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  1. Gray Ghost

    Mink and Weasel RIP. Good dog!

    In the last two weeks I have killed a mink and a weasel in my yard. The mink was actually in my chicken pen with its mouth on the neck of a chicken, when I killed it. The weasel was a little more amusing. I looked up from my breakfast table to see my 12 year old Labrador chasing something...
  2. Gray Ghost

    Skinny hen, swollen chest

    I have a one year old black sex-link hen, about a week ago I noticed a problem. 1. She has a very swollen crop. I can feel the objects (grain) inside it. 2. She is extremely skinny. 3. A lot of feathers have been picked off her breast. (Not sure if this is related to symptoms #1 and #2)...
  3. Gray Ghost

    Leaving infertile eggs in incubator?

    This is my first time incubating. My hatch date is two days away (Friday May 13). I had a difficult time determining whether my eggs were incubating properly, when I tried to candle them. I solved the problem by just leaving all the eggs in the incubator. I plan to dispose of any eggs which...
  4. Gray Ghost

    Hawk killed all 47 chickens in an hour!

    Quote: I would guess that a pack of domestic pet dogs who killed zebras, were not killing livestock for the first time. They were probably out there before, doing the same thing, this was just the first time they got caught. Domestic dogs can act that way.
  5. Gray Ghost

    brooder

    I have an 8' x 2' brooder and I just hang a 250 watt heat lamp about 18" high over one end. Mine is also in the garage where temps vary at least as much as yours do. I have found through 3 groups of chicks that they will be fine, they go directly under the lamp when it's cooler in the garage...
  6. Gray Ghost

    Hatching Newbie - questions

    This is the first time I have tried hatching. I got 42 (presumably) fertile eggs from my mixed flock of easter eggers, red and black sex links, barred rocks, white leghorns and silver laced wyandottes. Put them in my LG incubator (still air, no fan) and followed the directions which came with...
  7. Gray Ghost

    Anybody getting $4 / doz. for eggs?

    My hens produce about 7 to 10 dozen eggs a week. I live in tourist / retiree / hippie-transplant rural area so there is a lot of demand for farm fresh eggs. My eggs are not organic. At the supermarket the organic brown eggs are going for a little under $3 doz and the other so-called...
  8. Gray Ghost

    Will feathers grow back

    I am puttingchicken saddles on three of my one-year old hens because they are down to bare skin due to rooster attentions. Will new feathers grow in under the saddles?
  9. Gray Ghost

    Just killed a mink in my coop

    P.S. That mink is pretty musty-smelling. Ewwww.
  10. Gray Ghost

    Just killed a mink in my coop

    So far I've lost chickens to coyotes for sure, and I also suspect my ex-roommate's dog, hawks, and foxes. In my area, I would rank the most common predators (1) coyote, (2) hawks and owls, (3) foxes, (4) raccoons, (5) possums. I would not have put the mink high on the list of predators to be...
  11. Gray Ghost

    Just killed a mink in my coop

    Quote: I am in Wisconsin's Door peninsula. I didn't even know we had mink here. I have seen weasels before but never a mink. I looked up mink on Wikipedia and it looks like the American Mink is pretty widely distributed across North America. It's likely you have them in Michigan too...
  12. Gray Ghost

    Just killed a mink in my coop

    Not much left for a mink coat after a 2 oz. load of lead #2s at 20 foot range.
  13. Gray Ghost

    Just killed a mink in my coop

    I was sitting eating breakfast a few minutes ago when there was a great commotion of chickens in my chicken pen attached to the coop. Looking out the window I could see something in the pen chasing chickens. I grabbed my shotgun (always kept loaded just inside the kitchen door for this very...
  14. Gray Ghost

    what is a good way to protect hen house from every critter out there

    Fencing a whole run with 1/4" or 1/2" hardware cloth would be very expensive, depending on the size of the run. Consider using instead 14 gauge galvanized welded wire with 2" x 4" openings. This will keep out just about everything except the smallest predators like weasels (which might be...
  15. Gray Ghost

    Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

    Can anyone help me out by pointing me to the WI regulations on selling eggs? I have 30 hens and my understanding is that I can sell them from my farm. Can I also take them to a farmers' market and sell them there or do I need to be somehow licensed or registered or certified to do that? Also...
  16. Gray Ghost

    Leaving.....

    Pretty sure duct tape will result in more feather loss in the long term, when you remove the tape....
  17. Gray Ghost

    Rooster questions

    I have 22 laying hens which are 1 year old. I have 8 hens which are 7 months old. Along with the 8, I received from the hatchery four "packing peanuts" which turned out to be Rhode Island Red roosters. Before I got those roosters in the mail I never had roosters before. I decided to keep...
  18. Gray Ghost

    Guns n Stuff

    I am surprised nobody has suggested .22 long rifle. That's probably the most popular rifle caliber in the US. Ammo is cheap, used and new guns are abundant and inexpensive, it's accurate to 70 yards give or take a little, and will kill a coyote. No recoil to speak of. The problem with...
  19. Gray Ghost

    Frozen eggs

    Quote: Eggsactly. If it's not cracked then it didn't freeze as far as I'm concerned. I've never opened a winter-gathered uncracked egg and had any problems. If it's cracked it goes in the dog's dish at dinnertime, shell and all. I get way more eggs than I need so I don't have to salvage...
  20. Gray Ghost

    When the time comes how do you put a chicken down ?

    Quote: true but you have to hold the chicken still while you do it, which can be tricky unless you've got help When I use a knife I usually use some cord or wire to hang them from a fence post by their ankles. To avoid chopping off your own fingers, drive two nails into a stump, parallel to...
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