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

[rjohns39]

I got them from Chicken Charm (https://www.chickencharm.co/product-page/25-zband-numbered-poultry-leg-bands). They come in 10 different colors and you can request numbers 001-300. They didn't have the numbers I wanted in purple, so they told me what they had available in purple or told me I could pick a different color with the numbers I wanted. They work out to about $0.26 a piece, which is cheaper than Strombergs and they have twice as many colors.

And yes I know about cutting the zip ties flush. I had a rooster mess up his foot because he pulled the tail. Fortunately I caught it before the foot was beyond salvaging.

Thanks. I've book marked them. Last year I had to use more colors to tag my breeders for different years.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

I have an old school coffee pot thing...no keurig machines here.

Shoot I can't even drink real coffee...only decaf.

I gotcha beat. I have to special order a decaf LOW ACID bean to curb any coffee cravings. I go through a single bag per year, and that's only during the winter. I drink a lot of tea though.

 

[rjohns39]

I'm jealous... Level ground Can't wait until I get the shelves on my little mountain cleared. My current pastures are on a significant slope. Need one leg longer than the other to navigate.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

I am not at a point where I feel like counting all the birds..........that's all I have to say about that.....

I don't do a TOTAL count... I do it like this:

8 brown birds? Yep
3 white birds? Yep
2 black birds? Yep, them too.

Now I don't have to know a TOTAL.... just that all the colors are there!

 

[21hens-incharge]

that stinks so bad for you!

My budgie has the same thing.

Hope you feel better!

Don't worry about me. I got nyquil for the ickies and you all to keep me very entertained.

 

[rjohns39]

Don't worry about me. I got nyquil for the ickies and you all to keep me very entertained.

Get well soon. It's horrible to go through that—but we all do.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Heh heh, I'll share my system for sneaking more birds past the warden.

My hubby (DH) likes that I love my birds, they keep me busy which is important because for me, an idle mind is the devils playground. So he really doesn't give me too much trouble about them. However, he is not a "bird" or "chicken" person (I didnt know this going into the relationship, but I guess in his defense, neither did he know that I was), and unlike me, he does have a limit. He thinks 9 chickens is a sufficient number.

Seriously. What am I supposed to do with 9 chickens?!

First I learned that if I don't count, DH doesn't know the exact # of birds we have.

If I get purebreeds, they all look alike, and he thinks that it's less birds because...

If I free range, DH will only see about 1/4 of the birds at any given time.

90% of biddies are easily concealed in the brooder by Mama heating pad. So when he sees this he doesn't know he's only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

View attachment 1157683

The only way he will ever know the sheer true # of birds we have is to go into the coop at night and count them on the roost.

This will never happen because DH is mortified of snakes and I am sure I let him know about ALL the snakes that I "find" in and around the coop.

View attachment 1157681


DH still thinks we have 9 chickens. I don't think even understands why we are adding on for 9 birds.

In reality, according to the law of negatives and Chicken Math, we have about 35-40, give or take 5 bantams that apparently cancel out one or two adult birds, lol!

This is going to be a tricky week because I have to integrate/conceal 2 shipments of chicks and juveniles into the flock without notice.

Wish me luck!

You are EVIL... and I love you for it!!!!

 

[rjohns39]

Hey gang, I think you'll find this funny/cool... DS is teaching 18 month old Granddaughter to help with dinner. Right now, Grammy is supervising and she's measuring components into the bowl for meatloaf. psst, don't tell anyone but I'm really happy Grammy is supervising. She makes an incredible meatloaf. I don't know what is better, dinner or sandwiches the day after?

 

[rjohns39]

Again, don't tell—but DW took mom's meatloaf recipe to a new level. I've watched her make it for more than 30 years and mine still isn't as good as hers.

 

[pitbullmomma]

I need that recipe!

I need it too!! Can it be made sans sausage? (don't eat meat). That sounds delicious, and really unhealthy!