Recent content by falconertomt

So if your hens are jumping out of the "secured" area, its going to be significantly harder to keep them safe. The only 100% way is to fully enclose them in secure fencing, all 4 sides and the top. Especially if they are nesting nearby, you will have ongoing issues. There are some suggestions...

This is not 100% true, I have seen hawks hunt crows on a regular basis. A flock of crows will mob and chase off a hawk, but "Rook Hawking" is a very real thing, and it happens in the wild all the time.

The short answer is you cannot prevent a hawk or owl attack unless they cannot physically get to your birds (They will sometimes still try). I have witnessed some pretty incredible trickery performed by raptors, and they can be totally fearless. I wrote an article here that offers some...

Sounds like the attack happened overnight, so a raccoon or similar is a likely culprit. Like centrarchid said, a rooster will only end up raccoon food. For ground based predators, you need to prevent access, a racoon can get its hand into about a 1" hole, give or take, and if the raccoon can fit...

Avian predators (and all predators really) are opportunistic, and will take prey whenever they can. Hawks start hunting at first light and will hunt until they are full, and start hunting again when they are hungry again. This can happen any time of the day. Owls are going to be evening until...

I would be interested to see if that works. I have an old article here that talks about preventing predator attack, but I am curious to see if something like that would be effective. Its hard to say without actual testing.

Moult/Laying is based primarily on the photo period. 12+ hours should be adequate to promote the moult and laying. The recommended is 14-16, with 16 being max. If you back off the lights and keep it within that range, you should not see a change. Quote: Once the photo period extends a bit...

All of mine rocked before hatching, though some much more than others. Some rocked a lot and hatched after others that rocked less. Rocking can be the chick moving into position to hatch just as much as hatching. Mine hatched in the 18-20 day range, and I stayed pretty steady (between 99-101).

I used a piece of marine carpet on the bottom of the brooder, and put them in that, then after 3 days I started adding small handfuls of shavings, after a week I swapped them out to nothing but bedding, and they are doing great. I just need to work out some issues with their water supply. I got...

I had eggs hatch at day 19, I would leave them until day 21 before discarding.

Final count is in, I purchased 40 eggs. 2 were cracked and culled before incubation. of the 38 eggs incubated, 26 hatched and are happily growing in the brooder. I had 2 that died during hatching, and 3 that only partially developed. The rest were infertile, and had no development. The adjusted...

I open up the incubator to remove chicks that are a day old, and put them in the brooder. I did not fully remove the lid, just cracked it enough to get my hand in, and had no issues. It also helps to keep them from getting too bored or crowded. I have never tried an assisted hatching, but I do...

Very Nice! That is awesome that they are coming out now. I had one break shell yesterday, and 3 more are rocking. I think um up to 25, if the 3 rocking actually break shell, that will be 28/38.

Here is the one I built for my Quail. It is waiting on a roof (that will happen tomorrow).

That is also a good way to get arrested.