calling any one from missouri

[microchick]

I hate foxes. They are beautiful but deadly. 4 years ago we had a female dig a den under a neighbor's cabin. She fed her kits on the neighborhood flocks. We would find every color of chicken feathers on our property except our own. Our neighbor lost his whole flock. I lost nary a bird. I don't free range and my run/coop is fort Knox with hot wire and metal siding.

You know the saying. If you think you are over reacting you are probably right on target.

We found kit tracks and adult fox tracks all around our run, but no trespassing.

So sorry you lost a good hen to one @CrazyChickenLady. Sometimes one just needs to go over the wall and they have no idea the dangers that lurk around this big old world.

As for alerts, I don't get any for my PMs. Ronott1 advised me to unwatch threads, log out, log back in and re-watch threads. I did that and it did fix the same problem that you are having.

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

Thank you @microchick , And yes I hate foxes, we only free range occasionally and they are always watched when we do, But Spice just had to fly out of the coop....... Alrighty maybe I will try that, they are locked up right now so they can’t fly out.
Our coop is very secure though. Never had a break in.

 

[microchick]

Yeah, I have a hen who spent most of her first summer finding holes in my netting and squeezing through them so she could scratch around in our orchard. I'd put her back, patch the hole, she would find or make another one. I finally wound up clipping the feathers on both of her wings to end her great escape.

I caught one of my Fayoumi hens in the yard one day, she saw me coming after her and probably thought OH CRAP I'M IN TROUBLE! because she ran around the outside of the run, kept stopping and looking up until finally she found her escape route and popped back into the run before I could catch her. Her whole expression was, Who? Me? I wasn't out! It was your imagination, old woman!

Are you guys having any problems with rodents? I swear the mice are as bad as flies here. Thankfully, no rats, knock on wood, but I have more mice than ever. I've been relentless when it comes to putting out bait boxes. I just checked one of the boxes thought and found a family of mice living in it. Resistant? Probably. I switched back to Ramik.

Mice and Voles! If anybody wants any I'll be glad to ship them free of charge. Our Jack Russell mix girl dog digs up two or three a day. There is no end to them.

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

Yes, two others escaped with Spice but a neighbor chased the Fox off thankfully so I found them hiding in the bushes. Instead of being ashamed though they ran towards me and screamed “ MOM HELP!!! “ ( Well actually not really but you get the point )
And Oh My Goodness the mice were everywhere! No moles though.... I dug the floor of our coop out and flattened it, found a nest of them. They were everywhere. That really helped though the population will most likely come back in time for winter.

 

[jthornton]

I lost nary a bird. I don't free range and my run/coop is fort Knox with hot wire and metal siding.

Yep, I second having a Chicken Fort Knox in Missouri for sure. I lost my first flock to a dog... he didn't make it either.

My neighbor thought at one time that free ranging is good for the flock but now understands and has built herself a Chicken Fort Knox.

JT

 

[jthornton]

I made a test feeder for out in the run and so far it's working. I have a few minor changes to make in the size but just cobbled this up to test with. One even jumped on it and it did not turn over so that is good. The trough is a bit small so I'll make it bigger and raise it up an inch or so which will make the legs wider.


JT

 

[microchick]

I tried a feeder similar to that one, JT. I only have one large bird, an Ameraucana the rest are bantams or small bantam crosses along with the medium sized Fayoumi's. All the smaller birds hopped up into he feeder and scratched away to their heart's content. I had to go to a hanging feeder to keep the feed where it's supposed to be and switch to pellets. If I try to switch them to crumbles, they just turn their little beaks up and dust bathe in them.

As for mice, @CrazyChickenLady, I have a concrete floor in my coop. The little vermin have decided to tunnel UNDER the concrete then come out at night to forage. I killed three today that had taken up residency in the Tom Cat bait holder. Usually the Fayoumis and SDW OEGBs like to hunt down and kill the mice along with a fat little hen I affectionately call Minnie Mouser.

I've been using Tom Cat but today I went back to Ramik. Got a box coming from Amazon and it can't get here too soon.

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

Well then I guess there are up’s and downs for concrete flooring...... Oh and @microchick My name is @CrazyChicken Lady With a space in between the two, I was wondering why I wasn’t getting an alert when you mentioned me!

 

[microchick]

@CrazyChicken Lady oops! Sorry. I guess that pretty much solves that mystery.

 

[jthornton]

I tried a feeder similar to that one, JT. I only have one large bird, an Ameraucana the rest are bantams or small bantam crosses along with the medium sized Fayoumi's. All the smaller birds hopped up into he feeder and scratched away to their heart's content. I had to go to a hanging feeder to keep the feed where it's supposed to be and switch to pellets. If I try to switch them to crumbles, they just turn their little beaks up and dust bathe in them.

It's pretty amazing how chickens will act different to the same things. I built a series of feeders to test out different designs and opening sizes. To my surprise they pulled the food out of every one until it spilled on the floor. I stopped putting crumbles in the hopper for a week and only had a small amount in the bottom. Then I started filling the hoppers again and they don't pull the feed out any more. The most recent water station is the big one and it holds about 1 1/4 gallons of water.


JT