Cochin Thread!!!

[Jharper]

Do not cull for extra feathers on the feet. Check and see if the are missing toe nails and try not to breed two birds that are missing toe nails.

They all have toe nails.

 

[ki4got]

oh! I forgot to tell a truly curious story... with all the worry about Lucky trying to freeze his tail off (literally) I never posted...

now here's a curious thing, and i'm thinking some 2-footed 'creatures' had something to do with it, but I can't say for sure...

several weeks ago, I lost 2 pullets to a raccoon... at the same time, my blue mottled roo turned up missing too. I check in the coop, the pen, the nests, everywhere and no roo. just gone. I checked the free ranging bunch, thinking if he slipped past me he might have joined the rest of the flock but he wasn't to be found. never found feathers, carcass, nothing.

well, this morning I go out to do a head count and feed, and there he is pacing back and forth in front of the food dish. he laid into the fermented feed like he hadn't eaten in a month, and is definitely much thinner than he was before.

now this pen is totally enclosed, top and sides. the only way in would be to dig or open the door. and there are no holes dug in the snow anywhere. in fact the only tracks in the snow around the coop and pen are chicken feetsprints. (free rangers) and the path I made to the door and egg box.

so now I am curious... how did he get out, where did he go, and how did he get back in???

 

[3BirdGirlz]

It was aliens

 

[1TurkenLover]

It was aliens

Space Aliens like from " Chicken Little " movie

what if We Humans are the Pets ? and the animals are keepers ............. { O man r we in trouble }

seriously tho might have been playing possum, when the raccoons came when they took him with the others then he woke up and started to made his way back.?

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
well, I couldn't find any marks on him at all... and I can't see him getting in and out the fence wire. it's 2x4 on one section, but even so, he's a fully grown male bantam cochin. not even the 12 week old sfh can get out that.

 

[1TurkenLover]

Hummm, I'll go with 2 legged pest then.

may be kids forgot to close coop ?

 

[ki4got]

LOL none of my 'kids' have thumbs... so that's doubtful. never did the skin kid thing, have no desire to start. wasn't hubby either, he doesn't do any chicken stuff without a detailed written list. LOL

 

[Pozees]

LOL none of my 'kids' have thumbs... so that's doubtful. never did the skin kid thing, have no desire to start. wasn't hubby either, he doesn't do any chicken stuff without a detailed written list. LOL

You certainly have had an interesting week! I hope this mystery is solved at some point, I'm as curious as you are about how that bird left and returned LOL. Do your birds ever climb? I know I once had a dog escaping from a pen that had learned to climb - scared me half to death the first time I saw it, I couldn't believe it hadn't yet fallen and broken a leg! I mean, you wouldn't think a bird would ever climb considering it has wings, but maybe it's helping itself do a combination of flying and climbing?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: yeah it's been bugging me...
it's a hoop pen. so there is no escape routes unless he were small enough to fit thru a 2x4 wire space, but like I said, even the sfh chicks I've put in there can't once they're over about 8 weeks old.



this is when it was new, so it's seen some rough use and the house has been finished, but essentially the same. - the second pic is the 'chute' to connect the house to the pen.

 

[shotzy007]

How many birds do you have, he couldn't have run out the door of the coop one day when you werent looking. One of my swedish flowers are good at that.