California - Northern

[PetRock]

Do the roosters all have their own place to go at night?

I feel so bad, having to keep my males locked up. They start out together as chicks, get separated into bachelor pens when mature. I cull down to four breeders of two breeds. Once I separate them for breeding or showing, I can't put them back in an enclosure together or they fight. The injuries are bad enough that they die.
I can let one out with the pastured hens and another in an enclosed run with hens. The rest live in pens, which makes me feel bad.
I can rotate them during the time of the year when I'm not breeding, but I still feel bad that they can't all range in the pasture.
I can see maybe letting them all out during the day, if they have space to run. At night, any bird not locked up gets eaten.

So, I'm wondering what your groups of free range males do at night?

Most of the big ones roost with the hens & pullets in a large horse trailer converted into a mobile coop. I'm not sure how long it is but it is a long one. The mixed cockerels used to roost in various places like the porch, the barn, the pig pen, etc. The property is completely fenced which helps deter some predators and it is also patrolled by 2 Great Pyrenees guardian dogs who are excellent at their job. They have even cornered a coyote and killed it. The biggest "predator" issue that we have had out there was a family of skunks living under the coop last summer. We didn't lose any birds to them but I would guess that they ate a few eggs before the problem was taken care of. I think that they trapped 7 or 8 of them.

I do have one grow out pen for cockerels but I am converting it to a breeding pen on Saturday. It currently has 3 Langshan cockerels and 1 Rhode Island Red cockerel. We'll see how they do out in the general population. I think that there are so many chickens plus ducks and turkeys at the farm that adding a few more boys into the mix doesn't cause too many waves. The area by the barn & house is controlled by our Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock cock and the trailer coop area in the field is controlled by our Rhode Island Red cock. The other boys just learn to defer to them. My Langshan cocks & cockerels are pretty mild mannered and don't seem to have too many disagreements with the other boys. Maybe the breed makes a difference. The Pita Pinta cockerels are also mild mannered. One reason we stopped breeding Bresse is that all the boys had a bad case of Napoleon complex once they reached sexual maturity.

 

[Flowers of Abba]

Interesting... the humidity sensor looks like the one that's in my Janoel 48. Picture from the link you posted: -Kathy

I've been looking at the Janoel. ... is yours one that touts USA ? I am hesitant to purchase and then have is be faulty with shipping g to china.

 

[sewandgrow]

The City of Woodland just sent the water bill for March. We used 990 gallons in march for three people. That comes out to about 39 gallons a day. Our usage is a lot lower than last march--because two daughters have moved out.

My plan for the summer is to only water the Front yard two days a week. I will be changing the back yard to have less grass. I will have to water the Peach and plum trees though. I might set up a drip system for them.

We have all our fruit trees on a drip system with a timer. Because they are way out back & away from the houses we have had them on a battery operated timer but we lost a few trees from neglecting to keep an eye on the batteries so we are running a conduit to change it to run off the wired in ones at my daughter's house. The nine volt battery one has worked well for years though.

i have not mentioned it because i didn't want to jinx anything but i had 4 rare breed chicks hatched from shipped eggs!

I will be giving them to a proven sg mother tonight. Im debating getting other vaxx for them as im attached.

Now wish me 3 girls and chef on this hatch and a mixed but more pullet hatch (if they hatch) on the next.

I have no idea what i will do if they all grow to maturity ha!
How exciting.....What breed?? Not that I want any .....LOL I am trying to keep myself to my BCMs, Ams, Delawares & Pita Pintas along with the new Polish I am getting from Dyann.

 

[chiqita]

I've been looking at the Janoel. ... is yours one that touts USA ? I am hesitant to purchase and then have is be faulty with shipping g to china.

if you do get a janoel make ABSOLUTELY sure its a janoel and not a knock off. The knock off are the worst thing out there.

 

[casportpony]

Interesting... the humidity sensor looks like the one that's in my Janoel 48. Picture from the link you posted: -Kathy

I've been looking at the Janoel. ... is yours one that touts USA ? I am hesitant to purchase and then have is be faulty with shipping g to china.

I think mine came from the place on eBay that shows a blonde woman holding it. Mine is a Janoel and not one of the knockoffs which tend to be made of thinner plastic. -Kathy

 

[Honora]

I have a 4 week old cockerel that my husband wants to try and keep, but we are going to be out of the country for a month this summer. I am afraid it will start crowing while we are away and bother the neighbors, so I was wondering if anyone knows of a place we can board him while we are away? He is a nice bantam orpington.

 

[caychris]

talk about perfect camo this is a woodpecker searching this masonry wall for bugs. The camera couldn't capture it very well but it was right there in front of me outside my car window.


One of my latest projects. A scratch/salvage built outside brooder for the bigger babies. 2 sections about 3.5 feet long by 2 feet high by approx 20 in deep. Will house 4 babies each about 8 weeks old till I can get their permanent homes built at the other locations.





The supervisors on the project

 

[attimus]

My home and I are in a constant battle with the woodpeckers. They are some crafty buggers for sure. I like the brooder. Im always looking for things to do with my project scrap. And that picture of the birds is great, I'm sure a lot of us here have similar ones, they always seem to want to help.

 

[sewandgrow]

My home and I are in a constant battle with the woodpeckers. They are some crafty buggers for sure. I like the brooder. Im always looking for things to do with my project scrap. And that picture of the birds is great, I'm sure a lot of us here have similar ones, they always seem to want to help.

The woodpeckers in my yard ruin my birdhouse holes by pecking them to enlarge them so they can get in further. I leave them til they get to then scab a new front with a fresh hole drilled in it....LOL

 

[EZFarms]

That is not just so sad but downright unnecessary.  One shouldn't keep birds that are not securely housed, penned, or yard-safe.  Should you happen to have time the BYC thread titled "post your chicken coop pictures here" talks a lot about the best ways to secure chickens whether on a high or a low budget.  There are about 300-400+ pages of posts showing coops and discussing flock security often - peruse these a few at a time and you will find so many of us that have lost or almost lost our birds to inappropriate security.  I had two stray mutts break our fence gate and attack our chicken coop and if not for a good neighbor who chased the mutts we would've lost our first birds.  A lot of us have been where you are and it caused us to beef up our flock security.  Dogs are notorious bird chasers - it's a thrill for dogs - they can't help themselves.  Years ago we had a Rottweiler that couldn't help chasing Mourning Doves to death in spite of obedience training.  Hope you enjoy the "post your chicken coop pictures here" thread!  It is one of my favourites and I learned so much.

i have since then pulled the cages apart and redone them all with thicker wire. small spaces and more wire. they should be fine now. ive been looking on the forum post you directed me to for more ideas as well it should be fine now i hope. i have two birds coming from jer schex (i think thats how you spell it) and another coming from a woman in WA and they will be safe this time