Recent content by jwsmith1959

  1. jwsmith1959

    What could’ve killed my chickens

    Location? Missing heads lean towards raccoons and skunks. I would lean towards raccoons. Dog proof traps for them. I have had a couple of stone cold who-dun-its over the years though. Missing bodies with no feathers may be the remaining ambulatory ones wigged out and ran off. They may...
  2. jwsmith1959

    Will a dog protect chickens?

    There are livestock guardian dogs that can be trained to guard poultry and waterfowl. I have no idea how expensive they are though. Good luck and all the best.
  3. jwsmith1959

    Getting girls to Coop up

    I recently lost a hen inside my coop which is quite large and not sure what happened. The coop is buried chain link all sides with extra wire/plywood/hardware cloth in vulnerable areas. I either had something chase one of my layers into the coop or somehow reach through the chain link to get...
  4. jwsmith1959

    Prairie Snakes

    Very healthy Western Rat Snake. Great rodent control but can really go after your eggs and chicks. Big enough they can accidentally kill an adult chicken. Relocate if possible. There are usually snake groups around that don't mind helping with catching and relocating. Good luck and all the...
  5. jwsmith1959

    Options for predator proofing my property, 5 acres, Ohio

    Dog proof traps for raccoons. Live trap for others. Foxes are not hard to catch with certain leg hold traps, but no bueno if you have dogs. You also can use predator calls for foxes and yotes...and shoot them if you are set up or comfortable doing that. I have heard of people getting...
  6. jwsmith1959

    What could’ve killed my chickens

    Location...in/out of coop?
  7. jwsmith1959

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

    Still kicking... thanks for checking in. Busy and dealing with an issue I'm going to create a new thread about.
  8. jwsmith1959

    Sudden Broodiness and a surprise!!

    It has been a terrible week here and I had really thought my last issue would be with chickens....BUT. I've been missing an egg periodically for over a week and then a couple of days ago I was coming up two short. I figured a snake, but I really watched the coop for a bit and tried to rule...
  9. jwsmith1959

    New hens and small eggs

    I should have followed up with y'all sooner. I started getting daily eggs by the third week of January. It seems odd, but when I switched feeds to the Tractor Supply Producers Pride mini laying pellets it's like the eggs immediately got bigger. I'm getting large to extra large daily now...
  10. jwsmith1959

    Introducing new sub-flock with an auto opener

    I have had mixed results with introducing a new (or more) pullets to an existing flock. My current flock got culled by 2 in the last month. One just disappeared and the other was found murdered (and mangled) fairly close to my front door a few day ago. I put in an auto opener/closer back in...
  11. jwsmith1959

    New hens and small eggs

    Sorry...got tied up yesterday. Here are my new girls.
  12. jwsmith1959

    New hens and small eggs

    I picked up five new "Production Reds" from my local supplier (Feed Store). They were getting low on birds and not likely to have any more until Spring, so I bought the last five they had. Today has been three weeks since I've given them a loving home. They have been free ranging for a week...
  13. jwsmith1959

    An uninvited guest

    Eastern Rat Snake. They will eat eggs. I've moved a few. I have the Western variety though. Also some speckled King Snakes, but never seen them eat an egg. All free rodent control.
  14. jwsmith1959

    Fake Eggs Disappearing

    And egg number 7 went missing sometime in the last 36 hours. No more to worry about. All my girls `know where to lay, so not needed anymore. It must have been a pretty good sized Rat Snake to eat them and carry them off the way it did. Last Summer, I had one hen that liked to lay inside my...
  15. jwsmith1959

    Fake Eggs Disappearing

    When I started my flock over a year ago, I purchased some of those fake wooden eggs off Amazon. Supposed to get six but got seven. I pretty much ignored them as they helped get my girls laying in their boxes. I got a couple of new girls a couple of months ago and set up a temporary nesting box...
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