Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[stake]

So sorry!

Just to share from my hours of research. If you trap the foxes in your area, next season or the next more will return to fill the gap. Nearby females will even have larger litters....It's just nature.

I don't believe that feeding the wildlife my chickens is "nature". They have their own food. But how to deter, how to deter?

Is there anything else you can do? Fence a large area for when you are not around? (not heavy duty, possibly just wire with step ins or the fiberglass rods and then a couple strands of electric poly wire? Does work very well.

ETA - if you have the funds. Electric Poultry fence would be a great way to go. Gives huge amount of protected square footage, and it's portable.

Ali:

Been fighting that battle...so far, traps have not been successful (no matter how many youtubes I watch) this is for either the have a heart or the leg hold types....I believe I have had some success with play a radio when I am not there (and I have some trepidation that the fox will acclimate to the sounds)....if the dog is out, they will not come around, but he won't stay in the back yard...

I was able to find 'a den' and destroyed it, but, the fox didn't move on as hoped...

Just an FYI, I have seen the fox clear my 4' fence with no problems...I've heard that can get over a 6' fence...fencing won't work....I had thought of throwing old fashioned moth balls around the perimeter of the property.....just a thought....

 

[BullChick]

You see a human baby. I see ducklings. Lots and lots of cute little ducklings. Maybe I should get the pool out of my dining room first though.

 

[chippysmom327]

No. Nothing seemed wrong at all. Eating, drinking and then I would find them the next day dead.

I emailed the pa dept of agriculture. They calked and asked me to send the bird overnight with ice packs. Shipping would have been $40 and a $40 fee for testing. I'm 4 hrs away so driving isn't an option. I called back and someone can meet me 45 min. away tomorrow. I'm assuming I still have to pay the fee for testing. Hubby is not going to be happy.

Anyone else have their birds tested for things? What should I expect!

That is strange, definitely worth getting tested for. Mine's legs just got weak, they got off balance, and then we had to put them out of their misery because they couldn't get to food and water. I'm kinda scared they'll come back with the report of death as "broken neck". I wrote in the paperwork that all that had it had to be culled, so I think they'll know. What I was worried about was their symptoms matched no diseases that I researched. All of them that sounded similar were diseases they could get under a certain age, and they were already past it.

 

[alibabba]

Ali:

Been fighting that battle...so far, traps have not been successful (no matter how many youtubes I watch) this is for either the have a heart or the leg hold types....I believe I have had some success with play a radio when I am not there (and I have some trepidation that the fox will acclimate to the sounds)....if the dog is out, they will not come around, but he won't stay in the back yard...

I was able to find 'a den' and destroyed it, but, the fox didn't move on as hoped...

Just an FYI, I have seen the fox clear my 4' fence with no problems...I've heard that can get over a 6' fence...fencing won't work....I had thought of throwing old fashioned moth balls around the perimeter of the property.....just a thought....

They don't come running and clear a fence. They sniff first. Fence alone, no...with electric yes.

***** My sweetheart had 2 Fox attacks broad daylight. People and dogs around.

Welded wire fence up for a huge enclosure(like 30x40ish, 1200 sq ft) with electric polywire. No more fox attacks. It didn't go away. Tracks in the snow go right past the fence. It's a fox highway. They learned not to touch...

Then hawks came. He put rope across the top, criss cross about a foot square. No more hawks.

He lives in the woods, raccoons and foxes everywhere. He used to feed the raccoons behind the house, and still leaves things out in the woods for the foxes.

Just a real example of a deterrent. He didn't have a choice about free ranging like he wanted to do, he wouldn't have any chickens left at all.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Sounds like a fox to me.

When is your next trip east, I may have a couple more orps. Someone was interested, but hasn't gotten back to me for days. If they don't show interest before you come through these parts, I can help enable.

Heading east June 25th, haven't decided how long we'll stay yet. Any chance that pretty blue with black wing tips is both available and a female? I thought I saw a bit of a comb in the picture, but I'm only interested in pullets.

Anyone have any extra Delaware pullets? Location doesn't matter since I'll be trekking cross state in a few weeks, I could even switch it up and take 80 home instead of the turnpike.

I may have a few fat little mixed breed pullets available if you bring my roo along.

[COLOR=0000FF]I have to say, I never get tired of looking at this coop. VERY good job.[/COLOR] And it's probably a good thing that the roof isn't more south facing, helps keep it cooler in the summer.

Aw, thank you! I'm still pretty impressed with myself that I was able to build it all by myself in two weeks while 8-9 months pregnant. I took the 'winter wall panels' off a few weeks ago and was surprised, I had forgotten how much I liked it.

Crappy day, crappy week.

Tired of always being told I'm wrong. If I wanted that, i'd still be married.


Goodbye Pennsylvania peeps.

Hope things turn around for you, I'll be in touch via pm about the orpington. Am I still picking up a rooster for Silkie?

Has anyone in western/central PA gotten chicks from the place in Kittanning that posts on CL all the time? It's all I'm seeing for a local source for Delawares.

Yep yep yep!!! Please bring my pretty roo along!!

Crappy day, crappy week.

Tired of always being told I'm wrong. If I wanted that, i'd still be married.


Goodbye Pennsylvania peeps.

hey now, not all wives are that bad..
i am with you on letting nature take it's course, which is why I keep my mouth shut when someone is looking for advice, i know that new people may need some help but when you do things differently than 99% of the people, you tend to get beat up for your responses.

I'm in the same boat. I seem to do a lot similar to you 2 & fisherlady.

How do you tell gender in turkeys? My bourbon red poults are around 14 weeks now and other than one being a bit smaller (had a couple injuries that set it back), they all look exactly the same to me. Hoping I didn't get 4 of the same gender! I can try to get a picture later, nursing baby down for a nap at the moment.

Post pix & I may be able to tell you. I need snoods & legs/feet & necks.

 

[simplyseren]

it is said that we have the best sun sets in the united states on Lake Erie! and yes the two weeks of summer we have are great.. lol

 

[emorems0]

I may have a few fat little mixed breed pullets available if you bring my roo along.
Yep yep yep!!! Please bring my pretty roo along!!

Post pix & I may be able to tell you. I need snoods & legs/feet & necks.

I will be sure to pick up your boy when I'm back that way in a few weeks. We'll have to coordinate getting him to you when we get back, not quite sure when that will be yet, probably the first week of July sometime. Not looking for anything mixed at the moment, but thank you. I may actually be picking up a 3yo BA from Pittsburgh to replace the one I lost a few weeks ago. I know she is older, but she is supposedly VERY broody, so I could actually have a chance at chicks this summer. I am still looking for some Delaware hens for my meatie project to replace the two that were taken by a fox (most likely) last week.

I'll try to get some pictures of the turkeys tomorrow

 

[Blarneyeggs]

it is said that we have the best sun sets in the united states on Lake Erie! and yes the two weeks of summer we have are great.. lol

 

[wingstone]

yep, this is me, right down to my sock line.

 

[emorems0]

I don't know how I'm ever going to get my young chickens into the main coop/run. Apparently the broken wing chicken got into the layers run early this morning... he's dead now, and half eaten. Blech. If I hadn't found him in their run I would have assumed predator. They've been in adjacent run spaces for the past month but the big girls still attack anyone who accidentally crosses the fence. They've been better when they free range together, but the big girls are still clearly at the top, the smaller chickens just have the ability to escape their bullies when they free range. I have another month or two (maybe) before any of the smaller chickens start laying so I'm running out of time to get the hens to stop trying to kill the smaller chickens. The plan is to combine the two run spaces into a single larger space, but once I do that it will be difficult to separate them again if the fighting persists.