Recent content by cchardwick

So check this out, I had the plywood on the coop entrance all night. This morning I took off the plywood and let them out, then I went out every 30-45 minutes or so to make sure that hawk wasn't around. Then I finally went out to feed the cows and water the ducks and chickens. All of the...

Tonight I put a piece of plywood over the entrance to the coop. Most of the birds went right in, I have three kerosene lamps in the coop for heat and a little light. Today was real cold, only 9 F for the high. At least I don't have to worry about the hawk before I get out there tomorrow...

The problem up here is that we have bears and mountain lions. I keep my birds in a huge round arena with six foot chain link with electric wire, but if the power goes out or the electric goes down the bears get in. I also had a fox get in the big pen and he got a few chickens. Had a mountain...

I'm not even sure the dogs would work. There are birds that fly into the dog pens and clean up whatever they leave on the ground, the dogs ignore them LOL

I have four dogs, none are safe with my birds, they would eat the chickens and ducks LOL

Not sure what kind of hawk but I did get a short video of it, check it out. I went out this morning and that hawk was about 30 feet from the coop. He likes to kill at first light. I had to chase him a bit to scare him away, he is pretty bold. Right now on the coop I have a small hole that the...

You could cook her like I cook my roosters. Put her in a pot, add some water and add a polished stone. Boil for three days, then drain the water, throw out the chicken and eat the stone! 🤣

I've been battling a hawk this month, so far he has taken out two of my black Cayuga ducks and two Black Austrlorp roosters in the last few weeks. I just ordered some netting, should be here in a week. Just have to keep the hawk away this next week. He killed a duck yesterday, he was so bold...

We hatch Rhode Island Reds, and this year we are also hatching Black Stars (a sex link cross between Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks). Check us out at: http://www.hardwickhatchery.com We are in Bailey Colorado!

Welcome to bear country! I'm in the middle of a war zone up here in CO as well. I had a bear break in and kill all 45 of my chickens about three years ago. I got three llamas and that took care of the problem for years, at least until last week when a mountain lion jumped in and killed about...

I have a very dynamic flock of chickens, the number of birds I have at any given moment changes from week to week, from about 20 to as many as several hundred, depending on how many I sell that month. I breed baby chicks all year long and raise as many as 100 chicks per month. I usually...

Make sure you don't have any teflon coated light bulbs in the area. I just read about that in a chicken magazine and I found one in my spare light bulbs. I threw it out just in case. A 'tough light' bulb can kill all your chickens as it makes toxic fumes when used.

Actually I'm not sure. I got them from a guy who got them from another guy who got them from another guy... Not sure where the line originated. But they are living up to their name. It's mid November, it's cold and dark and I'm still getting over a dozen eggs a day from 18 hens!

We are a small family owned hobby hatchery located in Bailey CO and we sell only one kind of chicken: Rhode Island Reds. Why? Because we think this breed is the best backyard chicken that money can buy. They are very friendly and lay the most and biggest brown eggs of any chicken. They are very...

9 months old, they should be laying like crazy. My chickens never did very well on the pellet food, are they actually eating it? I would try 1/3 layer crumbles mixed in with 2/3 scratch. The scratch make it a bit cheaper and chickens will lay like crazy on that mix. I tried straight scratch...