Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello!

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yes, still have birds and a turkey! And chickles and suckles. Working on getting my homemade pond back to clear after a duck invasion(ate all the hyacinth) and heat of Florida sun. “Shirley the turkle” is presenting me with 4 eggs a week. And I learned from this great group that the turkey is the roost ruler! She likes me!

Sounds like you have a lot of variety. Ducks do love messing up the pond and eating every water plant they can. Turkeys do rule the roost.

.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya Dixie and glad to see you here!!

 

[Gutierrez 10]

We have such a vibrant community here at BYC... tons of active friendly members. Of course, life gets busy, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a thread welcoming some of our peeps we haven't heard from in a while.

If that's you, come say hello and let us know what you've been up to.

(if that's not you, feel free to invite peeps you haven't seen in a while and say hi to those that post here)

I’ve been good just giddy but thanks for catching up though.

 

[Debbie292d]

I can't quite believe it but last night a fox broke into the coop and got our two babies. I'm still in shock. I don't know how we could have made them more safe.

Hiya!



You could post a picture of your coop and we could help troubleshoot.

One thing most of us use to strengthen our coops is 1/2" hardware cloth as nearly nothing can get through that. It's also used for runs as well. Bury it down about a foot or make an "L" at the bottom and cover with rocks or pavers. Burying is better but in some cases that can't be done.

I hope you're able to determine the problem and fix it so you don't lose anymore!!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and glad you popped in!

 

[Debbie292d]

Howdy!
We use pine shavings in the nest boxes too. The hens will fluff whatever material you put in their laying area. It's just their way, like people fluff their pillow to make it comfy . If you're concerned about their behavior try straw, or hemp.

Good idea! We've used horse bedding pellets too. In fact, in two nest boxes, that's what's there and the hens don't seem to have a preference as they get used the same as the ones with straw in them.

 

[Debbie292d]

Well thankya!
Hardest part was pulling pallets apart. After that was done, it was design, measure, and nail it together. Super easy build.

You're in inspiration to the pallet coops. There are several threads of those, and this quite intriguing article!

 

[Eric E Chicken whisperer]

It's been a few years since I've logged on, but lately just been studying the genetics in a small experimental bantam flock I had received from a friend, long story short, predators got the original birds, but I have their decedents now to a 5th generation down the line (the lineage was developed using Silkies, Cochin bantams, and Duccle bantams), but currently my line has brahma, Jersey Giants, and Easter eggers added in for larger size birds, eggs, and docile temperaments... and funny enough the pullets I hatched out last year from this line lay light pink eggs, and brown eggs with white speckling, and 5 of the 7 pullets went broody on clutches of anywhere from 3 eggs to 25+ eggs (the larger clutches I had no knowledge of until I didn't see them on the roost, and went looking), and they've hatched 40+ chicks in the past month...

And my other animals are ducks (3 Muscovy, 1 white pekin), of which 8 mule ducklings have been hatched from
The white Pekin bonded to the white musckovy drake, while the other two musckovys (both Black with white chest feathers) just started laying eggs, and started incubating their eggs

A single yearling female brown chinese goose (incredibly bonded, and docile), we call her "Mother Goose"

a happy flock of turkeys (a breeding pair of Royal Palms, the tom is named palmer, a 7 month old tri color mottled slate tom named "Bucket", and a 4 year old dilute rusty black hen named "Rusty") Bucket is Palmer's son from last year's clutch, sadly bucket's mother (a Blue Slate hen) was killed by a feral cat while she was on a nest (Bucket got his name due to being the only one in his clutch of 10 that was laid in a water bucket, along with surviving a power outage in the incubator 2 weeks before hatching)

a yearling breeding pair of guineas (a pied male, and a pearl grey female), and surprisingly they are very tame, they follow me around and ask me for a handful of grain when I feed the goats (and i've hatched out 5 babies from them this year, surprisingly looks like 3 females 2 males)

a large white rabbit (wishing i knew her breed, looks like a rex)

a small herd of mixed breed goats
Buck (that's his name) is a yearling Kiko/Savannah mix (is proving himself well already)
Lilo a 1.5 year old Oberhasli/Spanish doe, she's due around May 23rd (with her first baby) from Buck (she's bigger than Buck, but she's very bonded to him)
Ruth, a yearling Kiko/Spanish doe (Buck's half sister), she's much like a puppy just by attitude
and little Rosie, a solid red 1.5 month old Nubian/Boer bottle baby doeling

my 2 amazing farm guardian dogs (Snowy is a 2 year old 50/50 German Shepherd/Pyrenees, and Sandy is a 6 month old 3/4 Pyrenees, 1/4 St.Bernard puppy), Snowy has been protecting the farm well, but we got Sandy to help Snowy out due to large bobcats, and feral dog packs in the area

And lastly, but not least keeping pigs as well (a halter trained potbellied pig "BlackBerry," sweet as can be, and a kuneKune Boar named Admiral Spottington (he has a pedigree due to his mother not being registered, but his sire was), and their 6 piglets from July of 2023), 2 of their 8 piglets were reserved by 2 families before they were even weaned, both had Mickey/Minnie shaped spots on their shoulders (and one was male, the other was female), and now Mickey is a breeding boar out in Tulsa, and Minnie became a housetrained pet somewhere in Arkansas

 

[Debbie292d]

Just chased my own swarm (I knew I should have split last week haha) all over my yard like a maniac hahaha

Hiya!

We raised bees in our newer fruit orchard and luckily when they split, they landed in a plum tree that was only about 12' tall. Easy peasy to get those back!

I wish someone would have video'd you as I bet we'd have gotten a kick out of it!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya! Thanks for popping in!