- Oct 9, 2012
- 9
- 0
- 60
I was feeling very upset after losing almost all my flock to hawk attacks.
The last victim was my beautiful Rhode Island Red rooster (Cluck Norris) that I found half eaten in the back or my yard but that surely gave a serious fight back as his huge and sharp as needles spurs were covered in blood that was not his. That magnificent little guy didn't go down easily. After that incident the attacks ceased but my initial flock of 15 hens and 3 roosters was reduced to 5 hens and 2 coward roosters that don't have half of Cluck Norris heart.
You all know that 2 roosters are just too many roosters for only 5 hens and the girls started showing signs of too much attention from their masculine partners. So I decided to order some more hens from a Hatchery House and in a few days I received 15 beautiful little creatures that in a few months would become adult Black Australorp Hens. I chose Black Australorp because they are a type of hen that are somehow big and would be difficult for them to fly over the fence that surrounds my 2 acres little farm, and that would save me the work of clipping feathers of chickens wings. As a courtesy or McMurray Hatchery I also got an additional free chick of a rare or unusual breed. These chicks were extremely friendly and they seem to run towards me while I was installing them in their new place that would be their home until I could let them run free range.
I installed my 16 new chicks outdoors, inside an enormous cage made of stainless framed net in pieces of 8 feet long and 7 feet tall firmly attached with bolts and nuts. Inside I put a huge container for pet transportation and covered that container's floor with shredded paper and straw, and hung up a red lamp permanently on, to keep them warm. I surrounded the whole cage with very small squares net as I knew those little critters covered of soft feathers could easily find a way out in any little junction of the cage. I covered a large area where their food and water was in, with corrugated plastic so they could still eat and drink without getting wet in case it rained. There they were for 2 days and 2 nights and I was feeling very good about the whole thing until...
Well, I woke up that unfortunate morning to find out some predator (I suppose it was an opossum) had made a terrible damage to my new flock. All the little chicks were gone and the only 3 dead bodies remaining were left headless. No feathers, no blood, no signs of struggle of any kind except for those 3 little cadavers that the beast had left behind. Later I found a tiny little wing and that was all. I had thought that my 3 dogs would be enough deterrent for any mammal predator but apparently the villain were much stealthier, smarter and efficient than the guardians; including me.
While I was cursing my luck and my lack or care I heard a "Pew, pew" coming from under an empty flower vase. There was one survivor. We named her Maia.
Maia is now a pain in my neck. She lost her siblings and now she is attached to me and my wife like I never saw and never thought it could be possible. I cannot leave her alone anywhere or she will start pewing furiously and even when she is content she never stops talking. She sleeps in my wife's neck while she watches TV and I have to carry her in my shirt's pocket anywhere I go. This little critter demands attention all the time and sometimes I just don't know what to do to get rid of her. Any advice would be much appreciated as this little chick does not let me do anything but baby chick sitting and I have other things to do besides that.
Khorgan
The last victim was my beautiful Rhode Island Red rooster (Cluck Norris) that I found half eaten in the back or my yard but that surely gave a serious fight back as his huge and sharp as needles spurs were covered in blood that was not his. That magnificent little guy didn't go down easily. After that incident the attacks ceased but my initial flock of 15 hens and 3 roosters was reduced to 5 hens and 2 coward roosters that don't have half of Cluck Norris heart.
You all know that 2 roosters are just too many roosters for only 5 hens and the girls started showing signs of too much attention from their masculine partners. So I decided to order some more hens from a Hatchery House and in a few days I received 15 beautiful little creatures that in a few months would become adult Black Australorp Hens. I chose Black Australorp because they are a type of hen that are somehow big and would be difficult for them to fly over the fence that surrounds my 2 acres little farm, and that would save me the work of clipping feathers of chickens wings. As a courtesy or McMurray Hatchery I also got an additional free chick of a rare or unusual breed. These chicks were extremely friendly and they seem to run towards me while I was installing them in their new place that would be their home until I could let them run free range.
I installed my 16 new chicks outdoors, inside an enormous cage made of stainless framed net in pieces of 8 feet long and 7 feet tall firmly attached with bolts and nuts. Inside I put a huge container for pet transportation and covered that container's floor with shredded paper and straw, and hung up a red lamp permanently on, to keep them warm. I surrounded the whole cage with very small squares net as I knew those little critters covered of soft feathers could easily find a way out in any little junction of the cage. I covered a large area where their food and water was in, with corrugated plastic so they could still eat and drink without getting wet in case it rained. There they were for 2 days and 2 nights and I was feeling very good about the whole thing until...
Well, I woke up that unfortunate morning to find out some predator (I suppose it was an opossum) had made a terrible damage to my new flock. All the little chicks were gone and the only 3 dead bodies remaining were left headless. No feathers, no blood, no signs of struggle of any kind except for those 3 little cadavers that the beast had left behind. Later I found a tiny little wing and that was all. I had thought that my 3 dogs would be enough deterrent for any mammal predator but apparently the villain were much stealthier, smarter and efficient than the guardians; including me.
While I was cursing my luck and my lack or care I heard a "Pew, pew" coming from under an empty flower vase. There was one survivor. We named her Maia.
Maia is now a pain in my neck. She lost her siblings and now she is attached to me and my wife like I never saw and never thought it could be possible. I cannot leave her alone anywhere or she will start pewing furiously and even when she is content she never stops talking. She sleeps in my wife's neck while she watches TV and I have to carry her in my shirt's pocket anywhere I go. This little critter demands attention all the time and sometimes I just don't know what to do to get rid of her. Any advice would be much appreciated as this little chick does not let me do anything but baby chick sitting and I have other things to do besides that.
Khorgan
