BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[JRNash]

this white giant has the best leg coloring of all the giants I have right now.

 

[JRNash]

bad picture of the topside of the white giant. Not very giant like right now

 

[Beer can]

this white giant has the best leg coloring of all the giants I have right now.

That doesn't look good.

I'm super upset right now, lost one of my best pullets today with correct slate grey legs and white feathers to a hawk. Didn't know what killed it, pile of feathers a ways away and it was laying dead by the big run. One dead and two missing

didn't know what got them three have been escaping the four foot fence. Wife says she seen the neighbors cat around. Whatever it was partly plucked it and then left it ten feet away next to the other chicken run, had me confused, maybe we interrupted it.
While I was setting up my trail cam on the dead body I put back by the pile of feathers, wishing I still had traps, two of the missing came running out of the bushes by the garage

.
Unloaded my .22 in our van and got packed up to take 11yr old bullhead fishing. Heard a ruckus, mama broody going nuts in her pen, giants and sussex going nuts but they do that, act like something's getting them, everything looked OK, NO! half the giants/sussex ran to the other side of the run, there was a HAWK! trying to KILL a few on the other side! I could not get the clip in the .22 fast enough, got it in ratcheted in a bullet, darn thing saw me, now twenty feet away, and flew into a pine tree above other run, cross hairs on it, DARN safety was on! It flew off!

Wish I had brought out the shotgun! Wife came out, told her I was sure there was three or four dead or will be dead badly injured. Miraculously not a single injury! It had a few pinned down! What to do now! Put them all in the big coop with the big chickens.
I got them July 2, so they are almost two months old. Hopefully they will be OK. They are quite active and the big chickens didn't hurt the silkies when I put them in to make room for these chicks. Actually they did the same thing as when I put the silkies in, they acted scared of them. Half of the big chickens ran outside into the run like they were scared of them. They have a better chance of survival in the big coop with a covered run than they do where they were at. Dang chicken hawk! Sucks the one killed was one of the few pullets with correct white feathers and slate grey legs, I'd a rather it didn't kill any but would have rather it was a cockerel, I have mostly, or one of the few with wrong color legs or the greyish lilac colored ones....

 

[Beer can]

@JRNash I don't have good pics of the legs but heres a couple.

Giants with red sussex, I broke their waterer, going to build a five gallon bucket with nipples and bird bath heater before winter.
And a pic with a langshan

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

That doesn't look good.

I'm super upset right now, lost one of my best pullets today with correct slate grey legs and white feathers to a hawk. Didn't know what killed it, pile of feathers a ways away and it was laying dead by the big run. One dead and two missing

didn't know what got them three have been escaping the four foot fence. Wife says she seen the neighbors cat around. Whatever it was partly plucked it and then left it ten feet away next to the other chicken run, had me confused, maybe we interrupted it.
While I was setting up my trail cam on the dead body I put back by the pile of feathers, wishing I still had traps, two of the missing came running out of the bushes by the garage

.
Unloaded my .22 in our van and got packed up to take 11yr old bullhead fishing. Heard a ruckus, mama broody going nuts in her pen, giants and sussex going nuts but they do that, act like something's getting them, everything looked OK, NO! half the giants/sussex ran to the other side of the run, there was a HAWK! trying to KILL a few on the other side! I could not get the clip in the .22 fast enough, got it in ratcheted in a bullet, darn thing saw me, now twenty feet away, and flew into a pine tree above other run, cross hairs on it, DARN safety was on! It flew off!

Wish I had brought out the shotgun! Wife came out, told her I was sure there was three or four dead or will be dead badly injured. Miraculously not a single injury! It had a few pinned down! What to do now! Put them all in the big coop with the big chickens.
I got them July 2, so they are almost two months old. Hopefully they will be OK. They are quite active and the big chickens didn't hurt the silkies when I put them in to make room for these chicks. Actually they did the same thing as when I put the silkies in, they acted scared of them. Half of the big chickens ran outside into the run like they were scared of them. They have a better chance of survival in the big coop with a covered run than they do where they were at. Dang chicken hawk! Sucks the one killed was one of the few pullets with correct white feathers and slate grey legs, I'd a rather it didn't kill any but would have rather it was a cockerel, I have mostly, or one of the few with wrong color legs or the greyish lilac colored ones....

So sorry to hear this. I have hawks nesting in my (relatively small - one acre) yard. This sort of thing is why I get irritated at folks who seem to "make fun" of those of us who worry about these sort of predators. We all have different situations, and for those of us with very heavy overhead predation, it's important. My girls have overhead protection all the time...

- Ant Farm

 

[Beer can]

Grrr, never dealt with it, only ground predators. We only have a few acres but hundreds around us of open predator land. Never thought a bird would best me, I'm always ready. Dogs couldn't even help on this one. All runs will have tops for now on.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Grrr, never dealt with it, only ground predators. We only have a few acres but hundreds around us of open predator land. Never thought a bird would best me, I'm always ready. Dogs couldn't even help on this one. All runs will have tops for now on.

I strongly suggest you search BYC for hawks - there are a couple really good threads devoted to discussion of the issues and experiences of folks with hawks as predators. Sometimes dogs can help IF you have an EXTRAORDINARILY well trained poultry protection dog, and a strongly bonded robust free ranging flock can sometimes help (stories of hens beating back hawks after their chicks, and roosters defending the flock), though injuries and losses still happen in those situations. In reading a lot of threads it seems that even folks very experienced in letting their flocks free range and take care of themselves still end up protecting/confining juvenile birds. They're too vulnerable...

- Ant Farm

 

[DesertChic]

We JUST starting having hawk issues too. My son came running to me Saturday afternoon to tell me a hawk was perched atop a fence post watching the chickens right below it. This morning as I came out of the chicken cabin a hawk was swooping down on one of my Barred Rock girls but changed its mind when it saw me running towards it. I keep my younger birds in a covered run so I'm not worried about them, but the most of my flock has free run of the backyard. I'm just hoping that my five large cockerels will do their duty to fend off that dang predator when I'm not patrolling with one of my rifles.

 

[timbowsr]

Rabbit interlude ... will never post about rabbits again if anyone doesn't want to hear about it ...

Butchered 8 fryers yesterday that were about 12 wks old. Took about 2 hours to butcher and process. Ended up with roughly twenty-six pounds of meat soaking in the ice box and waiting to be vacuum sealed and froze. Have rib cages and other carcass pieces waiting to make rabbit stock that will be canned for later use. To top it off had one heck of a fried rabbit liver supper last night. If anyone doesn't know ... rabbits have an exceptionally large liver with four "lobes". After cleaning and separating the lobes we had enough liver to easily feed four adults last night, with left-overs for lunch today. The taste is light and mild. Excellent, excellent meat!! Have the kidneys and hearts set aside for son-in-law.

Next weekend ... the old flock and breeding culls are on the way out.

 

[Beekissed]

Yer makin' me haungry!!! Excellent harvest! I've been wishing I had rabbits lately and almost scored some free ones the other day but someone must have had the same idea.