2018 Newbie Chat!

[Cbarr00]

Show me your eggs! How many did you all get yesterday/today? Here’s my loot from yesterday, not very many for 17 chickens. View attachment 1606314

All the girls laid today!

Can't wait until my EEs start laying about 3 more months!

 

[Anna Ranieri]

wow... I guess I should've just kept my mouth shut huh
How was I supposed to know about your relationship with them?
You live in their house. I assumed that meant it was a good relationship.
I'm very sorry I offended you.
You are absolutely right...I don't know you. None of us know each other.
I understand your anger but why would it even matter to you what I think about anything?
Why would you let it upset you?
You shouldn't. I am nobody to you. Just some lady online.
All of this is nobody's business but yours but you posted about this situation on a public forum and I responded to it based only on what details there were at that time.
I also gave my opinion. I gave it in a very incautious and flippant manner.
Which has offended you. My opinion was based on few details.
I should have asked you more questions or sent you a PM to get more facts and a clearer idea of the whole picture.
Now that you have explained, I can understand why you said it.


"...people who love us." I meant this as the key phrase.
I'm sorry I assumed your parents love you and treat you well.
I made an assumption. I was wrong.

What animal did I kill? Loki and Conan? I can't keep multiple human aggressive roosters.
I raise them for meat, not just eggs. I don't support factory farming but I do support homestead farms and self sufficiency. My mistake was naming them before I knew their sex and before I had created a plan for excess/aggressive cockerels.

If everyone else, including the school, has chickens then why are you worried about it?
They have to take everyone to court not just one person. Maybe that's why they haven't yet?
I mean, that's only fair. They can't just pick on you.
I'm sorry I don't understand.
If it's not a law then it's some sort of agreement?
I thought it was a law because you got so upset about it and say they might make you get rid of them and talk about them taking you to court or something.
What kind of power do they actually have?
It seems odd but I guess maybe it's like a HOA here in the US. Where the Homeowners
Association creates policies the home owners who live there have to abide by.
Some HOAs are very strict (they have monthly meetings and employees and go over things people are doing) while others are nothing more than a passing mention in the deed.

I admit that I can offend people. I am a very blunt and forward communicator.
I offer my apologies for that.
All of this could have been exchanged in a PM (personal message) instead of publicly.
I admit that it was very bad form for me to write it here instead of a PM.

Sorry about your parents and their treatment of you. It sounds like they're now putting pressure on you.
I've had toxic relationships too. I broke ties with those individuals (sometimes only for a time) because I realized they weren't changing and it would cause damage to me and/or my son.
I'm not the kind of long-suffering person that will allow myself to be treated badly when I can walk away. I used to. But my life was chaos.
I didn't want my son observing them and getting ideas that because I put up with it that made it okay.
I believe we teach people how to treat us by what we allow them to do.
In other words, if I allow it they'll probably keep doing it.
Boundaries are important to me to keep relationships balanced and healthy.
That's just my philosophy.

And you have taught me that I went completely overboard with you.
I won't do it again.

I pray Jesus will bless you, your daughter & grandson and that He will bless your fight for your animals.
I hope you can forgive me for reacting to your post in such a presumptive way.

I think I should take a break from this thread for a while.
Or maybe just stay off of it altogether.

Again my sincerest apologies!

P.S. To send a PM just click on the "Inbox" with the letter icon.
P.P.S. If my country outlaws Christianity I will do what I have to do. All the way up unto death. I'm not worried about it. I worry about very little.

Thank you for apologising, I appreciate you doing so, I think its a case of misunderstandings and perhaps crossed wires. I really do hope you won't leave nor post less as I enjoy your posts and appreciate the help you have given me in the past - might sound crazy but I feel I have come to know some of your chickens well through your sharing about them and I enjoy the updates and reading about them.
I wasn't aware there is a PM feature on here, however I appreciate you informing me of it.
Just to clarify, you are right about if they take me to court, they'd have to take everyone, however now they have received a complaint claiming my birds are attracting vermin, its a whole new ball game so to speak and gives them the option of going down the environmental health root, which is a subject matter taken very seriously over here. They can't physically remove my birds, nor can seize them, and so far have only been able to ask me to remove them, however under the environmental health act, they can apply to the courts for an order for the removal of my birds - I don't know enough about it to know if they would have to conducts tests to see if there is any truth in this accusation and prove vermin are present due to my having poultry.
By the sounds of it the covenant is the same or at least very similar to the HOA you mentioned, it has nothing to do with renting, all properties on this estate have the same covenant. My mum and dad have another property on this estate which they live in and my dad has had dealings with them in the past, the covenant states that each property is permitted to have only one shed, and about two years ago he decided he wanted more and erected a further two sheds which his neighbours complained about. This complaint was investigated and he was told they are not permitted and would have to be removed, he refused, and eventually after much correspondence, they backed off and he still has all his sheds, he believed the same would happen about this issue, and for a while it did, they backed off but, as I said earlier now they have the vermin complaint it has given them a reason to take me to court, without bringing in the fact that others have poultry. The guy I had the meeting with said himself that if no further complaint had been made they would have just left it, but they are obliged to investigate all complaints and b'cos the neighbours who are complaining keep lodging complaints, they that have to take action, however I still don't know yet if it will go to court or not. If it does then the outcome depends on whatever the judge decides will be.
I used to work with a guy years ago who has chickens, there is no covenant nor anything in his deeds saying poultry isn't permitted however his neighbours didn't like that he has them and took him to court privately. If we are correct in who we think is complaining, they are such that if the housing company don't take us to court there is a possibility they will, and my worry is the courts will side with them and order me to give up my birds.
I thank you greatly for your well wishes and prayers and also hope we can put this behind us and move forward.

 

[Cbarr00]

Look at these hackle and saddle feathers Bear has now. No more denying he's a definite cockerel.

We have here(on the left) DJ or Dwight Jr(EE) that my son named.

Here is Rosey(Black Sex Link). Named so because she is extra nosey when I'm in the coop. This is an older picture.

These two BSL need names. Maybe one of them will be Bear since he is leaving us soon.

Rosey in the background.

Lastly this EE needs a name.

 

[Cbarr00]

@Anna Ranieri I'm crossing my fingers these people will lay off y'all! Keeping y'all in my thoughts.

 

[Anna Ranieri]

@Anna Ranieri I'm crossing my fingers these people will lay off y'all! Keeping y'all in my thoughts.

Thank you

 

[Anna Ranieri]

It snowed today for the first time this winter.
My chickens have never experienced snow yet except for Red but clearly she didn’t remember it lol.
View attachment 1606003
I should’ve taken video!
It was so funny!
I opened the big coop door this morning and they were all right near the door.
They took a step and all collectively stopped in their tracks.
Whaaaat!? What is this? They seemed to be saying.
You would’ve thought the Apocalypse had come!
They absolutely refused to come out and step in the snow.
I’m had to bribe them with scratch and chopped banana peel.
Even then they’d only go to the places protected from snow.
Poor Itsy was in the nesting box trying to lay and there were birds standing all around her getting in her business.
Clearly it was a hostile work environment for her.
She was complaining and squawking.
Oliver got scared of Angus and accidentally stepped on the snow and you would’ve thought somebody goosed him.
He squawked and flapped and jumped onto the chain link fence.
I was afraid he’d jump into the neighbors yard so I gently pushed him to jump down and he kept leaping through the snow like it was biting him.
I went into the house for a while because I figured it would be a while until they actually came out into the yard.

Later I went back out and they were still kind of reluctant.
I moved around doing chores and soon I witnessed the first brave adventurers making their way cautiously into the alien environment.
The first ones were Taka (ha! of course), and all 3 Speckled Sussex!
They were so curious and at first didn’t want to step out into the wide stretches of snow but would keep near bushes or fence lines.
I decided to use the shovel and create some grass pathways for them to walk on.
The snow wasn’t too deep. Only a few inches.
While doing that I saw that Taka was making her way along the fence line and half the flock was following behind her and my Sussex girls.
Even Oliver and Angus too.
After a while I suddenly heard Agatha squawk loudly and launch herself into the air flapping with everything she had.
She had been left behind because she was so reluctant to go in the snow.
She was trying to get to the others without stepping in the snow!
She did it in two great bounds.
But when she landed in the snow between jumps she jumped off again so fast like the snow was hot lava lol.
All the others eventually got pretty used to it. Especially the young ones.
They were walking all over it like they’d always been doing it.
The bantams did better after I made pathways for them.
As soon as I made one going from the deck to the coop area, Itsy (who’d been complaining the whole time) marched right over to the prefab and into a nest to finally lay her egg.
But Agatha just hated it.
She really did.
She just huddled by the fence and wouldn’t use the pathways.
I finally picked her up and with her protesting loudly I plopped her down on the grass pathway and she started walking towards the deck to join Emily and Angus.
By the end of the day they were all pros at it and couldn’t care less that it was snow.
View attachment 1606005
View attachment 1606006

 

[Anna Ranieri]

Show me your eggs! How many did you all get yesterday/today? Here’s my loot from yesterday, not very many for 17 chickens. View attachment 1606314

My three are still laying everyday, I think its due to the very mild winter we are having so far, the last couple of days have been so sunny it felt like spring and nothing at all like winter.

 

[Cbarr00]

My hatched chicks have grown up so fast. They turned 11 weeks old yesterday. Manchineel (Manny) is definitely a cockerel. His hackle and saddle feathers are coming in so dark. He’s going to be a beautiful rooster.View attachment 1603437 Pig is starting to change feather colors. It started as blonde highlights by his comb and now has splotchy red and blonde feathers coming in. He’s huge. Nearly the size of some of my adult chickens. He’s a cross between a Welsummer and a black Ameraucana. View attachment 1603438 View attachment 1603434

Do you have any other angles of Manny's saddle feathers? I knew you had some around the same age as mine so I wanted to look back at your pictures. I can definitely see Pig's saddle feathers but what I'm seeing on Manny looks like rounded tail feathers. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong spot. Also he has such a small pale comb compared to Pig and my EE Bear. I'm wondering if he is after all really a she.

The lighting is terrible but the size of his comb is very big and very red compared to my pullets.

 

[emrya]

Show me your eggs! How many did you all get yesterday/today? Here’s my loot from yesterday, not very many for 17 chickens. View attachment 1606314

23 here, 15 pullets, and this is what I got today. Brown egg layer just started laying Friday!

 

[CannedMonster]

Thank you for apologising, I appreciate you doing so, I think its a case of misunderstandings and perhaps crossed wires. I really do hope you won't leave nor post less as I enjoy your posts and appreciate the help you have given me in the past - might sound crazy but I feel I have come to know some of your chickens well through your sharing about them and I enjoy the updates and reading about them.
I wasn't aware there is a PM feature on here, however I appreciate you informing me of it.
Just to clarify, you are right about if they take me to court, they'd have to take everyone, however now they have received a complaint claiming my birds are attracting vermin, its a whole new ball game so to speak and gives them the option of going down the environmental health root, which is a subject matter taken very seriously over here. They can't physically remove my birds, nor can seize them, and so far have only been able to ask me to remove them, however under the environmental health act, they can apply to the courts for an order for the removal of my birds - I don't know enough about it to know if they would have to conducts tests to see if there is any truth in this accusation and prove vermin are present due to my having poultry.
By the sounds of it the covenant is the same or at least very similar to the HOA you mentioned, it has nothing to do with renting, all properties on this estate have the same covenant. My mum and dad have another property on this estate which they live in and my dad has had dealings with them in the past, the covenant states that each property is permitted to have only one shed, and about two years ago he decided he wanted more and erected a further two sheds which his neighbours complained about. This complaint was investigated and he was told they are not permitted and would have to be removed, he refused, and eventually after much correspondence, they backed off and he still has all his sheds, he believed the same would happen about this issue, and for a while it did, they backed off but, as I said earlier now they have the vermin complaint it has given them a reason to take me to court, without bringing in the fact that others have poultry. The guy I had the meeting with said himself that if no further complaint had been made they would have just left it, but they are obliged to investigate all complaints and b'cos the neighbours who are complaining keep lodging complaints, they that have to take action, however I still don't know yet if it will go to court or not. If it does then the outcome depends on whatever the judge decides will be.
I used to work with a guy years ago who has chickens, there is no covenant nor anything in his deeds saying poultry isn't permitted however his neighbours didn't like that he has them and took him to court privately. If we are correct in who we think is complaining, they are such that if the housing company don't take us to court there is a possibility they will, and my worry is the courts will side with them and order me to give up my birds.
I thank you greatly for your well wishes and prayers and also hope we can put this behind us and move forward.

Thank you so much for your forgiveness!
I appreciate you and the kind words you always give all of us on here.
I won’t leave the thread.

I’m trying to think of things you could do that may help the situation.
I know you said in a response to someone else that you have removed the feed from outside?
I think you had said you kept it out at all times?
Are there any rodent proof containers you have or could purchase with tight covers that you could keep it in?
I keep our feed in our large shed and I bought a thick plastic bin with a locking type lid that I put it in.
No signs of rodents at all.
My scratch is kept in the bag inside a small galvanized metal garbage pail with lid. This is kept on the back deck.
As far as the actual feeders: after the birds go to bed for the night I put both feeders in the shed and take them out in the morning.
If there were any signs of rodents I would move them to the garage or even the house overnight.
The key is heavy duty containers with tight fitting lids.
Always do your best to clean up any foodstuffs the birds don’t eat by the time they start going to roost.
I think rodents are more active at night.

Actually this is what we do with the waterers overnight in winter so they don’t freeze.
We carry them to the garage since it’s insulated and they don’t freeze.
In the morning they go back out.
It’s working very well so far although this week temperatures are going to drop even more.
9 degrees F is the projected low Thursday night!

We also have two heated buckets plugged in on the deck that they drink from.
They’ve not frozen yet.
Thursday night will be a test for them for sure.

I feel the burden of proof should be on them.
I strongly feel there’s someone who is just a busybody in the neighborhood and just doesn’t want anyone to have any animals.
The sort of person that has nothing better to do than spy on people and cause trouble for them.
People leaving out cat/dog food could cause vermin!
In the US, cat food attracts raccoons and opossum, feral cats, rodents.
I even had a blue jay fly right next to our back door where the cat food was kept on a chair and start eating it.