Hello everyone
I first found this site back in 2011. I can't remember if I posted anything or not, but the site was quite helpful.
My wife and I started chicken raising experience (2011) kinda backwards. I got the chicks (4 RIR) from a local store then started building the coop/pen. After a couple months the chicks were ready to get into their new digs. About a months after the initial chickens were in their new home I got a few more. A mix off a couple different breeds.
Over the last couple years we''ve had to deal with "bumblefoot", a predator (racoon) tried to pull one of the birds through the fencing, needless to say it didn't live, a NHR rooster got so crazy he broke the neck of a brindle Americauna.
All of the fun of this new experience came to a tragic and traumatic end one night. About 1:30am my wife came screaming in the bedroom. She had let our dogs out to use the bathroom. She was screaming that a stray dog was in the coop/pen killing all the chickens. I got up and ran outside, she was yelling and crying to kill the dog. We don't have any guns and it is illegal to fire off a gun in the city. So I grabbed up a club-like stick. When I got to the pen, chicken bodies were scattered and the dog was growling at us. I stepped inside the pen. I took a swing at the dog and it lunged at me. It was on then! I beat the dog to the point where it couldn't move.
I thought I had killed the dog, but I hadn't. The next morning I called the city dog catcher. When he got there I told him what had happened and he said he would have done the same thing. He took the maimed dog and the dead chickens. He put the dog down.
My wife and thought we were done with the whole chicken thing and over the last 6 months I've tried to sell the coop/pen, but nobody wanted it.
Last weekend I told my wife that I really missed having chickens. She agreed that she did too.
This last week she cleaned our brooder box and we got 3 blonde Americaunas and 4 New Hampshire Reds. Over the next couple weeks we will make our coop/pen like Ft. Knox. We will be equipping the outside with a high powered electric fence. I will post some pics
It's good to be back
Jeff
PS - Sorry if the story of our chicken life was too graphic
I first found this site back in 2011. I can't remember if I posted anything or not, but the site was quite helpful.
My wife and I started chicken raising experience (2011) kinda backwards. I got the chicks (4 RIR) from a local store then started building the coop/pen. After a couple months the chicks were ready to get into their new digs. About a months after the initial chickens were in their new home I got a few more. A mix off a couple different breeds.
Over the last couple years we''ve had to deal with "bumblefoot", a predator (racoon) tried to pull one of the birds through the fencing, needless to say it didn't live, a NHR rooster got so crazy he broke the neck of a brindle Americauna.
All of the fun of this new experience came to a tragic and traumatic end one night. About 1:30am my wife came screaming in the bedroom. She had let our dogs out to use the bathroom. She was screaming that a stray dog was in the coop/pen killing all the chickens. I got up and ran outside, she was yelling and crying to kill the dog. We don't have any guns and it is illegal to fire off a gun in the city. So I grabbed up a club-like stick. When I got to the pen, chicken bodies were scattered and the dog was growling at us. I stepped inside the pen. I took a swing at the dog and it lunged at me. It was on then! I beat the dog to the point where it couldn't move.
I thought I had killed the dog, but I hadn't. The next morning I called the city dog catcher. When he got there I told him what had happened and he said he would have done the same thing. He took the maimed dog and the dead chickens. He put the dog down.
My wife and thought we were done with the whole chicken thing and over the last 6 months I've tried to sell the coop/pen, but nobody wanted it.
Last weekend I told my wife that I really missed having chickens. She agreed that she did too.
This last week she cleaned our brooder box and we got 3 blonde Americaunas and 4 New Hampshire Reds. Over the next couple weeks we will make our coop/pen like Ft. Knox. We will be equipping the outside with a high powered electric fence. I will post some pics
It's good to be back
Jeff
PS - Sorry if the story of our chicken life was too graphic
