A Journey Through a Different Way - Funny Story Pg. 69

[ruth]

Quote:
Fun memory. As you can see she's gotten a lot bigger. No longer blends in with a few leaves.

 

[GwenFarms]

I tend to raise my chickens as you do Ruth. I notice alot of posts on here and will kind of be like "What!", but then I notice that these folks are living on a quarter of an acre in the middle of a subdivision and just don't have the options you and I do, but boy I'm glad we do have them!

I'm gonna have to get me some of those blues. I wonder if anyone in SC has any to part with ..hmmmm

 

[redhead83402]

Ruth, Thanks so much for posting this lovely thread. I too have wondered how the chickens used to do it ~ lol. It makes complete sense that they would be hatching out in the spring, with temperature ups & downs, and that that would in turn help them to grow heartier & healthier.

I wish we had some reasonable temps here in Idaho, I would love to turn my little ones (5 day old chicks) out into the sunshine for a few hours ~ sadly, it snowed this morning! We're still getting lows in the mid-20's & highs in the upper 40's & 50's ~ although, this weekend, it is supposed to get up to 64!! Folks will be out sunbathing, you can bet on it! The kids have slept in the treehouse already 4 or 5 times this spring, but then, it's insulated & they are old enough to know how to snuggle into a sleepingbag. :-D

Also, just wanted to say that I love your yard, it's beautiful & green ~ ours still has that sad brown winter look to it. We are just now getting the bulbs poking up through the mulch.
~Red

 

[Cetawin]

I love this thread. Ruth I love the way you are raising your babies...it is the way we raised them when I was growing up. I wish I could do it now.

I have the room outside but free ranging...they would not last one day. I have way too many predators walking through the property. It has been so cold, I would not dare try to leave them outside. One min we have sun and then next rain and snow mix. So, the girls will get a buried and completely enclosed run and coop.

 

[WillsMama93]

I love that your chickens have their own toilet in their coop... wow, outdoor plumbing for the chickens! They really are spoiled!! But how do they lift the seat?

I really have enjoyed this thread. it's been a real eye opener to see that just becasue I may not always know what I am doing, does not mean that mother nature does not always know what SHE is doing!


PS.. ok, I just went back and read the post about your sweet Ruth.. and I am sitting here choked up with tears dripping into my morning coffee.. I was just telling our candy man (he refills the machines at work) that I never expected to love my chickens the way I do. I found out he raises chickens, and has silkies.. so now I am fighting the "more chickies" demon until we get our coop built and our girls are out of the brooder.

 

[ruth]

Well this morning it's a sad, sad update. Something killed Ms. Broody last night. Found her dead and eaten in stall next to hers. I feel bad but had tried to bust up her broodiness by carrying her back to coop three nights in a row but she kept going back to barn. Had even built her a pen in coop and moved whole nest but she really freaked out, broke out and ran back to barn in dark. She's an EE and my EEs are really wild. Except for Ruth I've never petted any of them - they won't let me touch them. Maybe because I was so busy raising Ruth that they just got ignored and raised themselves.

Last night was a series of events that might have led to her death. First we had to let Lucy inside because she was tearing up the doors to get in (she does that if a storm is coming); secondly I forgot to open all the yard gates so that Rex could get out to barn area if necessary. They were all closed and he was trapped in yard.

Though it's a sad update I will continue to let them free range. I know they are healtier and happier and live a more natural life. This wasn't really a free range death - this was a case of letting a broody hen stay in an old barn that has been abandoned for 30 years. While I will still let them free range I will NOT let any more stay in barn at night - nest or no nest. I'll lock them in a cage or kennel if I have to till broodiness/craziness is over.

While I have been preparing myself over this last year for a possible loss, it's still a sad morning here. I brought her eggs inside and put them in bator. They were cold but I'll hope for the best in her memory.

 

[Omeletta]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, Ruth :aww

Tanya

 

[WillsMama93]

:aww I am so sorry to hear of your loss, Ruth. I think at times, a series of events that lead to such a loss can seem avoidable. But everything happens for a reason, IMO. I think it is a wonderful thing you are doing for your animals, raising them the way you do.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm really sorry to hear this today. I agree, though, that if Rex could have had access, he would have stopped it. What a great dog! Hope this is the last loss you have for a very, very long time.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Absolutely he would have stopped it. Whatever it was had time to actually eat her. That's why I feel so bad. Normally after all chickens are locked in coop at night, I open all doors to sheds, garage, walkways and open all picket fence gates (there are several of them) so that Rex can get out fast in any direction if necessary. Then at night when I hear the dogs barking and carrying on I know they are after something and chasing it off. Last night I heard him barking and carrying on and didn't realize he was trapped in the yard because I forgot to open the gates. I was so tired by the time I came in last night and got all the "kids" to bed because I had spent the day cleaning out the coop and cages and kennels and moving everyone around, mowed the yard, put in a garden, and I simply forgot. By the time I rememberd I had had my bath and was too tired to go back out and do that and convinced myself it would be o.k. for one night.