"WVduckchick, post: 22239805, member: 327564"]
Hawks!
They are bad here too. I’m missing another duck.
I grew up in WI where hawks act like hawks and not someone's escaped pet looking for a handout.
I leave out a few excess bantam cochin roosters, but do they touch them??? Noooooo. It does seem that the predators are only interested in our best stock.
Faraday, that one looks very young. Parents are probably nearby too.
They are laying decent now, so just tell me when. The problem is that my silkied pen is not all silkied. I have some smooth in there, so I can’t guarantee silkied. If your rooster isn't silkied, silkied hens will not hatch any silkied chicks (unless the smooth roo has the recessive gene for silkied). (silkied is recessive-the gene has to come from both parents to show up in the chicks). If your roo is silkied, is there any way you can separate the silkied from the other feather types for a time? I'm hoping to raise a small silkied hen and rooster (the only way to be positive of getting silkied chicks is if both parents are silkied) to head my flock. In that way my chicks could be smooth, frizzle, and silkied. From the pictures, your birds look great. I do wish I could get another of Ra_s tribbles. When I used a rooster from Ra_s hatching eggs for breeding I got the most beautiful blue frizzles. The roo I was using at the time was the same color as Ra_'s last post.
He is adorable! But... something is kinda wrong with his legs. I’m not sure what his issue is. I wonder if he has short leg genes, and survived. He walks like his hips aren’t attached right sometimes. I honestly expected him to die when I watched him as a baby, but he really doesn’t have any problems getting around. I know I should probably move him out. I’ve never seen him try to mate the girls though. Not to say he hasn’t done it.
I guess I breed serama to my own standards. I like shorter legs, wings held at a 45 degree angle, vertical tails or held slightly forward, docile temperament, 10 ounces or less though some of my birds are over that weight.
I’ll get some good pics of him. Maybe you can tell what his deal is. He is the only one that gets a chest scratch every evening after they have roosted for the night. I look forward to seeing the pictures. My Pablo lives in a tub in the kitchen. The tub is usually open and he often flies up to the tub's edge to crow and preen, then it's back into the tub to eat, drink, and socialize. Not once has he flown to the kitchen floor. He actually acts more like a parrot than a chicken, bowing his head to get his face rubbed and neck scratched; a most unusual rooster.
"Faraday40, post: 22239509, member: 230376"]
We live in a neighborhood, so the wildlife is VERY bold. I couldn't believe that it didn't fly off when DH banged on the glass. Even when we chase them, they don't really fly far. I've hit them with the hose frequently.
Over a year ago: We had a similar hawk (maybe same one) pull a bunch of quail through the wire of a rabbit cage (sitting on the floor deep inside the garage). It was a nice day, so I left the door open. The hawk must have simply flown in via the open door and walked all the way to the back. The quail were too large to fit through the bars, so the hawk just kept grabbing parts. It was gruesome. Sounds horrid. The hawk nearly flew into my head when I walked into the garage and surprised it.
In November: I had a hawk attack my Spitzhauben when I was just 20' away. It landed on the Spitz and all I saw was a flapping mess of feathers. I was cleaning the run & chased it off with my pooper scooper. The hen took damage but survived. The last hen I lost was when I chased the serama out to do some quick cleaning. In the small amount of time it took to clean the hawk grabbed the hen and was flying away when I came out of the coop.
When the trees lose their cover, my flock stays locked up. In this I'm lucky, our yard has many huge pines. I've heard the hawk scream in frustration more than once when the flock ran under the cover of the trees. It used to freak me out that the hawks don't seem to fear my presence. And yet, they act totally scared of our small dogs. They usually get just a few min to run around outside while I'm out there cleaning & then I call them back inside the coop/run. Me too. However, when there's a hawk sitting in the tree staring at the coop, I can't let them out even with me there. Ditto.
Hawks!
They are bad here too. I’m missing another duck.
I grew up in WI where hawks act like hawks and not someone's escaped pet looking for a handout.
I leave out a few excess bantam cochin roosters, but do they touch them??? Noooooo. It does seem that the predators are only interested in our best stock.
Faraday, that one looks very young. Parents are probably nearby too.
They are laying decent now, so just tell me when. The problem is that my silkied pen is not all silkied. I have some smooth in there, so I can’t guarantee silkied. If your rooster isn't silkied, silkied hens will not hatch any silkied chicks (unless the smooth roo has the recessive gene for silkied). (silkied is recessive-the gene has to come from both parents to show up in the chicks). If your roo is silkied, is there any way you can separate the silkied from the other feather types for a time? I'm hoping to raise a small silkied hen and rooster (the only way to be positive of getting silkied chicks is if both parents are silkied) to head my flock. In that way my chicks could be smooth, frizzle, and silkied. From the pictures, your birds look great. I do wish I could get another of Ra_s tribbles. When I used a rooster from Ra_s hatching eggs for breeding I got the most beautiful blue frizzles. The roo I was using at the time was the same color as Ra_'s last post.
He is adorable! But... something is kinda wrong with his legs. I’m not sure what his issue is. I wonder if he has short leg genes, and survived. He walks like his hips aren’t attached right sometimes. I honestly expected him to die when I watched him as a baby, but he really doesn’t have any problems getting around. I know I should probably move him out. I’ve never seen him try to mate the girls though. Not to say he hasn’t done it.
I guess I breed serama to my own standards. I like shorter legs, wings held at a 45 degree angle, vertical tails or held slightly forward, docile temperament, 10 ounces or less though some of my birds are over that weight.I’ll get some good pics of him. Maybe you can tell what his deal is. He is the only one that gets a chest scratch every evening after they have roosted for the night. I look forward to seeing the pictures. My Pablo lives in a tub in the kitchen. The tub is usually open and he often flies up to the tub's edge to crow and preen, then it's back into the tub to eat, drink, and socialize. Not once has he flown to the kitchen floor. He actually acts more like a parrot than a chicken, bowing his head to get his face rubbed and neck scratched; a most unusual rooster.
"Faraday40, post: 22239509, member: 230376"]
We live in a neighborhood, so the wildlife is VERY bold. I couldn't believe that it didn't fly off when DH banged on the glass. Even when we chase them, they don't really fly far. I've hit them with the hose frequently.
Over a year ago: We had a similar hawk (maybe same one) pull a bunch of quail through the wire of a rabbit cage (sitting on the floor deep inside the garage). It was a nice day, so I left the door open. The hawk must have simply flown in via the open door and walked all the way to the back. The quail were too large to fit through the bars, so the hawk just kept grabbing parts. It was gruesome. Sounds horrid. The hawk nearly flew into my head when I walked into the garage and surprised it.
In November: I had a hawk attack my Spitzhauben when I was just 20' away. It landed on the Spitz and all I saw was a flapping mess of feathers. I was cleaning the run & chased it off with my pooper scooper. The hen took damage but survived. The last hen I lost was when I chased the serama out to do some quick cleaning. In the small amount of time it took to clean the hawk grabbed the hen and was flying away when I came out of the coop.
When the trees lose their cover, my flock stays locked up. In this I'm lucky, our yard has many huge pines. I've heard the hawk scream in frustration more than once when the flock ran under the cover of the trees. It used to freak me out that the hawks don't seem to fear my presence. And yet, they act totally scared of our small dogs. They usually get just a few min to run around outside while I'm out there cleaning & then I call them back inside the coop/run. Me too. However, when there's a hawk sitting in the tree staring at the coop, I can't let them out even with me there. Ditto.
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