Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I also looked at the pics, but couldn't tell anything from them either. I know cats get blamed for a lot of things, but HEChicken you saw how many we have here & in all the years I have had chickens, both here & at my other house I have never had a loss from a cat. My grown chickens put the kittens in their place by pecking them on the head, so I can't imagine them getting the better of a grown hen. The only ones my cats even show any interest in is the chicks & that is just I think because they still peep & that causes them to pay attention. They have not tried to get in the pen however, they will look in there, but mostly they just want their food. The kittens will get into my FF when I'm trying to feed all the chickens in the evening, they obviously like it too.

Oh no, I totally agree with you! I have cats and have never had an issue with them and in the predators section when people are concerned about cats, I'm usually the first person to tell them they don't need to be. However in my experience, cats switch from being predatory towards the chicks, to being afraid of the grown birds, around the time they are fully feathered. Since these were silkies and don't have the feathering of most chickens - and being bantams are much smaller that the LF you and I keep too - I considered a cat an option, mostly because whatever did this is something that got into a yard protected by a 6' fence and got back out again without being seen. If it were a dog, I would think it might have got into the yard but would have still been stuck in the yard when Cailynne made the discovery. If it went under the fence, there would be an obvious place where it dug under, so that only leaves going over, and, assuming it is a wood privacy fence, those are easier for a dog to climb and go over in one direction than the other, where a cat wouldn't have any trouble going over it from either direction.

 

[chicken danz]

Where were the puncture wounds? A fox will climb a fence and get in, and will bite on either side of the spine, to immobilize the victim. You may see up to 4 distinct puncture wounds, with two being on either side of the spine. A raccoon can also climb well. If you can't see how a dog got in - and there wasn't one there when you found the birds - it may well have been a wild animal. So sorry for your losses - it is devastating to come across a scene like this.

Danz, your system is awesome and should save you a lot of time being able to refill water bowls without having to run hoses to every individual pen.

Well, this afternoon contained a huge surprise for us. When we purchased our lambs this spring, the seller told us they were 2 ewes and 4 wethers. One wether was killed by the coyotes in June and we added a ram in July, deciding to keep the two ewes, and butcher only the 3 remaining wethers. That way we can make our own lambs next year. So a very nice sheep farmer who lives nearby, offered to pick them up for me to take them to the processor, and she came with her trailer this afternoon. We backed her trailer up to the pen, and with a little encouragement, got all 6 to load onto the trailer, then "sorted" them from the back half of the trailer, putting the wethers in the front section. We got the first two wethers up front, and were left with the three who could be identical triplets - I've never been able to tell them apart. In order to find the third wether, we had to examine their nether regions and….they are all truly identical. We checked 3 times but all three are ewes. (The lambs were completely wild when we got them and we've never been able to handle them well enough to examine them this intimately). So it was a huge surprise to us to find that we actually have a ram and 3 ewes, and only have 2 going to the processor. A relief actually, as I don't have enough freezer space for 3 anyway.

We had also agreed to purchase two more little ewe lambs from the same farmer so tonight we still have the same number of lambs, but a great ratio of 1 ram to 5 ewes. The new little lambs are really small and were only pulled from their mother this morning so they are yelling now. I'm sure it is all very scary for them, but they will settle down in a few days. The older ones have accepted them into the flock fairly well, giving them a little butt now and then to put them in their place, but nothing serious.

I had a disappointment this evening too. I've had a broody hen sitting on 4 eggs - 3 barred rocks and an exchequer egg. Well, one of the exchequers thought she might take a go at being broody too. She spent the entire day in the nest box, kicking out the broody cochin (who went and sat on a different nest). She growled at me every time I tried to check on her. Finally I decided to get the eggs out from under her to give them back to the cochin, but when I reached under her, there was an icky mess. I could only hope the broken egg was one that had just been laid today but nope, it was one of the barred rock eggs. It apparently wasn't fertile, as there was no fetus - just the yolk and white. So I had to try to clean the rest of the eggs off before putting them back under the cochin, and decided I may as well candle while I was at it, and found only one to be developing. It is one of the barred rock eggs. They are due on Fri/Sat, so now I can only hope that with the confusion today, the one hasn't quit developing and will still hatch this weekend, or the poor cochin will have sat all this time for nothing.

Oh HE that was a great find on the sheep. Sounds like you are in the sheep business now. Do your sheep need a shelter? Do they get out like goats do? What kind of fencing do you need for them. Just curious.
I hope those barred rock eggs weren't the ones you got from me but I am afraid they were. Since they weren't actively laying then fertility could have been way down. They are back to laying like gangbusters now. I just tossed about a dozen eggs yesterday. I was waiting to see if one of the hens would go broody. Since none of them did I just destroyed the eggs. Not sure how old they were.
I'm hoping the water system helps. I plan to use it today. Anything to keep from dragging hoses into each of those pens!

Quote:

I have just been running my tail off today trying to get things done outside this week before the weather turns bad. Today I got all of my rabbit trays cleaned out & put back in with fresh shavings & after my DH left I was working in the garage before & after chores. I'm going through stuff in the back of the garage & throwing out quite a bit of stuff. I hauled out a lot of the spiral hose I had for my pond when I ran a pump for the water fall that I don't need any more & a bunch of oak trim we had kept when they put up new trim after replacing our windows. I decided we aren't ever going to do anything with it, so it might as well go, it's just in the way & taking up space in there. I got all of the stuff cleaned off the shelving unit I want to move over to put my stuff on, but found out after I got it empty that it's screwed to the studs, so I'm going to have to take tools out tomorrow to get it loose. I burned a bunch of old newspaper evidently my DH had put on the shelf 13 years ago according to the date on the papers in the box & that took quite awhile to get it all burned. Tomorrow I have to move things out that are in the place I want to put the shelving so I can get it in there. I have one cabinet that has some extra rabbit & chicken equipment in it, but it's full, so I thought I would just use these shelves to put the overflow on. I have a couple of boxes to go through yet to see if there is anything I want to keep out of them that were on the shelf. My DH has stuff that was there that hasn't moved in 15 years, but if I throw it away he will have a fit. While I was working in there this evening I let my kitty Coco out to run around & she took a dirt bath on the floor in a particularly dusty spot. She was having a good old time running all around in there. She did come to me in the end though & let me put her back in her crate. I would think she would be having those kittens soon, but since I don't know for sure when they're due it's just a waiting game.

I also put a heat lamp out in my growout pen for the night, but the chicks in there hadn't really caught on about it when I left them. Hopefully when it gets colder they will use it.

Sounds like you were super busy yesterday! I felt busy but accomplished little.

I also looked at the pics, but couldn't tell anything from them either. I know cats get blamed for a lot of things, but HEChicken you saw how many we have here & in all the years I have had chickens, both here & at my other house I have never had a loss from a cat. My grown chickens put the kittens in their place by pecking them on the head, so I can't imagine them getting the better of a grown hen. The only ones my cats even show any interest in is the chicks & that is just I think because they still peep & that causes them to pay attention. They have not tried to get in the pen however, they will look in there, but mostly they just want their food. The kittens will get into my FF when I'm trying to feed all the chickens in the evening, they obviously like it too.

I too looked at the pictures but couldn't see the wounds. I doubt a cat would do that. I have even had feral cats show up here and never bother the birds. My cats were interested initially in baby chicks but I don't even cover my bins any more. I really can't imagine a dog eating a chicken like that unless it was really hungry. Mine won't even eat raw chicken...but they love it cooked. I was thinking more along the lines of a fox who intended to come back for the rest.

 

[HEChicken]

Yeah, my initial thought was fox too, since I know how well they climb. You're right - perhaps it started to eat, was scared away, and planned to come back later.

They were the BR eggs from you, but don't sweat it - it is totally the wrong time of year for fertility and BROODING (wish my Cochin was computer savvy and I'd send her a link to this thread). The one Aloha egg I had under wasn't fertile either. Sigh. I'm thinking maybe I need to crank up the incubator and hatch her some chicks in case the one left under now doesn't hatch. But I hate to start them, and then the one hatches and then I have to either turn off the incubator, or hatch and raise them myself.

Sheep. The fencing we had when we moved in was horse fencing which is totally inadequate for keeping in sheep, so we had to put in field fence. That is working great at containing them. There was an area where the fencing contractors left too big a gap and coyotes got in and killed one, but since we found and blocked that gap, we haven't had any further predator issues. For shelter, we have that horse shelter that they can use, but they haven't spent much time under it in the past few weeks. Over the summer, they spent the entire day under it, as it provided shade from the sun. They were practically comatose during the day, then at dusk would go out and as far as I know, graze the entire night. Now that it is cool, they hardly spend any time under shelter and spend most of their time out in the pasture, grazing. And, yes, they do cover the entire pasture - we've seen them all the way at the back fence! The only real surprise for us with the sheep is that I've always thought of sheep as more interested in grazing grass, while goats go for the brush and weeds. But so far, we haven't found anything that both species aren't equally interested in. The sheep will graze the grass but are far MORE interested in leaves, brush, weeds etc. Meanwhile, the goats spend a lot more time grazing grass than we anticipated. We have a willow tree down at the pond and it is stripped of foliage as high up as the sheep can reach - they range a lot further than the goats, who mostly stay up front, close to the house and shelter. Both also love hedge, and elm branches. DH trimmed our elm tree a week or so ago and we dragged the trimmed branches back to the pasture and the sheep and goats both went nuts eating them:

We used to have an area that was thick with compass plants but as soon as we turned the sheep out on the pasture, that disappeared. We also had something grow up in a kind of bush, that looked a lot like parsley and had a very strong aroma, like an herb but DH tasted it and couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. He said it wasn't parsley but was similar. Anyway, one day the bush was gone and I commented to DH "oh, you decided to pull that, did you?" and he didn't know what I was talking about. I guess one of them tasted it, decided it was edible, and in no time it was gone.

We have a couple of old round bales left by the previous owners, that have to be at least 3 years old, down behind our lagoon. I've seen the sheep playing on them a lot - they like to get up on top, then jump off - but until I walked down there the other day, I didn't realize they are actually eating it too. One of the bales is now about half the size it used to be. I can't believe they're eating old hay! Meanwhile, we have our fresh hay that was cut this summer and has been stored out of their reach under our pole barn every since. I used it to make the hay wall last week, but so far it seems they'd rather eat the old hay than the fresh. Go figure. The goats have picked at the new hay but all of them really seem to prefer to continue to graze so I guess they must be finding enough to eat out there still.

If I had to pick just one species out of the two, honestly, I'd probably pick the sheep. Overall they are less hassle and easier keepers. Right now my goat buck is being a butt head (pun intended). I'm hoping the doe is pregnant, so I bought some high quality goat food to make sure she gets the nutrition she needs, since she is still growing herself. When I put it out there though, the buck butts her away from it and won't let her get it and eat. Sheep will abort if they ingest copper, while goats can abort if they don't get enough copper in their diet. So already I have to separate the sheep from the goats at grain time, and now I have to separate the buck from the doe to make sure she gets enough grain. Meanwhile, I look over at the sheep and see that the ram has stepped back to allow the ewes to get the lion's share of the food, like he knows they need it more than he does - a true gentleman.

 

[chicken danz]

Interesting. I have some pasture that is just used to cut hay. There is a pond. The trouble is there isn't fencing on one side and the fence is just barbed wire fencing. I had thought about fencing the one side and improving some of the less than strong fence that is there and adding a cow calf pair. I was just thinking how easy it would be to add some sheep with improved fencing. Not that I want anything else to care for. I guess it bugs me that I get nothing out of that land. My farmer hays it. When I used to have goats I got hay from him as needed but now I get nothing, other than I go get straw from him. (Which is pretty nice to have available for the birds.)
I'm still knocking around the idea of getting a pig to fatten out. I complain I can't keep up with all I have but I still keep adding things. Duh!
So sorry about the eggs. I wish we were closer. I could give you tons now. They had their little rest and are happy to provide. Or I could just give you some of the chicks I have hatched. I need to get out today and get some more work finished up out there. I am still trying to figure out where on earth to put a bunch of birds.

 

[HEChicken]

I can really recommend the sheep for your pasture but you're right - you will need to improve the fencing since they will be able to step right through the strands of barbed wire. We had also considered raising steers for beef, since our fencing was originally more suited to large livestock, but the problem there was handling such large creatures, without a truck and livestock trailer. The fencing was a huge upfront expense but a one-time expense, at least, and now we are set for years to come. The sheep really don't challenge the fencing or look for a way out like the goats do. There are times I've gone through the gate into their pasture and didn't latch it behind me, and the wind blew it wide open, but the sheep are far more interested in what I'm doing than in running out the open gate. We used to let them out, and they stay around really well. The problem came when they discovered the feeder in the chicken coop. They'd squeeze through the pop door and empty the feeder in no time - and chicken feed is way too expensive to feed to the sheep! So we had to confine them to the pasture but they don't seem to mind and in fact, aren't that interested in leaving it. We do have the pond but although I've seen them grazing around its perimeter, I've never seen them actually drink out of it. If it were their only water source, I'm sure they would, but I also have a water tank for them and I think they get most of their water from it. On the to-do list is to get a tank heater for it for this winter.

Oh - and the beauty of it is that if you don't have too many sheep, you can still hay the pasture. This year we had 6 lambs on 7 acres, so although they eat non-stop, they were never even close to making a dent in it, and we still got 200 square bales of prairie hay from the pasture.

 

[cailynne]

I dont think that there are any fox here..i live too close to the city.
, to my knowledge. My only thing i can think of is one of the neighbor's boxer dogs got over the fence..their kids heard the noise and came to my yard and got their dog. I have to leave the gate unlocked for meter readers.I talked to the neighbors and the parents didn't know any thing but I don't think they were there ..just their young kids. I haven't talked to the kids..and i probably won't.
I am just going to have to let it go, but you don't realize how attached you can get in such a short amount of time.

 

[chicken danz]

Actually fox do live in cities. They normally come to a populated area to raise their kits because they are safer there than they are out in the country. Especially if there is a creek or stream nearby they like being nearer water. It could be a neighbors dog though. If I were you I would find out what days the meters will be read and only leave the gate open on those days. Depending on which way the gate opens a dog could push a gate open. One of my dogs can open a solid wood door using her nose as a wedge to gain access.
HEChicken it all sounds good other than the price of putting up fence. After spending a fortune for just a few hundred feet I'd have to refinance the house for what I would spend.

 

[HEChicken]

Oh goodness yes, foxes live in the city. I've seen more in Wichita and Andover than since I've lived out in the country. Only a few weeks ago I almost hit one crossing a busy road in Andover and shortly after that I saw a dead fox on the same road, but later saw yet another run across in front of my car in almost the same spot, so that area seems to abound with them. The first fox I saw in Wichita was near the river in Riverside.

 

[deb516]

Went to my very first poultry show over the weekend. I brought the kids they are showing poultry in 4h and thought they could learn from going we are new to the showing experience. While we were in hutchinson found a pair of golden sebrights. I had a question what is used to worm chickens? I have some other girls i would lukebto worm. Is it best to worm every so of t en or only if you notice worms

 

[deb516]

Oops...typo Im Typing off my phone. I would like to worm my chickens what is best. What do you guys use.