Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Ok, so after talking to you guys, I want to try to trap this fox. Only a snare trap will work right? What if I get him? I can't discharge my gun to put him down. Who is this guy that wants the fur? Will he put it down? Ugh, so many questions!

I haven't ever trapped so I don't know what kinds of traps work best. If you are able to trap it, Animal Control can come and take care of it for you but if you are interested in selling it for the pelt, I bet you can find someone on Craigslist to take it. @cherwill also knows of someone so maybe she can pass on some info to you. Actually that just gave me another thought, which is to place an ad on Craigslist and see if there is a trapper who wants to come and place a trap for you. Pelt season runs from Nov-Feb (Danz, do you remember the exact dates? - its so many pages back now that I doubt I can find it easily) so there may be trappers out there just looking for an opportunity.

 

[HEChicken]

I hope everyone is doing good. Wind has started to pick up again in my area. I'm getting over flu still have cough but it's getting better. Dh is doing good still on chemo every other week and using the novottf device. Tumor has not changed sense Nov 8(recent MRI Jan 6). It measure 1.16 in in length and 1 in in diameter. The swelling has gone down. My flock is good have to many rooster need to get rid of. I only have 1 hen laying out of 12. But I'm trying to decided if I want to hatch this year or just buy pullets. Try not to get blown away

Sorry to hear you've been ill. I'm sure you wish your DH's tumor was getting smaller but I hope it is considered good news that it hasn't gotten any bigger? <<hugs>>

 

[Trish44]

Tis the season.

taz I hope your son feels better soon, I hate it when kids get sick. I hope we can stay well now the rest of the winter, we have already had two rounds here. My DH tends to bring things home from work & since my immune system isn't the best I always get it too. I can't handle any more sickness on top of a broken leg. Thanks so much again for coming out & helping us, I appreciated you being able to check on my birds for me, my DH just doesn't know anything about chickens at all & doesn't want to.

HEChicken- I don't really know how I'm supposed to take care of the fox problem. I never saw him, but I know that's what it was. Everyone I know on this side of town talks about seeing a fox, so how would I keep my chickens safe with all these foxes running around? Trust me, I'm scared to get more... I was sick over what happened. They were our pets, my kids named them and held them everyday. They knocked on my back door when they wanted to play. The only thing I can think of would be to not let them free range, but that's a pretty crappy existence in my opinion. Do foxes only "strike" when it's dark?

I agree with HEChicken, you really shouldn't get more birds until you make sure you have a safe environment for them. Once an animal like that finds food they will most surely come back looking for more. Foxes in town seem to be a growing trend & has been a problem for several people lately. They will strike in broad daylight unlike coyotes who usually come at dark or early in the morning. You may want to try setting a live trap, although they are hard to trap. I wouldn't get more chickens & let them free range until you know the fox is gone.

Finally, my g retreiver leaves my girls alone. I have walked away and they still live! Warm enough this morn, I spent some time outside with them and they have free run of the whole backyard. I am just sitting by back door sipping coffee and watching for hawks out back. Hope to set up my netting tomor, going to be int the 60's............defin ready for spring I am.

That's good about the dog, but I would still be on the lookout in case the dog has a lapse. They have an instinct for retrieving birds, it's what they were bred for. I agree, I'm ready for spring too, but unfortunately we have at least another month of winter & maybe more. I'm praying for an early spring myself.

 

[Trish44]

Tis the season.

taz, I hope your little boy feels better soon, I hate it when kids get sick. Thanks so much for coming out to help us this week, I appreciated you being able to check on my birds for me. My DH doesn't know anything about chickens & he really doesn't want to learn either.

HEChicken- I don't really know how I'm supposed to take care of the fox problem. I never saw him, but I know that's what it was. Everyone I know on this side of town talks about seeing a fox, so how would I keep my chickens safe with all these foxes running around? Trust me, I'm scared to get more... I was sick over what happened. They were our pets, my kids named them and held them everyday. They knocked on my back door when they wanted to play. The only thing I can think of would be to not let them free range, but that's a pretty crappy existence in my opinion. Do foxes only "strike" when it's dark?

I agree with HEChicken, you really shouldn't get more birds till you can provide a safe environment for them. Once an animal like that finds food it will be back to see if you have more. They will come in broad daylight unlike coyotes who usually come at night or early morning. You can try a live trap but they're hard to trap.

Finally, my g retreiver leaves my girls alone. I have walked away and they still live! Warm enough this morn, I spent some time outside with them and they have free run of the whole backyard. I am just sitting by back door sipping coffee and watching for hawks out back. Hope to set up my netting tomor, going to be int the 60's............defin ready for spring I am.

That's good about the dog, but I would still be on the lookout because retrievers have an instinct to do just that retrieve birds. The dog could still have a lapse in judgment & it would just be doing what it was bred to do. I agree with you, I'm ready for spring too, I'm praying for an early one.

 

[Trish44]

Sorry about the double post, the darned editor was acting up & I thought I had lost my post so I wrote it again, grrrr.

 

[ashncarson]

Ashncarson, I like your little silkie /Duccle cross, I bet it's a friendly little thing, we have a little mille fleur and she is real sweet. I feel bad for her tho, cuz she is the only little bird we have. She looks funny standing next to the big Brahma roo but she has learned that nobody picks on you when you stand next to him.

Thanks Here is a photo I took of her just a few minutes ago! Its the first time she has been in the nest box! The mille fleur are so pretty! Do they lay pretty small eggs? I have a black one as well, that has a small amount of copper. If they both lay tiny, I might end up re-homing the black one for a larger laying chicken.

Our black one is the low end of the flock...not sure where this one stands yet, when we first got her she lived in the coop 3 days becuase they pecked her so bad

 

[HEChicken]

Mille Fleur is actually a color, rather than a breed, Ash. It is from french and means "million flowers" and the color is so named because the mottling effect looks like a "million flowers" are printed all over the bird. Here is a picture of my mille fleur bantam cochin as an example. The coloration of Mille Fleur can be found in several other breeds as well.

 

[22qZoo]

wow, blustery day!
Lizzy -did you guys get buried by tumble weeds? They showed some pictures on the news last night of tumble weed drifts some 20ft high up against buildings !

CHICKENROOKIE- that's my favorite thing too. When the kids are at school and I'm at home I waste a-LOT of time watching chickens and having coffee,I can turn the washing machine on and start sauteing onions really fast tho ,and then it makes it seem like I've been hard at it all day.

 

[chicken danz]

I had posted earlier and the thing disappeared when I hit submit. I didn't have time to write it all over again. I went out and caged up 8 more roosters and took them to town and picked up a prescription as well. So I apologize for not responding to everyone.
My buyer said he had someone else wanting roosters as well and wanted to know when I'd have more ready for butcher. I had 6 roosters go yesterday. It's sad that I have all these extra roos around here that I just can't sell for meat. They were too expensive as chicks in the first place or from expensive breeders and they are good quality birds that it would be insane to butcher. If the weather is more cooperative tomorrow I might see what I can do about figuring out who I need to sell and need to keep.
I don't know about where the rest of you are but the wind is totally insane here. Just as bad or worse than it was a couple days ago when it was blowing 50 MPH. I saw a 20 foot metal building completely turned upside down sitting on it's roof today. This is a steal framed building. I had thought about buying one of those but that kind of convinced me maybe I should just stick to the pole structure. There's something to be said for just buying something than waiting forever to get post holes drilled so you can build.
It also got extremely cloudy and gloomy out there. There wasn't any rain predicted but we could sure get some.

 

[ashncarson]

Mille Fleur is actually a color, rather than a breed, Ash. It is from french and means "million flowers" and the color is so named because the mottling effect looks like a "million flowers" are printed all over the bird. Here is a picture of my mille fleur bantam cochin as an example. The coloration of Mille Fleur can be found in several other breeds as well.

yes, I meant as a mille fleur as a d'uccle, and meant as a whole do "d'uccle" lay small eggs.....but I found my answer.....

The chicken that I thought was laying the eggs the past 2 weeks was actually her! and they are small brown eggs!