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

[ronott1]

The ladies are doing great! We have had a few issues (northern fowl mites) and lost one chicken (I think she was egg bound) but thanks to everyone here that gave me advice on how to remedy we made it through for the most part. We have three more babies coming in May!

I am very happy that the mites are under control!

It is very exciting to get new baby chicks.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I had a big change in my life when my husband got sick. I was driving 100 mile round trip to take care of my chickens every other day during icy weather so I decided it was time for a break. I gave my flock to a friend. I am now a full time care giver and do not know if I will ever have chickens again. I really did enjoy the brief time of having those pretty blue green and brown eggs.

Oh wow, that sounds incredibly tough. Sorry your husband got sick.

I hope you find some comfort during these times, and who knows, maybe someday you’ll have the chance to enjoy those pretty eggs again. If you ever need to chat or just want to share more, we’re a good group for that too! Take care!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Hi everyone. Guess it has been a while since I was here. Just been really busy. My girls are doing well, last year I added some new chicks, which are now grown and doing well. I raise chicks for others who want chickens, but don't know how or have the time to properly raise chickens from day old chicks. These days, most of my time is spent dealing with squirrels that are raiding my coops for eggs. I recently started putting cayenne pepper in the squirrel holes to chase them out, but they don't go far. They stay close enough to still raid the coops. Anyway, doing good as a whole, it's fun catching up on all the things everyone else is doing. Sorry to hear that Peter in Hungary lost his flock to pine martins, hopefully he's found a way to protect his next flock of girls from the martins.

Hey, great to see you back! Sounds like you’ve got your hands full with both the chicks and those pesky squirrels. Clever trick with the cayenne pepper, though! It’s always a challenge to keep those little raiders at bay.

It's fantastic that you're helping others get started with their own flocks. I can say that the idea of raising a ton of fluffy-butts does sound like fun!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Hello, yes, busy times but still enjoying our flock, despite their destructive behaviours in our gardens .

Great pic of your flock, thanks for sharing... even if they aren't your garden's BFFs, LOL!

 

[ronott1]

My backyard chickens make me very happy. I am vegetarian, so I do not eat them, I love the eggs! My dogs are also happy, as I cook for them instead of feeding processed stuff, and they each get an egg every day.
The chooks do get weird diseases, and that's been a learning process. Sometimes I can nurse them through it, and sometimes they just go from sixty miles an hour to zero overnight. You just do what you can and replace them.
I keep everything real clean and used sand in the run. They are happy girls, and so am I!

That is a good use of eggs! Your dogs are very lucky.

I hope your flock will be healthy this year!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Still here in Chickendom. Had 11 babies hatch this month.

11 babies?!? I can say I've never hatched more than 6. Did you use a specific brooder or nature's own solution... a hen? LOL! Any pics of the babies to share??

 

[ronott1]

Here is my crew (minus the rooster who is no longer with us). We've been doing awesome since we started in the chicken world. I've got a couple French Copper Marans coming in May to add to my beautiful egg cartons. They chase me around the yard for mealworms and come running the second they see me. Love my hens!
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I love your flock!

It will fun getting those chocolate colored egg from the Marans.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Greetings everyone. We are currently between chickens. We had to move to a larger home after my mom died and my father moved in with us. The new home is not really setup for chickens. We tried, but the proximity to the woods and determined raccoons ruined that for us.

However, we have a friend that has several chickens and we provide her with produce in exchange for fresh eggs so we are still doing our best to participate.

Sounds like you've been through a lot with the move and changes at home. Sorry to hear about your mom.

Ugh, raccoons are THE WORST!!! We've def. lost more birds to them than anything else.

That exchange of produce for eggs sounds like a fantastic arrangement!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I'm good y'all. Just busy.

Good + busy = GREAT!

When you have a chance to update us with more details and pics, you're welcome any time!!!!

 

[ronott1]

We're still here and the girls are all happy and healthy. I was turned off for while there by the lack of sentiment towards the wildlife I observe on some of these posts. Here's my two cents.
We live in the middle of Nat'l Forest lands surrounded by predators of all sizes and ilks. We believe if we want our hens to thrive, we need to maintain a secure coop and run for the dangerous periods of time which occasionally visit us. We don't "blame" the foxes, bobcats, martens, mink, hawks, etc that would eat them and would do no more than live trap them and move them away. If you kill one critter, there are always more out there so find better solutions.

You have an awesome philosophy for keeping chickens in a predator prone place!

Have you considered writing an article for the Learning Center? Your experience with predator proofing would be very helpful.