2018 Newbie Chat!

[Cbarr00]

Wait, what? Snow in Texas?? It cannot be! I was planning on visiting my brother in Texas later this winter to get out of the snow!!

We are about 2 hours southwest of the Oklahoma border that lies near wichita falls tx. We usually get snow/ice yearly here. It never lasts long. A couple of weeks a year maybe. I really think our snow will be gone by tomorrow. My kids enjoyed it while they could.

 

[JMotuzick]

I had a few minutes so I figured I’d post and say hello. I kinda gave up on this thread back around post 1300 ish. Our girls are doing great! The February hatch is already taking a winter brake after giving us a bunch of eggs! The May meaties are tasty! DW has been making crock pot meals about once every 2 weeks. The last and biggest batch of pulletts (10) has started laying this week too! We where Getting no brown eggs for about 3 weeks I spotted a barred rock in a nest box Friday and a egg a few hours later in that box!
In the last few days of no eggs due to a de-wormer so we should have eggs for the holidays!

 

[No More Empty Nest]

So sad I haven't been able to let my chickens out for a few days. First there was a Cooper's Hawk perched on the fence looking at them and my bird feeder. Then when I felt ready to let them out after that, a Peregrine Falcon was lying in wait at the bird feeder.
The falcons were brought to downtown years ago to decrease the pigeon population. However their offspring have spread. First to the grain elevators near us and now to the woods in the parkway behind our house. Which was wonderful...until I got chickens, lol.
I had planned on taking down my feeder after winter but I think I might do it sooner now.
Also I just realized that since the feeder is in the back yard and when I let my chickens out they like to go peck at the seeds that have dropped from the feeder...diseases! Oh my!

Oh and welcome back @JMotuzick

 

[CannedMonster]

So sad I haven't been able to let my chickens out for a few days. First there was a Cooper's Hawk perched on the fence looking at them and my bird feeder. Then when I felt ready to let them out after that, a Peregrine Falcon was lying in wait at the bird feeder.
The falcons were brought to downtown years ago to decrease the pigeon population. However their offspring have spread. First to the grain elevators near us and now to the woods in the parkway behind our house. Which was wonderful...until I got chickens, lol.
I had planned on taking down my feeder after winter but I think I might do it sooner now.
Also I just realized that since the feeder is in the back yard and when I let my chickens out they like to go peck at the seeds that have dropped from the feeder...diseases! Oh my!

Oh and welcome back @JMotuzick

I’ve had a big problem with wild birds eating my chickens feed out here.
I did get bird feeders to entice the little buggers away from it but they would empty both feeders in less than 2 days!

Plus my chickens just hung out under the bird feeders all day!
So no more, at least not where the chickens are.
I’ll probably find somewhere in the front yard to place the bird feeders.
Wild bird food sure is expensive though.
The wild birds would also drink from the chickens waterer.
I really hated that because it’s so easy to transmit disease.
So right now my chickens go onto the deck by the house and drink from the two heated buckets plugged in there.
The birds won’t go up there.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Duck re-homing fell through, very long story so won't bore with the details but basically we tried everything we could to get them moved to the new home but doors kept slamming shut in our faces and I'm hoping this is a sign from God that He wants us to keep our birds. Spoke to a duck behaviour expert who told me my ducks can be trained not to go after the chickens and he gave me a set of instructions to follow and so far things are going really well. First instruction was to establish myself the alpha, using duck behaviour methods, starts off having to hold the drakes flat to the ground for about 15 seconds (obviously without hurting them or putting them at risk) then slowly loosen my grip, if they struggle as my grip loosens I have to tighten it again for a further 15 seconds and repeat until they get to not struggling when I loosen my grip and when I let go will stay there for a second or two before running off. Secondly to establish that the chickens are mine and no other male can have them, its the same holding them down stuff but this time with firm instruction "No!" and I use "leave!" boys haven't tried to mate with them at all since doing this and now if they charge at the girls, or try bite them, I order "no" or "leave" and so far they will pause, look at me, sometimes walk off, sometimes resume going for who ever they were going for at which I again order no or leave and eventually they back off, but it is becoming more and more that they back off straight away, and makes life so much easier. Not so easy with the duck hens though, they are proving to be more of a challenge, for starters I can never catch them to even try pinning them to the ground, plus they are very sneaky, they tend to wait till no ones watching then sneak up behind - ducks use their neck and head to flatten the opponent to the ground in order to demand dominance and to bring their competitor to submission, most of the time the chickens manage to bend their bodies in such a way they just slip out from under the ducks but there is the odd occasion when the ducks manage to get the better of them, I've taken to waving my stick at them, the duck hens have always been scared of my stick so will run away. I still hope I get to keep all my birds and with the duck training going so well it is so easy to protect my chickens and keep them safe. Same can't be said for the chickens though, Pedro and Jellybean are relentless at going after Roo and the last couple of days Pedro has been bullying Roo loads, the stick doesn't work on them anymore, they either jump over it or stand on it and if I do anything to try chase them off they just look at me, give me the side eye then continue what they were doing, I think we can safely say I am way down low on their pecking order, lol. Thankfully since they started laying both Pedro and Jellybean will crouch submissively if or when I manage to put my hand on them, so are easier to pick up. Today I decided to give poor Roo a rest from being chased and banished Pedro and Jellybean to the run for the whole day and only let them out for the last two hours of the day before bedtime. Both didn't like being shut in the run and were well hacked off about it but soon settled down and got on with dust bathing, eating, drinking and scratching, however they do, do a lot of pacing up and down getting upset bcos they want to be in the garden with everyone else. Roo loved the freedom, she went anywhere she wanted, pecked at and ate anything she wanted without the two bully girls coming after her and chasing her off, she was so happy following Lilah around and not having to hide at all and seemed to flourish before my very eyes and it was also lovely for me to see her frolicking, and to be able to watch her running around instead of her hiding all of the time, so I have decided I am going to give her regular freedom by locking the two girls in the run for a few hours every third day, this way Roo will have a regular break from them but at the same time it wont be so much that they get distressed or stressed out from being locked in.

 

[llombardo]

Duck re-homing fell through, very long story so won't bore with the details but basically we tried everything we could to get them moved to the new home but doors kept slamming shut in our faces and I'm hoping this is a sign from God that He wants us to keep our birds. Spoke to a duck behaviour expert who told me my ducks can be trained not to go after the chickens and he gave me a set of instructions to follow and so far things are going really well. First instruction was to establish myself the alpha, using duck behaviour methods, starts off having to hold the drakes flat to the ground for about 15 seconds (obviously without hurting them or putting them at risk) then slowly loosen my grip, if they struggle as my grip loosens I have to tighten it again for a further 15 seconds and repeat until they get to not struggling when I loosen my grip and when I let go will stay there for a second or two before running off. Secondly to establish that the chickens are mine and no other male can have them, its the same holding them down stuff but this time with firm instruction "No!" and I use "leave!" boys haven't tried to mate with them at all since doing this and now if they charge at the girls, or try bite them, I order "no" or "leave" and so far they will pause, look at me, sometimes walk off, sometimes resume going for who ever they were going for at which I again order no or leave and eventually they back off, but it is becoming more and more that they back off straight away, and makes life so much easier. Not so easy with the duck hens though, they are proving to be more of a challenge, for starters I can never catch them to even try pinning them to the ground, plus they are very sneaky, they tend to wait till no ones watching then sneak up behind - ducks use their neck and head to flatten the opponent to the ground in order to demand dominance and to bring their competitor to submission, most of the time the chickens manage to bend their bodies in such a way they just slip out from under the ducks but there is the odd occasion when the ducks manage to get the better of them, I've taken to waving my stick at them, the duck hens have always been scared of my stick so will run away. I still hope I get to keep all my birds and with the duck training going so well it is so easy to protect my chickens and keep them safe. Same can't be said for the chickens though, Pedro and Jellybean are relentless at going after Roo and the last couple of days Pedro has been bullying Roo loads, the stick doesn't work on them anymore, they either jump over it or stand on it and if I do anything to try chase them off they just look at me, give me the side eye then continue what they were doing, I think we can safely say I am way down low on their pecking order, lol. Thankfully since they started laying both Pedro and Jellybean will crouch submissively if or when I manage to put my hand on them, so are easier to pick up. Today I decided to give poor Roo a rest from being chased and banished Pedro and Jellybean to the run for the whole day and only let them out for the last two hours of the day before bedtime. Both didn't like being shut in the run and were well hacked off about it but soon settled down and got on with dust bathing, eating, drinking and scratching, however they do, do a lot of pacing up and down getting upset bcos they want to be in the garden with everyone else. Roo loved the freedom, she went anywhere she wanted, pecked at and ate anything she wanted without the two bully girls coming after her and chasing her off, she was so happy following Lilah around and not having to hide at all and seemed to flourish before my very eyes and it was also lovely for me to see her frolicking, and to be able to watch her running around instead of her hiding all of the time, so I have decided I am going to give her regular freedom by locking the two girls in the run for a few hours every third day, this way Roo will have a regular break from them but at the same time it wont be so much that they get distressed or stressed out from being locked in.

Is it possible to just get some stakes and wire to seperate them? I don't think it would take much to seperate them.

How many ducks do you have? All boys?

 

[llombardo]

Well it looks like I will be rebuilding the whole run if I want a roof, which is more of a need. This weather is just so unpredictable. Oringinally I was going with all clear panels but I think I may go with some reg panels a couple rows in at the ends to provide some shade. It's going to take me a long time by myself. At least I will be able to reuse the hardware cloth. I'm going to start buying 2x4s every week in January. I figure by Spring I can have most of the wood. I'm going to extend the duck side out a couple feet and have an area that will be blocked off so I can grow grass for them. They will have access at my discretion so I can hopefully kerp the grass growing. I believe I may even put in a small door that I can open to the side area with net covering for some free ranging.

I was going to take the existing coop to another area for Duke. I'm still taking it out of the run but I'm incorporating Duke into the run and new coop with a look no touch concept. I should be able to do this with reusing some of the pvc. He will have his own run in the run and a section of the coop too. This is based on my observation of them in the house. The two boys are seperated but still in close proximity without any signs of aggression or attempts at fighting, so I will try to replicate that outside. I think I can make them all happy and safe.

This is going to be a huge project and I'm pretty sure I may need guidance along the way. I sure am not a carpenter but I feel I may be by the time I'm done here...lol

 

[No More Empty Nest]

Well it looks like I will be rebuilding the whole run if I want a roof, which is more of a need. This weather is just so unpredictable. Oringinally I was going with all clear panels but I think I may go with some reg panels a couple rows in at the ends to provide some shade. It's going to take me a long time by myself. At least I will be able to reuse the hardware cloth. I'm going to start buying 2x4s every week in January. I figure by Spring I can have most of the wood. I'm going to extend the duck side out a couple feet and have an area that will be blocked off so I can grow grass for them. They will have access at my discretion so I can hopefully kerp the grass growing. I believe I may even put in a small door that I can open to the side area with net covering for some free ranging.

I was going to take the existing coop to another area for Duke. I'm still taking it out of the run but I'm incorporating Duke into the run and new coop with a look no touch concept. I should be able to do this with reusing some of the pvc. He will have his own run in the run and a section of the coop too. This is based on my observation of them in the house. The two boys are seperated but still in close proximity without any signs of aggression or attempts at fighting, so I will try to replicate that outside. I think I can make them all happy and safe.

This is going to be a huge project and I'm pretty sure I may need guidance along the way. I sure am not a carpenter but I feel I may be by the time I'm done here...lol

A big project, but I think you'll be much happier after. So will the ducks and chickens. Just take it slow, think things through, and don't do too much in one day...yeah, as if I take that advice, lol!

 

[llombardo]

A big project, but I think you'll be much happier after. So will the ducks and chickens. Just take it slow, think things through, and don't do too much in one day...yeah, as if I take that advice, lol!

I hate that I can't do part by til part a is done. Like I have to get the tree branches down before the roof goes up and I have a pool to take down before the coop goes up. The branches and pool are a thorn in my side.

I can envision it done, just not the doing it part..lol

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Is it possible to just get some stakes and wire to seperate them? I don't think it would take much to seperate them.

How many ducks do you have? All boys?

Not allowed to due to the complaint investigation - I am not permitted to make any changes, adjustments, extensions etc. I have two drakes, two hens and they are paired.
I no longer have any problems with the boys, they are well behaved and no longer harass the chickens, however the girl ducks are still bullying the chickens, they get very possessive over their boys, food and their pools and can hassle the chickens when they got too close to any of those, however they are at their worst when chickens are foraging, when the chickens find something, i.e. bugs, worms, the girl ducks will attack the chickens and steal it from them.