylight (by headlamp) and I catch them by hand but occasionally I'll use a trap. They multiply so rapidly that there will never be more reprieve from their predation other than a few months, now and then.
|
|
|
Post by rdback on Sept 7, 2024 8:05:40 GMT -6
...I catch them by hand...
= crazy, lol!
|
|
|
Post by macmex on Sept 7, 2024 9:32:34 GMT -6
Catching them by hand isn't too hard if one knows how to go about it. I learned as a kid, when I spotted a large opossum in a field, after dark, one day when coming back from the trapline. I simply ran him down and grabbed him by the tail. Over the years I've learned different twists on how to get hold of their tails without getting bitten and so far I have never been bitten. As a kid I found a place that wanted to buy them live and paid the outrageous price of $15 each/live. That was good motivation.
At one point I even caught woodchucks by hand.
It's getting harder, as I need to work on my flexibility...
Now, Heavyhitterokra, you need to ask him about how he "wrassles grizzly bears into a gunny sack!"
|
|