California-Southern

[flower]

Hello everyone from the high desert near Death Valley and

to all of the new folks. We and our chickens have survived another brutal summer. Congratulations to us.
There Many are posts here regarding feeders and waters. In fact there have been contests. Some very creative feeders and water systems were posted with step by step pictures
With the extreme heat, our water containers were most important. Here on BYC, I learned that apple cider vinegar or copper placed in water deters algae formation. But due to the heat new water was added to a clean container every day. Also foot bath containers were constantly cleaned and refilled.The hanging bottle method works very well but I have not yet order the nipples but did use the one liter bottles sold for caged pets and found that they needed to be filled too frequently. Feeders are another challenge altogether.
Waste, waste, waste ! I found hanging prevents some spillage but smaller containers are needed. Some folks place wire over the feed. Chickens are great fun to watch and they test our wiles so we learn to be creative

 

[baustin]

I made feed and water containers out of 5 gal. buckets like you buy at Home Depot. For feed I cut holes about 2 inches in four or five places at the bottom of the bucket and set it in a plant pot saucer. The lid keeps the feed clean. I also put a square board on top of the bucket secured with a big rock so they won't poop in their feed. The water bucket has smaller holes. There are examples on BYC with photos. At least there used to be.

 

[Ladymaran]

Thanks for the info on what you do Mary and Betty. I will need to try doing something similar. I used to have more feed and water containers that were hung from the tree in the coop run, but I gave them all to Salvation Army thinking I would move from this area and might not be able to have chickens elsewhere. I didn't/haven't moved so started my chicken family again.

On Saturday, I left my four chickens (about 15 weeks old) out to roam the yard and went in the house for a few minutes to do some work. I heard them squawking and sure enough, there was a huge hawk, believe a cooper hawk, sitting on the fence. Good thing the chickens had lots of bushes to run to and hide. I got two of them back into their coop but it took me a while to find the other two hiding inside some hedges. Needless to say, I will not leave them to forage when I am not physically there watching them!

Anyone else like me? I keep checking the "eggs for sale" section knowing I can't buy eggs because I don't have an incubator and DON'T want to end up with roos. I keep checking out the marans' eggs just dreaming of hatching some, LOL! They are so beautiful!

 

[flower]

Ladymaran, raising chickens becomes an obsession most of us are unable to resist acquiring birds and then more birds. But nothing is wrong with us, we don't have a problem, we jut like birds.

. I really like the little puzzles that we need to fix. Because I spend a lot of time in the house I secured their runs with aviary netting. I have seen hawks and roadrunners eying my birds several times and I have a german shepherd who barks at predators but they hang around until they see me. All we can do is try to protect them but no solution is full proof. Enjoy and watch for poultry show. There are several mid state for example there is one this week end but the distance will be great for you. Do you want me to pick some up for you

http://www.gcspf.com/index.html

 

[Ladymaran]

Been off the computer because I couldn't get internet. I finally had some time to call and have it fixed. It's a pain when your computer is out of commission, LOL!

flower, you aren't kidding about getting obsessed with chickens. I go to the Red Barn and see those cute chickies and want to bring them home. Last week, they had EEs, BR, black sex-linked, RIRs and Delawares. I do stop myself from acquiring more birds (have 4 EEs, 2 BRs) because first, I'm not supposed to have chickens here, then I keep holding out for those when I get at least four marans! When I moved here, you could hear the roos early in the AM and I loved it. Down the street was a lady with tons of chickens roaming all over the place. Then, they started building townhomes/single family homes and things started changing. Recently, I noticed that all the chickens from her home were gone; hope they didn't make her get rid of them. I bet that lady lived here for years and years with her birds. Wow, road runners also eat chickens!! But, the one in the cartoons is so cute

Thanks for the website for GCSPF. I would love to say yes to your offer, but it might be a problem in getting them from you, and also depending on the cost. Have you been to this poultry show before, and any idea on what birds might cost?

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Road runners eat chickens? But the chickens are so much bigger! No wonder my chickens go off when the roadrunner walks by their coop.

 

[baustin]

The road runners around my place hang out near the chicken pen but my hens don't seem concerned. I guess they know they can't get to them. Even the hawks have tried but I have my pens covered with chicken wire as well as shade cloth. I also have finches, quail, parakeets and canaries outside and they don't care what comes near them. The quail don't like my German Shepherd coming near but they know she can't get to them. The male likes to fuss at her though.

 

[flower]

PureSnow Chick
I did research on Roadrunners and learned that they are predators and do fly. When I see them on a nearby rooftop and my chickens are squawking the same as when a hawk is sitting on a fencepost, I know that they are afraid. Roadrunners are larger than hawks ! Both of my runs have trees with all the branches and leaves to give advantage. Of course the predators are some what limited since the run is fairly secured and usually the dog is outside but my birds do make a fuss.


Baustin I think that you put Valium in your chicken feed !

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I had friends evacuate to Borrego during the last fire here in San Diego. They brought their pet canary and set the cage on the ground. They were amused by watching a road runner.....until the road runner ran up to the cage, reached through, pulled the canary out and ran off with it!!! I didn't know until then they they did that

. I think they would definitely go after chicks.

 

[baustin]

They definitely will go after chicks, hens or birds and that is why we have to keep them in wire runs and not let them free range without protection.