IMG_9409 by johncampanelli posted Aug 2, 2017 at 10:00 PM
Earlier this summer -- in the middle of the day! -- a fox came into my back yard (in a suburb), bull-rushed my chicken run and killed two of my three girls.
My third hen, Goldie, was carried a few 100 yards by the fox, and as a neighbor...
A few weeks back a posted a thread -- https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/995987/is-my-9-week-old-rir-pullet-a-cockerel -- asking if Dusty, my RIR pullet was really a cockerel.
We got confirmation today ...
What a scene. My chickens just found -- and ate -- a dead bat.
They are 11 weeks old and frisky as heck.
My RIR found a dead bat and the chase was on.
When it was over, they pecked the corpse to bits.
Should I be worried?
if three of the four are boys, I am going to cry. I have a 6-year-old neighbor boy who's fallen in love with these chickens and helps us with the feeding and watering. Won't be long before he's attacked. Did the chicken sexer at my hatchery show up drunk the morning my chicks hatched?!
Hudson Ohio Chicken Ordinance
Are Chickens Allowed in this location
Yes
Max Chickens Allowed
No maximum
Roosters Allowed
No
Permit Required
No
Coop Restrictions
Coop must be at least 100 feet away from neighbors' dwellings
City/Organization Contact name
City of Hudson, Town Hall...
I just got an email that these forage cakes are on sale at McMurray
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/weeklyspecial.html
and was wondering if they might be nice for the girls during the brutal winter months when free ranging in two feet of snow is impossible.
What do you do when you make your...
And by "getting rid" of him. I put an ad on Craigslist and found I farmer who wanted a rooster. So I'm (pretty) sure my rooster didn't head straight to the stock pot
My beloved Sir Buffington had to go after he began terrorizing the kids, even drawing blood.
Backyards birds should be a special, fun experience for children. Not the poultry version of "Friday the 13th."
My kids didn't even want to go into the backyard when Buff was back there.
Can it be that the high-brow New Yorker has joined the fun?
The answer is, ohhh yeah ...
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/video-pecking-order.html
This is a video that goes along with Susan Orlean's article about her own backyard flock.
Great video. Can't wait to read...
I have seven hens and a rooster, now all a year old and my "bottom of the pecking order" RIR has been unceremoniously pushed off the roost and sleeps in the nest box every night (despite another roost going totally unused).
The funny thing is that even though she sleeps in there EVERY night...
I do not have a fence and the "kids" do wander a bit into my next-door neighbors yards (although they spend 80 percent of the time in my yard). They (the neighbors) seem amused by it all, at least for the moment. Thank goodness neither has dogs.
I will try to keep the egg supply coming for them...
My neighbors have been supportive, but as I mentioned, I live directly behind the Ohio Turnpike and the steady drone of traffic does drown out most of Sir Buffington's throaty crows.
We try to give as many eggs to the neighbors as possible, to give them a kind of stake in the success of the...