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

[satay]

I have lost animals to foxes and neighbours dogs. I also had a near miss a few times with hawks. Have lost a lot of eggs to darn crows and goannas over the years in the duck pens.

 

[satay]

Soft shelled eggs are normal and happen occasionally.

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

xxxx   M

Agree with Ash. about the soft shell eggs, I get one every now and then. Weird things they are .

 

[mogvgb]

What predators/pests has everyone encountered or seen?

I've only had to deal with mice.

Knock on wood but so far nothing. We are in the 'burbs, the neighbours have huge noisy dogs which I think helps to discourage foxes, and I have two HUGE brawler type cats which keep other cats out of the yard and deal with any rodents, but who are terrified of the chickens (especially the bantam who actively chases them, it is hilarious). I guess we have seen an owl at night once or twice, but by then the girls are tucked up in the coop out of harms way.

 

[satay]

http://www.ecovoice.com.au/no-more-free-range-eggs-in-queensland/

 

[megacakes]

Soft shelled eggs are normal and happen occasionally.

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

xxxx   M

Thanks for the advice. I did a bit of research....it seems that the second egg formed over the top of the first one instead of one after the other. There's not a lot of information about it on google, but there are a few entries which sound similar, so I guess she'll be OK.

I have a massive rat problem, as I've mentioned before, but so far the hens themselves haven't been attacked. I have seen them chase the rats away on occasion, though. Hopefully that will be remedied when I build a new coop...I'm still collecting materials from off the street, and I think work is going to give me an old sebel table or two so I can get the whole thing up off the ground. Since the rat nest is under the coop at the moment (ugh...I'm not fancying lifting it up when it needs to come down) hopefully the new coop being up on legs will mean less hidey holes for rodents. As we live right on the Cooks River, the rats might be native, so I don't really want to kill them...just encourage them to move somewhere else.

 

[megacakes]

http://www.ecovoice.com.au/no-more-free-range-eggs-in-queensland/

There's a girl at work who won't eat the eggs from our school hens because when they were moulting they looked absolutely terrible. She's obviously never seen the conditions most supermarket hens live in.

 

[appps]

I know what you mean. Native rats are actually pretty cute or they used to be till we started getting them in the house freaking out our cockatiel by trying to get the seed in her cage. So be warned all that stuff about them not going in your house is crap lol

I'm not sure raising the house will help totally fix the problem. I think removing food availability will be a bigger deterrent as their diet is seeds and bugs a chook pen with scratch mix etc about would be pretty hard to leave behind.

 

[satay]

There's a girl at work who won't eat the eggs from our school hens because when they were moulting they looked absolutely terrible. She's obviously never seen the conditions most supermarket hens live in.

People have strange ideas don't they. Hubby has one customer who wont buy eggs that have green shells as they are off... (araucana eggs). Tried to tell him many times they are not off just green but he wont hear of it. Had another guy ask me if I have chickens why are not all the eggs the same colour were some sick Other customers ask why they can't get eggs as hens lay every day 365 days a year... Well ummm no they don't. and we should all remember the story about poor fug my oeg bantam that someone thought was a pigeon Maybe better info on eggs and chickens should be supplied in schools.

 

[satay]

oh and I forgot the lady that didn't want a chicken that lays eggs. A lady came to my neighbours to look at some bantams she had for sale We went out to show her and she said is that a girl.. Pat says yes. Does it lay eggs? Pat says not yet but it will.. She says I want a chicken that doesn't lay eggs.. Pat says do you want a rooster? she said no a hen roosters are too noisy.. Pat says they all lay eggs eventually unless you get an older hen that has stopped laying.. She says no I don't want an old one just a hen that does not lay eggs.. By now pat and I are trying to laugh.. She says isn't there a breed that does not lay eggs... We say no..... She says well then don't worry about it and leaves. We still can't work out why she wanted a hen that did not lay eggs...but it was good for a giggle.

 

[TheChookPatch]

oh and I forgot the lady that didn't want a chicken that lays eggs. A lady came to my neighbours to look at some bantams she had for sale We went out to show her and she said is that a girl.. Pat says yes. Does it lay eggs? Pat says not yet but it will.. She says I want a chicken that doesn't lay eggs.. Pat says do you want a rooster? she said no a hen roosters are too noisy.. Pat says they all lay eggs eventually unless you get an older hen that has stopped laying.. She says no I don't want an old one just a hen that does not lay eggs.. By now pat and I are trying to laugh.. She says isn't there a breed that does not lay eggs... We say no..... She says well then don't worry about it and leaves. We still can't work out why she wanted a hen that did not lay eggs...but it was good for a giggle.

Hilarious! That's going to keep me giggling for the rest of the day