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

[apryl29]

Very interesting. I never thought of giving them meat scraps, IDK why not though. I'll keep that in mind. Do you cook it first?

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Mine like any kind of melon. Somewhere I have a picture of a cantaloupe rind that you can see my hand through.
They are picky about apples. Little stinkers. If it has thicker skin they leave the skin. Won't even eat the apple unless I cut it open. Thinner skin and there is nothing left.
They surprised me and ate cooked beets. They pooped purple after that but they loved them.

 

[Sassysouth]

Cold here this morning, in the 30’s. I did take RJohns advice and booted the chicks to the run. They have sun and can get back in the coop or brooder if they choose, and I did turn the light off.
I worry about that smaller cochin, she is always crawling under someone like she is cold and wants to sleep (most of the time).

 

[21hens-incharge]

To hang cabbages I use some rope and a screw eye like this.....

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Crown-Bolt-5-16-in-x-2-7-8-in-Stainless-Screw-Eye-30124/203018475

I just screw it into the core and ta-da!

 

[Parront]

Very interesting. I never thought of giving them meat scraps, IDK why not though. I'll keep that in mind. Do you cook it first?

I did not, but this was a home-raised special pig, in the late 80's before all this toxic e-coli. Store hamburger, now with all the stuff in our meat, I guess I would cook it, now that you mention it! I sure do when I eat it! So now, I might fry it well done like for spaghetti, freeze in a 1 pound container with the fat and string embedded. (Unless you have home-grown pigs)!

 

[sannabelle]

Cold here but slowly warming up!! Got down to 37 last night! Doing a pre-winter deep clean of the coop today, and white washing while I'm at it

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Dog woke me up at 2:30am to pee
She's been doing this more & more recently. No, of course she doesn't need to go when I try to let her out before bed. And now she's staring out the open door, saying it's too dark/cold/rainy/windy outside
The silver lining is I can finally catch up on Squatching.


I'm sad/angry but not surprised that there are more "feral" chicken findings now. Seems like spring/summer chicks have grown out & people are trying to get rid of extra unwanted cockerels before winter sets in. I see a ton of postings on Craigslist for free cockerels.



We had legendary feral chickens when I was living in Kew Gardens section of Queens NYC. Only 3 that I ever saw but they were just free ranging along the neighborhood. Story was that some family left them behind when they moved away & they just found a way to survived.


@21hens-incharge
Thank you for giving us an update. I'm so sorry to hear Vinnie is declining so quickly. At least he has lots of love from his people. You guys will be in my thoughts & prayers.

X 2

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Exactly!!!!!!

Awesome! I'm going to have to try that. I just bought a flock block from TSC (10% discount shopping spree) to give them when winter finally hits to keep them busy, but I like the idea of making them at home, esp b/c using the oven heats up the house! I did get a cabbage last night to try hanging from the rafters to keep them occupied and getting some veggies. It's going to be interesting to see how that goes. Has anyone ever done that?

We do that (hang cabbage) every spring (cabbages are thrown from St Pat's day parades here), it's kind of like chicken teather ball, very funny to watch. (hubby uses a drill to make a hole in the core of the cabbage and we run a small rope through it). Have fun!!

 

[Redhead Rae]

I'm in central WV and it is supposed to only get up to 46 today with a low of 33 tonight. I'm surprised my mama and 10 3.5 week old chicks are doing so well in this weather. They are now about the size of a balled fist and mostly feathered out. It has been cold and rainy here, but Mama and the babies seem to be doing great. two days ago it was raining really hard and I was wondering why Mama wasn't taking the babies back to her broody run and tote. I talked to my SIL and she watched and said Mama and chicks didn't want to cross the 3 inch deep pond that had formed in the middle of their pasture. My SIL was so proud that she could "think chicken" enough after a long day at work to figure out what the issue was. We went out in the pouring rain and moved their house over to dry (aka not flooded) land on the side mama and babies were on. They were so happy to have their shelter back. I had to boot one of my older leghorns out because as we were getting ready to leave, she booted mama and babies out of the tote shelter. So we decided to shut them in with their shelter to keep the older birds from taking it over. She is such a good mama, but the leghorns are a pain sometimes and have been known to kick mama around. I would post a pic, but my phone is being stupid about transferring the pics I just took. I'll post them later.

 

[Sassysouth]

I have a question. I know the chicks have food outside the feeder that they kick out. I fill it in the morning, and I will usually fill it in the evening too, but I know half of it still lying around. Should I refill twice a day or just once a day (because I know there is food there)?