California - Northern

[debs_flock]

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He IS a juvenile cock, right? Not a hen?

In any case, he's hung around for three days now. I have named him "Kevin" after the "snipe" in the movie UP!

It's been so hot I have only gone outside for very short periods of time to complete flock chores .... and check to see where Kevin is meandering. He has been VERY interested in the coop pop door.

It looks to be a young male. Of course my first volunteer I thought was a young male and named him Stanley. He "turned into a hen" (you're never going to live that one down Ron

), but remained Stanley. When the next volunteer showed up, he was named Iris to go with Stanley (movie from the '80's).

It's always been my contention that Kevin was patterned after a Monal or Impeyan pheasant. I seriously want to downsize my bird collection, but I covet a pair of Monals and would start a building project to house them should I come up with a source. Anyone know one????





And speaking of downsizing................why do I keep adding stuff?...............thanks Molly!

 

[tommysgirl]

Broody update: I have opened all the doors to the coop except the egg door right behind her and I put water in the coop and an ice pack for a cooler in the nest box. I have the eggs ready to go. Can I give them to her now or do I wait until night time like I would with chicks??

I also just read this article http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/01/broody-hens-natures-incubators-your.html and it made sense.

Stay cool all let me know if I should wait till dark on the eggs. I googled it and didn't find an answer yet. Thanks

Oh and are any of you getting the chillin with my peeps shirts??? I have put in a request to my human peeps.

 

[lawatt]

Broody update: I have opened all the doors to the coop except the egg door right behind her and I put water in the coop and an ice pack for a cooler in the nest box. I have the eggs ready to go. Can I give them to her now or do I wait until night time like I would with chicks??

I also just read this article http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2013/01/broody-hens-natures-incubators-your.html and it made sense.

Stay cool all let me know if I should wait till dark on the eggs. I googled it and didn't find an answer yet. Thanks

Oh and are any of you getting the chillin with my peeps shirts??? I have put in a request to my human peeps.

i'm pretty sure i gave all of mine their eggs in the afternoon -- i think it's only with baby chicks that you should wait until dark.

but i'm new at this, so someone else may know better!

 

[tommysgirl]

Here are photos of the visiting peacock. I took these the first evening I saw him in my yard.

.

.

He IS a juvenile cock, right? Not a hen?

In any case, he's hung around for three days now. I have named him "Kevin" after the "snipe" in the movie UP!

It's been so hot I have only gone outside for very short periods of time to complete flock chores .... and check to see where Kevin is meandering. He has been VERY interested in the coop pop door.

He looks like a young male. The long tail feathers don't grow in their first year but that doesn't stop them from acting like fools and displaying their pitiful excuse for tail. One afternoon when I had my chicks out in the grazing pen a Pea Hen came by with her chicks about the same age and the little 5 wk olds were putting on a show for my totally disinterested little ones. Very cute. They did the dance and everything!

 

[debs_flock]

Quote: You can just slip the eggs under her whenever it's convenient.

 

[tommysgirl]

i'm pretty sure i gave all of mine their eggs in the afternoon -- i think it's only with baby chicks that you should wait until dark.

but i'm new at this, so someone else may know better!

Thanks I just saw another article that mentioned giving them to her during the day too. It will be a good chance to check to see if she has stolen any more eggs today. Maybe she will stop that when she gets her "own"

 

[OR4-hmom]

Well sweating would be one word.... another would be hiding. I am hiding indoors or in my car with the AC.

I went home at lunch to start the misters, fan and give the chickens some frozen watermelon.......That wouldn't have been a bad thing but I almost locked myself INSIDE the coop!

I put up a latching door lock so that I can better protect against Raccoons, and I didn't drill the hole yet for the wire for the inside release of the hook.

I had a big moment of panic when I pushed the door shut and heard the click. Thankfully a small twig through the hardware cloth to lift the latch saved my life! No one at home, cell phone on the kitchen counter, and no one to pick up my daughter after work.

My last thought before I got it open was that I was going to find out how well that hardware cloth holds! Chicken coop breakout!

No one will admit to it but while collecting eggs someone latched the people doors on our first coop. The doors are wooden, no wire to try and break through. Thank goodness the pop door is big enough for me to get through, on my side. Once in the run I was able to pop the latch on the run gate to get out. Eric wanted to know why I was coming in so late for dinner.

We are hiding inside as much as posssble. It's only 97° but since we were wearing sweatshirts the other day it is HOT.

I was worried about the quail earlier, they were panting alot. They have figured out what watermelon is and are looking much cooler now.

 

[Happy Chooks]

"My brother was the king of cardboard kitty and potato launchers. He worked in an equipment yard, and he and his friends decided that acetaline would work really well.

"



Oh potato launchers! They were a lot of fun!

What's a cardboard kitty???

Scenery: We lived at the top of the hill where the road crested over the hill. You could not see the road until you popped over the top. There was a water ditch under the road at the top.

Now make yourself a cardboard shaped cat, put marbles in the eyes so they reflect light, attach it to wheels and tie that to fishing line. Put "kitty" in the road and hide in the ditch holding the fishing line. When a car comes, pull the line so the "kitty" moves.

We ended up with a car on our lawn once because of my brother's "skills".

 

[capayvalleychick]

My husband tells me that when he doesn't want to do it!

Yeah, that was it, alright! Look what he had his employee do:



He put some old metal barn roofing on it. Since the roof is at an angle, there is a gap at the top. The guy put chicken wire over the gap, which will have to be replaced with something sturdier. Now I have to figure out what to put around the door, so that it is secure, and I can still easily open it. You can't tell, but there is heavy metal mesh on the ground around the pen so that nothing can dig under.

 

[capayvalleychick]

My raccoon story from another thread. I had eight birds escape their pens yesterday, seven of them six week old chicks. My last attempt to find the last one was at 9:30 last night wearing a headlamp.
****************
The continuing story of the stinking chicks.

Yesterday, after spending HOURS chasing chicks around in the heat, I was finally able to capture 7 out of 8. ...
Anyway, I walked around that last corner of runs, looked in the pen...............................................and there was that leghorn pullet in with the brahmas. She apparently found the gap at the bottom of the door and squeezed in. She now wanted back OUT. I snagged her with my net and put her back with her "family".

Kind of an anticlimactic ending to the story, but it certainly wasted about 4-5 hours of my time yesterday, chasing those dang birds in the heat/humidity.

I'm glad that the pullet is ok. Sounds like you already have a net? Something that has been working for me is to put some grain in a 5 gal. bucket or muck tub and put it on it's side. The chicks run in to eat the food and I quickly cover the bucket to catch them.