Anyone have luck catching a feral chicken?? UPDATE: Rooster caught, no hen

[Ursuline Chick]

I think that Craigslist comment was from me & I didn't mean for it to sound judge-y.
It's definitely the responsible thing to do, over just "freeing" unwanted cockerels in random places.
Of course I wish every bird can find a safe home where they are wanted for their charm & skills, especially if they are nice boys.
I was just trying to make the link that someone said about there being a lot of feral chickens lately and people trying to get rid of extra roosters before winter.

We have one large park in Metairie, (outside the actual city of New Orleans) that is so full of roosters it is awful. The kids enjoy seeing them, but to just be dumped out of a car to fend for yourself! Don't people realize domesticated animals are dependent on the people who domesticated them?

 

[staceyj]

@peckpeckpeck

You forgot Waldorf salad
And Apple salsa!

 

[staceyj]

I don't know if we're in for a cold winter or if I just have more squirrel babies this year than in years past but there is a lot of activity going on!
They are high (like 50 feet) up in the pine trees , picking the huge and heavy immature pine cones and throwing them to the ground then they come down and get one, carry it to a lower branch and peels it apart petal by petal to get to the nut inside.
Each one weighs close to a pound and by the time it reaches its terminal velocity it hits the ground with a thud. I'm waiting to get knocked out here!
Also I found about 100 pecans under my coop yesterday, and we don't even have a pecan tree!
The nearest one is almost a block away!

 

[apryl29]

I shared this on another post, but I thought you guys might enjoy a little Storytime. Yesterday evening my daughter and I went to the coop to let the chickens out for a bit. They were all out roaming the yard for about 1/2 hr and I was about to start cleaning their water containers and my daughter tells me she hears a kitten meowing. I tell her no and walk towards her and she sees a full grown black cat sitting next to the shed. RIGHT next to the chickens. We see it, it sees us and meows. I see a white patch on it's chest and smile b/c we had had a black cat like that several years ago, but he disappeared & I thought it might be him (This has happened to us before.. it's a little rural here and cats come and go and miraculously reappear years later - Spoiler, it's not our old cat). I squat down and it cautiously walks towards me, meowing. I'm worried it's hurt & afraid it's interested in a fresh chicken meal, my daughter is freaking out b/c of her chickens. She's almost in tears running back and forth like people do in cartoons. He comes up to me and smells my hand. My daughter is trying get the chickens back in the coop to save them from this ferocious beast. Her running around like a chicken w/ it's head cut off scares the cat and it runs into the woods through where the chickens were. Initially we thought he was trying to attack the chickens, but later realized he was trying to get away. We got all the chickens back in the coop, my daughter pacing and circling the coop, board in hand to defend her flock from the monster. She calms down & I go to tell my mom about the cat. She knows about him, he lives in the woods and comes through that spot by the coop to get to the house for food we leave out for our cats. She just now tells me there's been a strange cat by my coop?! SMH.. I watch as he comes around the coop, expecting him to try to hurt them through the fence. Nothing. Walks over the tree sits down, stares at us and meows. I go back to him and squat down to take a video of him and he comes to me again. I pet him and my daughter watches then comes up, he backs away. She squats down and he comes back. I move back to get a picture of him. "Mom, he's purring". His name is Tubbs. No idea where he came from, but he's people friendly. He's fat and fluffy and not fixed. My cat hates him. The chickens are ok though they were squawking up a storm. We always watch our girls when they're out of the coop, but we'll be extra cautious now that we know there's an outsider around. Our bantam pullet is a little too much bird size for us to be comfortable.
This is Tubbs.

 

[Rubysword]

Our squirrels have joined with the chickens to plan an offensive and raid the house. The squirrels attack with high velocity acorns from above, and the chickens barricade the door.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

So I have a question.
Do they pick on her because they're jealous when they see you snuggling her? Or is it because you're afraid she'll keep having to reintegrate with the flock if you bring her inside & then put her back out?

I've only had her about 2 weeks and she came in as a lone hen. My yearling first time molters are not taking to this molting business very well. Several are rather crabby.
She seems to be finding her place and I have lots of roosts and hiding places if she needs them.

I've resisted bringing her in because I don't want to risk her having to reintegrate and heading into winter I know she needs to acclimate to the weather.

It's hard because she loves to be the center of attention.

 

[apryl29]

We got her to eat a couple bites of the chop dipped in apple butter, until she abandoned the approach and went directly for the apple butter. Okay, still up for the challenge, I spread it over her biscuit and what does she do, use her fork to pick it off. She eventually finished her pork chop and biscuit, but apple butter is NOT a condiment, its a main course, she'll swear to it. Of course, I'm in a quandary. Need apples as we're down to six pints of apple sauce and almost out of apple juice. I use a steam juicer and a food mill and apples are a two for. I put in my first layer of apples, two cinnamon sticks and a quarter cup of sugar, then three more layers of apples topped with a quarter cup of sugar and the juice of one lemon and let it cook. I bottle the juice and run the remains through a food mill to get apple sauce. And then can it up. Apple butter is apple sauce slow cooked for twelve more hours.

Your grand daughter is a very smart kid! A place near us always has an apple butter festival. They use HUGE copper pots w wooden paddles to make the apple butter, then sell it. It's amazing! I've tried to make it at home before, but their years of experience def beats my hack job. When our supply runs out I might give it a go again. It's a great smelling way to heat up the house on a cold fall day.

Since mine are indoors, their goodies go on skewers and placed in a corner so they can't knock them down. Favorites are corn on the cob, Brussels sprouts, apples, and pomegranate.

This is an amazing idea! Pomegranate?! I never thought of that either. I'm just going to have to graze the produce section and see what I can find for $1 or less.

So I have a question.
Do they pick on her because they're jealous when they see you snuggling her? Or is it because you're afraid she'll keep having to reintegrate with the flock if you bring her inside & then put her back out?

I wonder this about my daughter's chicken, Olive. She is constantly holding & cuddling her. Olive doesn't get extra treats or anything though, but when my daughter tosses out their mash there's a whole lot of 'get out of here!' pecking going on. Maybe we notice Olive getting picked on more b/c we're watching her, IDK.

We have one large park in Metairie, (outside the actual city of New Orleans) that is so full of roosters it is awful. The kids enjoy seeing them, but to just be dumped out of a car to fend for yourself! Don't people realize domesticated animals are dependent on the people who domesticated them?

I had an older gentleman call about an ad I placed for my cockerels. He offered to take my slightly aggressive boy, but had no accommodations for him. Said he had 20+ acres and would let him have at it. There was a garage that he could go into if he needed shelter. I declined. While I would have loved to rehome him, it didn't feel right to just toss him out there and let him survive on his own.

I don't know if we're in for a cold winter or if I just have more squirrel babies this year than in years past but there is a lot of activity going on!
They are high (like 50 feet) up in the pine trees , picking the huge and heavy immature pine cones and throwing them to the ground then they come down and get one, carry it to a lower branch and peels it apart petal by petal to get to the nut inside.
Each one weighs close to a pound and by the time it reaches its terminal velocity it hits the ground with a thud. I'm waiting to get knocked out here!
Also I found about 100 pecans under my coop yesterday, and we don't even have a pecan tree!
The nearest one is almost a block away!

I spent a bit of last Saturday watching 4 squirrels run around the pine trees next the my apt digging in the dirt. Not sure if they're looking for something or burying stuff, but it's funny to watch them all.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

We have more bunnies then we know what to do with. Quite a few squirrels too. We have a couple of apple trees they visit. The squirrels love the black walnut trees! If I could sell the walnuts I'd be a wealthy lady indeed.

 

[apryl29]

We have more bunnies then we know what to do with. Quite a few squirrels too. We have a couple of apple trees they visit. The squirrels love the black walnut trees! If I could sell the walnuts I'd be a wealthy lady indeed.

My mom got black walnuts from some lady, a LOT of them... my dad cracked one open and it was the most pitiful walnut ever. There was 2 tiny chunks of meat about the size of a kernel of corn. My mom's still going to crack them all. IMO it's a waste of time, but she doesn't work, so this has been keeping her busy for a couple weeks so whatever.. I'm also not a fan of walnuts so even if they were huge I'd still think it was a waste of time.

 

[Sassysouth]

I think that Craigslist comment was from me & I didn't mean for it to sound judge-y.
It's definitely the responsible thing to do, over just "freeing" unwanted cockerels in random places.
Of course I wish every bird can find a safe home where they are wanted for their charm & skills, especially if they are nice boys.
I was just trying to make the link that someone said about there being a lot of feral chickens lately and people trying to get rid of extra roosters before winter.

No worries It did sound a little judgey, so I just wanted clarification what I should be doing in the future. I usually speak my mind, so it may not always come across how I mean it to. It is all good.