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

[getaclue]

I start my spaghetti sauce with meat, early in the morning, and let it simmer most of the day. A couple hours before I want to serve diner, I cut spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and guts, then bake in the oven until done.

When the spaghetti squash is done, I scoop out the inside, and mix it in with the meat sauce, and let it simmer a few more minutes to absorb the flavor. It tastes better than pasta, and is healthier too.

 

[Pegasusi]

To all who are discussing hardware cloth. Here is my source.....wide range of widths available, consistent quality....

http://www.agrisupply.com/in-hardware-cloth-ft-roll-in-x-in-grid/p/32410/

 

[CSAchook]

To all who are discussing hardware cloth. Here is my source.....wide range of widths available, consistent quality....

http://www.agrisupply.com/in-hardware-cloth-ft-roll-in-x-in-grid/p/32410/

Thanks!!!! And welcome to the Squatch Watchers!

 

[DesertChic]

I start my spaghetti sauce with meat, early in the morning, and let it simmer most of the day. A couple hours before I want to serve diner, I cut spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and guts, then bake in the oven until done.

When the spaghetti squash is done, I scoop out the inside, and mix it in with the meat sauce, and let it simmer a few more minutes to absorb the flavor. It tastes better than pasta, and is healthier too.

I grew spaghetti squash a couple years back and tried this by my family wasn't sold on it. I had so much squash and couldn't eat all of it myself, so I had some VERY happy chickens that season. At least THEY appreciated my gardening efforts.

 

[getaclue]

Hello CSA. Thank you for sharing. Welcome!

 

[rjohns39]

My birds are excellent at cleaning out a pasture and turning it into a moonscape. Once they have a section done, I'll move the fence so they have more weeds and grass and plant a pasture mix I want in the desert they leave behind.

My winter housing has two feet of sawdust in the bottom. And they are very good at making human traps. They even dug an escape tunnel that I had to fill from the outside.

This year, I'm going to throw down some shelled corn below the top layer and see if they get better at turning the compost, rather than digging pits.

 

[Sassysouth]

Hubby took our soon to school. Yeah!!!!! I took a Melatonin last night, slept better and feel better today. The ole bursitis and arthritis are disrupting my sleep. I am not old enough to be dealing with such foolishness for the past 8 years.

I need to go free the chicks from the brooder, after coffee, talk radio and BYC. Priorities folks!

That older gentleman who is coming to pick up Lemondrop is so excited, he keeps posting on the FB Silkie page. It makes me wonder if this will be his first because he was asking how they stayed so fluffy. Like they were bathed and blow dried every day. I think I may shoot him a message and see if he has any questions.

 

[apryl29]

She has certainly made herself at home. LOL She had to have been someone's cat. Way to friendly (currently purring in my lap), no bugs, clean teeth...

It's possible someone dumped her. Tubbs was clean, fat and cautiously friendly.. so either he has a real home, or someone left him behind. Haven't seen him since it started raining. I hope it means he's given up on getting a chicken meal. I want to let my chickens out today. I've got some work to do on Odin's area so he'll be out protecting his ladies today.

@staceyj, @TexasSam Thought it was the meat mix I was having trouble with, my mom premade the mix for me, still fell apart. I've tried repeatedly. They fall apart at the last flip every time. LOL

When I make meatballs I used an electric skillet on a lower temp so I don't burn them, and cover it for a little bit to cook through. It's made a load of difference vs using a frying pan on the stove. They don't stick, or burn, and they're evenly cooked. & it helps w/ the flat spots. Not sure if that'd help w/ what you're making... I don't make those. I bought fish for the first time in years b/c my older kid wanted to try it... now I have to figure out how to cook swai.

Yes! When people hear that we have chickens, their automatic thought is...hey, now I know what to do with my egg cartons!
Do you need some more egg cartons?

I have egg cartons, for large eggs, but I need cartons for xl/ jumbo eggs. Some of these things are HUGE.

THIS^^
I follow people too but no clue why other than to find them faster.
I have never once looked that my news feed!

I didn't see it either, but I realized that it does help when someone says there's a thread about... then you can follow them and find that thread w/o searching.

Parront, we had a cockatiel for years. The cage door was never kept closed. I built it a play pen, so it would poop either in the cage, or on the bottom of the playpen. Twinkle (turned out to be a he) could hear my X's truck when it pulled onto our street, and would start chirping. From the time my X walked in the door, that bird would perch on his shoulder, rub his head on him, and just carry on. Later on, he would settle down, but remain on X's shoulder until bedtime. At bedtime, he would fly into his cage, and I would cover it.

One early night, X went to get a snack from the fridge. When he opened the fridge door, and bent down, Twinkle flew down on the floor behind him, waiting so he could fly back up on X's shoulder. Well, X got his snack, and stepped back from the fridge to close the door, and Twinkle didn't get out of his way fast enough. He stepped on Twinkle's tail feathers. Twinkle squawked, and ran, but his tail feathers were in a pile on the floor.

When X sat down in his chair, Twinkle flew up on his shoulder, and began assessing the damage. Suddenly, he discovered he had lost his tail feathers. He began screeching at my X, and shaking his bare butt at him. It was so comical. Twinkle carried on like that for 30 mins. After that, every evening when Twinkle would get on X's shoulder, he screeched at him while shaking his bare butt at him, for a couple minutes. Twinkle did that until his tail feathers grew back in. X never stepped again, without looking first.

I thought this story was going to have a much different ending. Glad your bird was ok & his tail feathers grew back. My little bantam cockerel (before we knew he was a boy) came home w/ us one night b/c he wasn't playing nice w/ the others and I set him on the floor and he started following us around. After that he'd chase after my daughter. I was constantly worried he'd get stepped on b/c he was so tiny and would run right up to your feet.

I grew spaghetti squash a couple years back and tried this by my family wasn't sold on it. I had so much squash and couldn't eat all of it myself, so I had some VERY happy chickens that season. At least THEY appreciated my gardening efforts.

I saw some at the store yesterday and wondered if chickens would actually eat it. I'll have to get one to try it out.

My birds are excellent at cleaning out a pasture and turning it into a moonscape. Once they have a section done, I'll move the fence so they have more weeds and grass and plant a pasture mix I want in the desert they leave behind.

My winter housing has two feet of sawdust in the bottom. And they are very good at making human traps. They even dug an escape tunnel that I had to fill from the outside.

This year, I'm going to throw down some shelled corn below the top layer and see if they get better at turning the compost, rather than digging pits.

I never heard of pasture mix. Does it take long to grow? I don't have a space where I can move them, but their space is so barren right now I feel bad, esp since I can't let them out very often. I'd love it if I could get something growing in there even if they're just going to destroy it, but whatever it is, it'd have to grow pretty quickly.

Last night I went out and was cleaning up the coop b/c I didn't get to it on Tuesday b/c of child related obligations and found my girls had eaten another egg. That's either the 2nd or 3rd one this week. I'm going to go visit them at lunch to collect eggs. They have tons of feed that they've spilled out on the floor so even if their food dishes are empty they should have something to dig around and peck at. I even found an egg deposited in the run. I could have been there from Tuesday or Wed b/c I didn't do my usual lap around the run Tuesday b/c it was late and dark and rainy. These chickens, I swear. So my question is, what do you all put your chicken's feed in? I've seen the PVC pipe set up, but also read loads of people say it didn't work well for them. I know about the hanging feed thing, but I have a couple bantams and would practically have them on the floor anyway. I was thinking about getting one of those dog feeders where you fill it and it slowly releases it.

 

[rjohns39]

I never heard of pasture mix. Does it take long to grow? I don't have a space where I can move them, but their space is so barren right now I feel bad, esp since I can't let them out very often. I'd love it if I could get something growing in there even if they're just going to destroy it, but whatever it is, it'd have to grow pretty quickly.

Last night I went out and was cleaning up the coop b/c I didn't get to it on Tuesday b/c of child related obligations and found my girls had eaten another egg. That's either the 2nd or 3rd one this week. I'm going to go visit them at lunch to collect eggs. They have tons of feed that they've spilled out on the floor so even if their food dishes are empty they should have something to dig around and peck at. I even found an egg deposited in the run. I could have been there from Tuesday or Wed b/c I didn't do my usual lap around the run Tuesday b/c it was late and dark and rainy. These chickens, I swear. So my question is, what do you all put your chicken's feed in? I've seen the PVC pipe set up, but also read loads of people say it didn't work well for them. I know about the hanging feed thing, but I have a couple bantams and would practically have them on the floor anyway. I was thinking about getting one of those dog feeders where you fill it and it slowly releases it.

I use a mix of winter wheat, rye grass, alfalfa and red & white clover this time of year. I put it down after I move their fence as they'll eat it before it grows, otherwise. Then in spring I'll put down what they call the contractor's mix which has a lot of spring and summer grasses along with more alfalfa, clover and vetch. The winter wheat will start to die off in the spring and the others will replace it. If I get the mix right, its a one time and done seeding for the most part, but I'll still add winter wheat in the fall, as its an annual.

 

[Parront]

Such a great story. Thanks for sharing.

Cockatiels are big birds in a small package. My breeding pair sometimes raised 3 hatches of 4 chicks/year. The male was Mr. Responsible, feeding chicks, helping brood and hatch. The female, a hand raised pet, name of "Popcorn" was Ms. Airhead. Fly over to the kid's dinner plate and beg for spaghetti instead of staying on her nest! She wanted to be fed by humans, not to feed her chicks! We lost the first hatching, not enough food from only one parent. So, we hand fed every 2 hours to help the male. Raised many babies that way.