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

[theuglychick]

I'm so glad to be back... well as back as I can be.

It's still glitchy and kicking me off, but not nearly as bad as this past week! I could hardly open or "click" on anything!

I'm still getting this a lot...

All the chicks are good, we are all trying to adjust to the cold snap.

I'm curious, how cold is it where all of you are located?

Yes!
We are so glad to have you back!
You were missed.
How are your baby chicks?

 

[staceyj]

Weather check here is sunny, low humidity for a blissful change, and currently 58 degrees.
High around 70 expected today.

 

[theuglychick]

I attached a few screenshots to one thread a while back (this has been going on for a while) already, but I'll check to make sure it wasn't that one and then attach it to that one as well.

Take a screenshot and attach it to that thread I mentioned yesterday

 

[Parront]

I suspend the cabbage from a chain. They start by hiding from it, then one brave sole will peck at it and eventually get a piece. Then the free for all starts.



Tell me about it. My Hamburg/del crosses. Still don't know how the sneaky guy did it.
View attachment 1169145

At least those look big enough to make BBQ. !/2 Sultans, that look like the cute pet, got to free range the yard, never seemed to put on any weight, ate like teenagers! Of course, no dog could kill them, they roosted high in the Oleanders!

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Jackie just started to squat a week ago so I thought it would be another week or two. I worked yesterday and then was out after work, didn't get home until after dark. I have a light on in the coop until 8, so went out to "visit" for a few minutes. I have a folding chair that hangs in the coop so I can sit while I visit. Just glanced at the nest box and saw 3 eggs, 2 fake and my beautiful egg. What a surprise!!!!

That's when mine started...while I was away! LOL Normally I'm in the coop 3 or 4 times a day. The days I cleaned in the morning and didn't get to check again till late... yep finding eggs.

 

[theuglychick]

I hatch chicks, so I have to find homes for a good bit of roosters.

For me, it's not that difficult.

I usually keep a lot the good ones so long as they stay well-behaved until I can find them a wonderful home.

Good roosters are hard to come by, so this is a good practice if you can do it. Plus there really aren't that many that turn out to be not a dill-weed.

For the good boys, I usually write charming "single" ads and put them on Craigslist or Facebook. I campaign hard to get the good boys a home and I do find homes in flocks for all of them.

Most everyone who keeps free range flocks around here is looking for a good rooster that won't flog them and watches the girls.

Bad roosters go to people that will process them and eat them. It sounds harsh, but it's better than the alternative...

cock fighting was legal here up until recently, and like dog fighting, which is also sadly rampant, the penalties are minuscule compared to the prize. So cock fighting is a still huge thing and I know that people will take free roosters and use them as "bait" roosters (by injuring or "handicapping" them) to train and build confidence in a young fighting bird.

This year I'm switching out a lot of my layers for dual purpose birds (basque hens) so we can process our own naughty cockerels. I'll still keep and campaign for my good boys, though.

I keep one my husband’s old dove chairs by the coop. It fold up extremely small.

I saw the comment about the roosters for sale or give away on Craigslist, etc. I have 11 (soon to be 13) unsexed chicks, what am I suppose to do if I end up with 10 roosters? Either sale, eat or make a separate pen? What are the other options?

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

My spoiled kids don't do anything leafy green. They look at me like I'm trying to poison them.

I tried a pumpkin to keep them busy and they made holes right through it to get the insides.
I gave them a second pumpkin...no one touched it.

I'll have to try the pumpkin again with the younger kids. Gave them lettuce not to long ago...they pooped on it and scratched it into the ground.

 

[Rubysword]

It has been in the 60s in the morning, and in the afternoon around 70, but it is steadily getting colder.

 

[apryl29]

I've read that they LOVE cabbage, so I ran out and got one then got out my husband's drill and bored a hole through the middle of it,

*side note- I thought that would be safer than trying to stab it through and through with a kitchen knife...

Ran outside to hang it up for them....

They stared and cowered in the corner.

So I peeled off a petal and tore it to bits and tossed it to them.

They screamed and ran to a different corner.

It hung there for four days until it got soft and wilty!
A few peck marks was the only sign of attention it got.

Guess they just weren't feeling it without a side of corned beef.

I hope yours like it better than mine!

Thanks for the warning. I hope they eat it. Their run is barren. My girls dance Tues, Wed, Thurs so it's hard for us to get over there early enough to let them out for a bit before dance class. The other week days I get out of work by 4ish so they don't get much outside time now.. I'm sure they can live on feed alone, but I feel bad that they aren't getting any greens.

I used to get lots of free veggies from Safeway to give the birds. The produce man saved me the trimmings, I gave him eggs. I had to keep them in chicken concentration camp (CCC) due to all the dogs in the neighborhood killing them, so no free-ranging for most of them! Free range only for the ones I wanted to die, who of course lived happily in the bushes!

I wish I could find somewhere to get scrap veggies. I bought a bag of spinach last weekend and tossed them what we didn't use. I've been looking for discount veggies, but they're rare around here.

I'm so glad to be back... well as back as I can be.

It's still glitchy and kicking me off, but not nearly as bad as this past week! I could hardly open or "click" on anything!

I'm still getting this a lot...
View attachment 1169149

All the chicks are good, we are all trying to adjust to the cold snap.

I'm curious, how cold is it where all of you are located?

I don't use the app on my phone. I just use the website in the browser, but I have an android. I had the app for a bit, but I didn't like it and space is a commodity on my phone.
It's freezing here (NE Ohio) 44 and cloudy. Windy. Gross. Windchill says it feels like 39. I don't doubt that. I'm worried about my ladies even though I know they're probably outside doing their chicken thing. I'm more worried about too much wind in their coop through the chicken doors. I covered the door window, but now it's blocked most of their sunlight in the coop. Not good on cloudy days like this.

cock fighting was legal here up until recently, and like dog fighting, which is also sadly rampant, the penalties are minuscule compared to the prize. So cock fighting is a still huge thing and I know that people will take free roosters and use them as "bait" roosters (by injuring or "handicapping" them) to train and build confidence in a young fighting bird.

GASP!

My spoiled kids don't do anything leafy green. They look at me like I'm trying to poison them.

I tried a pumpkin to keep them busy and they made holes right through it to get the insides.
I gave them a second pumpkin...no one touched it.

I'll have to try the pumpkin again with the younger kids. Gave them lettuce not to long ago...they pooped on it and scratched it into the ground.

I was thinking about tossing the kids' pumpkin guts & their jack o lanterns after halloween, but wasn't sure how interested they'd be. Mine love lettuce & I toss in grass clippings after my dad mows. They like that as long as it's fresh. The old stuff sits. Watermelons they eat down to the rind. I figure I'll toss in apple scraps from pie making. We don't really eat much 'fresh' veggies. It's either canned or frozen. I was thinking about giving them frozen corn on the cob, thawed of course, in the winter as a treat. Our old neighbor lady had a bunch of chickens and we always gave them our old cereal, not the sugary stuff though. We gave ours rice crispies the other day.. the ladies ate it, but Odin didn't care for it. I have broccoli growin in the garden still and when I let them out they all sneak over to get a bite so now I know where to toss the plants whether or not I actually get an broccoli from them.

 

[rjohns39]

Woke up this morning, it was 38, dropped to 36 and now is about 45. 90 percent humidity. Going to get close to 80 this afternoon.