California - Northern

[lawatt]

Your chicks are gorgeous! To me the rightmost lab orp chick looks like a boy. But don't quotJust looks like a "He".
The Basque chicks are Soo cute! Can't wait to have some in the brooder!

aren't they sweet? that rightmost orp looks like a boy to me too, and sometimes the blue one (on the far left in the photo) does too... they're just BIGGER than everyone else. but all three orps look like football players compared to the other three.

for those of you who have EO basques, any hints on gender-guessing? the paler one has a slightly-darker dot on its head... both otherwise seem small & dainty, but again that's just in comparison to the orps.

 

[MonsterClucker]

Oh my gosh- the chickens have begun leaping out the coop door when I go in. Ahhhh! The youngest chicks are still around 7-8 weeks old I think. I can't have them wandering around. My backyard is HUGE! It's 2 acres fenced and almost all the property is behind the house so it's really big. I am so terrified of letting them out to free range. visions of chickens clucking around the coop are replaced with the vision of chickens running amok and getting eating by racoons are night because they won't go into their coop! Not to mention getting picked up by all the hawks we have here. We see them and hear them all day long as it is. For those of you that free range...when do you open the coop door?

I have hawks here too. I don't have a lot of trees here but a lot of tall grass and open area. I've pretty much come to the realization, a hen getting picked off can happen even in the "safety" of their runs and coops. I only let them truly FREE range when I can supervise them decently. Early morning or late evening before sun down. That's usually when hawks are in the nests. IDK how your coop setup is but is just put up a extension with some wire and chicken wire on my door to my run so they won't fly over it. I think it was a bout 4 feet. It's over 6 feet now. I just figured I'd snap a dew pictures to document growth and stuff. These chicks were born on July 11th So their 'closing in on 6 weeks. Happy Sunday everyone!

 

[lawatt]

I have hawks here too. I don't have a lot of trees here but a lot of tall grass and open area. I've pretty much come to the realization, a hen getting picked off can happen even in the "safety" of their runs and coops. I only let them truly FREE range when I can supervise them decently. Early morning or late evening before sun down. That's usually when hawks are in the nests.
IDK how your coop setup is but is just put up a extension with some wire and chicken wire on my door to my run so they won't fly over it. I think it was a bout 4 feet. It's over 6 feet now.

my coop (8x4' henhouse inside an enclosed 8x12' run) should be pretty impenetrable to any predators (fingers crossed while typing that), as i used heavy duty wire mesh, not chicken wire (which raccoons apparently can unzip in a few seconds), and it has a roof on it, so no hawks can get in. generally i supervise while mine are out and about, but they are so good at finding cover for themselves, and keeping an eye out to the sky (although they seem more concerned about crow/raven calls than hawk/eagles), that i feel fairly comfortable letting the big girls roam on their own, at least for an hour or two. and i mostly only let them out in the later afternoon, although this morning they went out early, since i'm heading to a friend's for dinner in a little while.

trouble is, they really do LOVE being out, & so like Amy Beth's, are always eager to try to jump through the door!

such cute pictures, by the way!!

 

[capayvalleychick]

For those of you that free range...when do you open the coop door?

All my chickens free range during the entire daylight period. The youngsters are kept where they have bushes for cover. Many of my adult LF are out in open pasture. A hawk hangs out on a nearby telephone pole. More hawks live in trees next to another coop/run area (where the white Dels live). The hawks leave my chickens alone. I don't know why. I've only had 2 incidents of hawk predation in 12 years.

Sometimes using a very special tasty treat only when they come in the coop in the evening works to get them to come in...or I chase them with the broom sometimes.

Laura, those lavender chicks are sooo pretty.

Kim

 

[zooweemama]

Not chicken related but puppy pics. Alice will be 10 weeks old on Tuesday. She is now crate trained. Woot! It's where she takes her naps during the day and no whining. At night she still has pee accidents (not sure what's normal at this age) but she goes to bed at 10/11 or so and around 3/4am I hear the potty whine and I take her out. She was having issues (crazy bad diarrhea with Purina puppy chow) with grain I think - so we put her on a pricy no grain pup food. Diarrhea all gone. And she is gaining weight after the worming woohoo!

Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

 

[lawatt]

All my chickens free range during the entire daylight period. The youngsters are kept where they have bushes for cover. Many of my adult LF are out in open pasture. A hawk hangs out on a nearby telephone pole. More hawks live in trees next to another coop/run area (where the white Dels live). The hawks leave my chickens alone. I don't know why. I've only had 2 incidents of hawk predation in 12 years.

Sometimes using a very special tasty treat only when they come in the coop in the evening works to get them to come in...or I chase them with the broom sometimes.

Laura, those lavender chicks are sooo pretty.

Kim

that is great to hear, that the hawks don't both them much! i MAY end up letting mine out all day, but they're still a bit young... they would certainly be happiest if they could stay out all day while i'm at school (starts tuesday, noooooo!!), but will just have to see what pattern we end up with. i just wish i had a fence, if only to keep them off my grumpy neighbor's property! (they haven't gone that direction yet, since they'd have to cross the big open meadow to get there, but once the temps are cooler and/or the grass grows back... i doubt he'd be very happy with interlopers.)

and i've only been giving them cracked corn (their favorite treat so far) when they come in to their coop, trying to reinforce the idea of rewarding good behavior...

and amy beth, such a cute pup!!

 

[zooweemama]

Thanks guys! I am just so scared if I let them out- they won't come back. My yard is going to seem like an infinite prairie to them. Their coop is right behind a few fruit trees. They might like it too much outside. I guess this is where the power of treats come in right? The ducks were easy to train. But since they have a pond they do not venture too far from it honestly. The chickens don't have a central pull like that though. I need to check all their birth dates to check their ages. The oldest ones are 20 weeks or so. The next are about 14/16 weeks I wanna say then a few about a month younger than that.

So maybe start after sunset when there is only a little bit of time left before dark sets and have treats?

 

[lawatt]

Thanks guys! I am just so scared if I let them out- they won't come back. My yard is going to seem like an infinite prairie to them. Their coop is right behind a few fruit trees. They might like it too much outside. I guess this is where the power of treats come in right? The ducks were easy to train. But since they have a pond they do not venture too far from it honestly. The chickens don't have a central pull like that though. I need to check all their birth dates to check their ages. The oldest ones are 20 weeks or so. The next are about 14/16 weeks I wanna say then a few about a month younger than that.

So maybe start after sunset when there is only a little bit of time left before dark sets and have treats?

but they DO have a central pull -- their coop is their home, and they will naturally return to it.

even my little 6-week-old sussexes, which arrived here on wednesday, already know exactly where home is -- if they get freaked out, or if it's time to go in, they make a beeline for it.

 

[lawatt]

and this photo shows the location of my coop -- on the edge of being underneath several huge oaks (great for hiding from hawks!), but with a LARGE empty meadow beyond:



but they don't get "lost" from home, and even though they unquestionably LOVE being out & about, this is home to them, and they all return to it automatically.

 

[zooweemama]

My BC Marans pullets...I feel so mean saying this...not very attractive at all. All the looks went to the roosters. LOL I know they will fill out some and they are going through the ugly feather phase but e-gah man poor things. One of biiiiig BO pullets (20 weeks) has a dark red comb and wattle now. I don't recall them being so dark before? I hope it's not a rooster in hiding!