California-Southern

[JShubin]

I thought about wind chimes! I'll have to buy a few and hang them around the coop. Right now I have cds hanging from trees lol

wind chimes might look a little better than cds lol..

I think a good watch dog, or yard cat might deter also. I am surprised your chickens dont go after them. My stags always challenged the crow, and mama hens would try to kill my crow.

 

[vannaHaines]

Yea, I honestly have no idea. My roos are not doing their job! I brought one of my pups into the coop with me yesterday. Maybe the scent of dog will also help deter them......

 

[Sylvester017]

Great. Just learned that squirrels can attack and kill/severely infect grown fowl. Two different people on two different San Diego Facebook groups just posted morbid stories.

I'm going to not sleep worrying about yet another thing that will kill chickens! Dang!

We and our connecting neighbors all cut down our huge old backyard trees and it has cut down on the "yard-jumping" squirrels, cats, rats, and chicken hawks. As long as we have poultry it will always be a predator's paradise but we do the best we can to keep our poultry safe.

Sounds like you need a pellet gun!

These are effective if you have good aim and a good quality pellet shooter. Get one with a site on it.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi to all my So Cal neighbors! I'm new to chickens and have 6, six week old chicks that we just moved to the coup this weekend. I'm curious what you all are planting for your hens to graze on in/near the run? I'm planning on planting some squash around the edge of the run so they can stick their head through and nibble. Any other ideas what grows well in your yards?

Spinach grows fast and is rich in Selenium. I grow Sprouts for my birds, chop up Spinach, Rocket Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Cucumbers for my birds and grow these in my garden for them. They once got loose in my garden and seemed to love devouring my Bell Pepper and Jalapeno plants. I have one Silkie that loves the fresh seeds out of my garden Bell Peppers. I tried giving her seeds out of store-bought Peppers and she ignored them. She wanted the fresh seeds out of the garden! My girls also love Cantaloupe but it takes too much room to grow the vines so we purchase Cantaloupe fruit at the store. Blueberries are rich in Selenium too. I once thought of planting these bushes all along the fence for the chickens to forage but I don't have the right climate zone.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hey everyone! Any suggestions/recommendations on the best crow deterrents? Those pesky, black birds have taken to stealing all of my chicken's feed as well as stealing all my darn eggs!



Thanks in advance

I am so sorry you are having trouble with Crows. Where I live our local Crow population chases away the local pesky Chicken Hawk (Cooper's Hawk) that nests in the trees along the freeway close to our house. The Crows will perch on top of the telephone pole in the backyard corner and will call out to each other but I have never had one Crow come down into the backyard., When we had a front lawn (before drought) the Crows would search for bugs/worms but they never landed in the backyard or bothered our hens. In fact, the hens hardly pay any notice when the Crows are flying overhead or when they land on the telephone pole. Many other owners have said the same thing -- that the Crows keep away the Hawks and don't bother their chickens. My main trouble is with the non-indigenous aggressive House Sparrows that chase or kill other wild birds like House Finches, take lice baths in my chickens' dust bath, hang around the water mister, and go into the coop to steal feathers for their nest-building!!!! We use nipple valve waterers and treadle feeders to keep out House Sparrows but they are just too aggressive. I have to cover my raised garden beds to keep the Sparrows out:

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Spinach grows fast and is rich in Selenium.  I grow Sprouts for my birds, chop up Spinach, Rocket Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Cucumbers for my birds and grow these in my garden for them.  They once got loose in my garden and seemed to love devouring my Bell Pepper and Jalapeno plants.  I have one Silkie that loves the fresh seeds out of my garden Bell Peppers.  I tried giving her seeds out of store-bought Peppers and she ignored them.  She wanted the fresh seeds out of the garden!  My girls also love Cantaloupe but it takes too much room to grow the vines so we purchase Cantaloupe fruit at the store.  Blueberries are rich in Selenium too.  I once thought of planting these bushes all along the fence for the chickens to forage but I don't have the right climate zone.

What zone are you? I'm in 10b and have lots of blueberries! Southern Highbush varieties grow here.

 

[SewCluck]

Anyone grow wheat? We got a chicken variety sampler from seeds now. I have seedlings now and will be planting into the ground soon, but I have no idea how to grow wheat for the chickens. Is it something they can it as it is growing or do I wait for harvest time? Will it continue to grow wheat once we cultivate it or is it a one-time thing? I hope I make sense. Thanks.

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Anyone grow wheat? We got a chicken variety sampler from seeds now. I have seedlings now and will be planting into the ground soon, but I have no idea how to grow wheat for the chickens. Is it something they can it as it is growing or do I wait for harvest time? Will it continue to grow wheat once we cultivate it or is it a one-time thing? I hope I make sense. Thanks.

They'll eat the grass as it grows, they'll eat the seed heads as they mature. If they eat all the grass, you won't get seed heads. If they eat all the seed heads, you can't save seed.

So if they eat some of the grass and some of the seed heads (the "wheat" part) and you save enough seed to replenish, you get the best of everything. There's many ways you can protect the growing wheat so they don't eat all of it. Grazing frames, fenced off areas, etc.

You don't need to process the seed heads at all for them. Once they've matured and dried, the birds will smack them against the ground until they get the good stuff out.

 

[JShubin]

Anyone grow wheat? We got a chicken variety sampler from seeds now. I have seedlings now and will be planting into the ground soon, but I have no idea how to grow wheat for the chickens. Is it something they can it as it is growing or do I wait for harvest time? Will it continue to grow wheat once we cultivate it or is it a one-time thing? I hope I make sense. Thanks.

 

[JShubin]

I try to keep in those boxes with lid on so they dont eat it all at once...

lasts about 2 weeks... probalby longer if I kept lid open to get sunlight... but I'd have to put away all my free range chickens (because they tear it up in one day if lid is off).