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  1. Big_Charlie

    First Attack in Six Years - What Kind of Predator?

    Lost an entire flock of 15 pullets in the last 3 nights to something evil too. Not sure what, though I suspect weasels. Ate everything but the legs off some of them, just killed others because they could. I cannot figure out how they got in and out last night. I'd found a spot where a clean out...
  2. Big_Charlie

    Oh no...I have a rooster and didn't want one...

    So my roo earned his keep today. A big stray 100lb or so dog showed up and started sniffing around the run this afternoon. I quick grabbed my gun and headed out to chase him off but before I could get there I saw my girls all running for cover in the coop while Mr. Roo stayed outside, stood as...
  3. Big_Charlie

    Auracanas won't lay, but everyone else does

    So I've got a mixed bag of chickens in my coop with 4 Auracana hens (and 1 roo who was supposed to be a hen...oops). Every chicken I've got hatched the same day in April, and my egg production is fantastic, except for those darned Auracanas. I have seen at most 4 or 5 green eggs since they all...
  4. Big_Charlie

    So,19,000 members, How many Chickens do we all have? 26,143 & counting

    For the moment, I'm at 29 - so adding the last couple together we get my 29 + smpezzi's 24 + 14,563= 14,616 Big Charlie
  5. Big_Charlie

    Oh no...I have a rooster and didn't want one...

    I think he's going to become fried chicken as soon as they move to the non-medicated layer feed in a few weeks. I just heard a loud rooster crow come from my coop, and my wife absolutely won't stand for that... Big Charlie
  6. Big_Charlie

    Can coyote climb?

    May I recommend that all chicken owners in the eastern states become coyote hunters. Here in KY, it's open season on them all year long since they're considered an invasive species. I suspect it's the same in most eastern states. There are plenty of folks around here who hunt them just to keep...
  7. Big_Charlie

    Oh no...I have a rooster and didn't want one...

    So I just realized today that one of my 16 week old Auracanas is a rooster, not the hen I had ordered from the hatchery. The other 28 assorted chickens are all hens, exactly as ordered, but this handsome devil popped in there somehow. (Oops...) I DO NOT WANT FERTILIZED EGGS! What do I do? I...
  8. Big_Charlie

    speaking of guns....

    Quote: Don't for a moment thing that a shotgun doesn't need skill to shoot. Even with a shotgun with a cylinder or improved cylinder bore (basically, no choke down of the end of the barrel), your pattern at 25 yards is still only a few inches across. You need to shoot it at some cardboard or...
  9. Big_Charlie

    Are they ready for layer feed?

    Mine are about the same age. Following the suggestion in "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow, I've started adding oats to their starter feed to help slow down their growth a little so they don't come into lay too early. Eventually, before moving them to layer, they'll get up to...
  10. Big_Charlie

    Kentucky!!!

    My 29 chickens and I are waaaay out west in Fulton.
  11. Big_Charlie

    Husbands!.....LOL

    You ladies have missed that there's a huge difference here between men and women and how they look at the chickens. We men have to see some utility to them. We love our big furry dogs, we can usually tolerate cats, but chickens are just too much. Now, you tell me that I get to eat the eggs, eat...
  12. Big_Charlie

    Where to place thermometer in brooder?

    I went through this same routine when my chicks arrived last Friday. I had the brooder warmed up to what the thermometer was saying was 95deg spot on. No sooner did I put them in than they huddled together in a big ball acting cold. Now the thermometer reads 110-120deg and they're spread all...
  13. Big_Charlie

    Umbilical wrapped around leg

    Soon after posting the original message about this, I went back to check on her and she was so weak she couldn't stand, drink, eat, and was barely breathing. I made sure she went fast and painless. Big Charlie
  14. Big_Charlie

    Umbilical wrapped around leg

    One of my chicks is not doing well at all and I'm hoping there's a way I can help. It looks like her umbilical cord stump is wrapped around her leg, hobbling that leg at the thigh. She also had a case of pasty butt that I've managed to clean up. But she just lays there, is very weak, and is...
  15. Big_Charlie

    Chicks huddling together

    So I think my $3 Wal-Mart thermometer must be calibrated wrong. Either that or my chicks are calibrated wrong. The thermometer now reads almost 110degF, but the chicks are happy as pigs in slop sleeping under the lamps, not crowding anymore. I went ahead and tacked up some cardboard over my...
  16. Big_Charlie

    How many chicks is TO many?!?!

    I jumped right in with 30 mixed breed pullets, and tonight I was already planning for the future. Should the farm fresh egg business prove to be a good one around here, I'll plan ahead for another 50 or more. Being a "farmer" is sounding more and more like fun every day. Big Charlie
  17. Big_Charlie

    Chicks huddling together

    I've thrown a tarp over the top of the brooder to try and hold in some more heat and lowered the lamps as low as they'll go. That seems to have done the trick as they are spread out much more and the thermometer is now reading between 95 and 100 without a pile of chicks sitting on top. There are...
  18. Big_Charlie

    Chicks huddling together

    Do chicks normally huddle together in a big ball under the heat lamp, or is this an indication that it's too cold in the brooder? Mine were running around all over the place for a while and now they're all huddled together under the lamps. I can't get a good read on the temp under the lamps...
  19. Big_Charlie

    A month of waiting pays off - the chicks have arrived!

    I got them from Cackle Hatcher in Missouri. They were geographically closest to me, and our local Rural King had great success getting its chicks from them this year. Out of thousands of chicks, Rural King had almost no deaths. Big Charlie
  20. Big_Charlie

    BROODER thread! Post pics of your brooders!

    Here's Megabrooder, a 4'x8'x2' brooder/grower made from 3 sheets of plywood, a bunch of 2x2 lumber, some 1x2's for the lids, a 1x4 for the center piece, and 3 rolls of 1/2" hardware cloth. I'm brooding 30 chicks in it right now with a divider in the middle to keep them at the warm end. I'll take...
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