Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Ashburnham]

Soft shelled eggs are normal and happen occasionally.

I have lost chooks to dogs, foxes, hawks, rats, and ferrets.

xxxx M

 

[rexy]

Soft shelled eggs are normal and happen occasionally.

I have lost chooks to dogs, foxes, hawks, rats, and ferrets.

xxxx   M

Ferrets???? That's a new one on me. Also, have rats actually got chickens?

Sue

 

[Ashburnham]

I lost 14 chooks to a pair of ferrets that escaped from a neighbours cage - totally vicious little killers.

Rats have taken young babies, when the mother fails to protect them.

 

[rexy]

I lost 14 chooks to a pair of ferrets that escaped from a neighbours cage - totally vicious little killers.

Rats have taken young babies, when the mother fails to protect them.

Poor chooks, they are at the bottom of the food pyramid.

That's nasty about the ferrets. As if we haven't got enough to worry about with neighbours dogs.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

What predators/pests has everyone encountered or seen?

I've only had to deal with mice.

The people before me had to deal with Foxes.
I have had to deal with snakes and Goana's.

I lost 14 chooks to a pair of ferrets that escaped from a neighbours cage - totally vicious little killers.

Rats have taken young babies, when the mother fails to protect them.

Gahh! I hate feral pets.
That seems quite an extensive attack for only 2 ferrets.

 

[appps]

Few years ago my daughter came in saying mum there is a ferret on our back verandah. I of course didn't believe her at first but sure enough we went outside and this little ferret head pops up from below the deck. I was rather surprised I must say. We caught it in a cat cage with a bit of sausage and it also turned out to belong to a neighbour. at the time I thought It was rather cute but sounds like it was a good thing it was back before we got chickens and not now. I guess they were used to kill rabbits and they aren't much different in size to a chicken.

 

[CB and CG]

Luckily we have never had a fox attack (touch wood) however we have seen foxes take off with the neighbours chickens. We have our pen lit up everynight with solar lights as it is meant to deter foxes. All in all I have never had a predator attack.

In other news I am setting some blue lorp eggs in my R-com this Saturday. So excited!

 

[Bens-Hens]

We had 6 neighborhood cats stalking our birds but since the enclosed run went up we have not seen so many about. Never lost a bird though.

Keen to hear how you go CB....I am counting down the clock until we can come visit for some stock. How many are you setting? Also interested in what ratio's you get of blue to black.

Cheers Ben

 

[CB and CG]

Hi Ben,
We are not sure if we will be setting our own yet. We are definitely picking up a dozen from a friend as I would like to get some more blood from outside my own flock. Her birds are absolutely stunning. Our breeding stock is from her so I am looking forward to adding a few more to the flock. If we do set some of our own I am going to use my eggs to fill up my R-Com 20. Minimum we will set is 12 and maximum will be 20.
Not sure if my roo is fertile at the moment. He was at the start but now I am not too sure. I think that his fertility will improve when the weather warms up.
In other news I am not sure if you guys remember but I entered one of my blue lorps into an online show. She didn't win as she was up against all large softfeather breeds but she did very well out of the Australorps. Best blue lorp and she got a 'green traffic light' which means that the judge considered her as show quality. Very happy with that result.

 

[satay]

Hi Ben,
We are not sure if we will be setting our own yet. We are definitely picking up a dozen  from a friend as I would like to get some more blood from outside my own flock. Her birds are absolutely stunning. Our breeding stock is from her so I am looking forward to adding a few more to the flock. If we do set some of our own I am going to use my eggs to fill up my R-Com 20. Minimum we will set is 12 and maximum will be 20.
Not sure if my roo is fertile at the moment. He was at the start but now I am not too sure. I think that his fertility will improve when the weather warms up.
In other news I am not sure if you guys remember but I entered one of my blue lorps into an online show. She didn't win as she was up against all large softfeather breeds but she did very well out of the Australorps. Best blue lorp and she got a 'green traffic light' which means that the judge considered her as show quality. Very happy with that result.

Grats on the award