Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Folks, I know I'm the odd one out

, but I WISH I had a snake like that! Used to have one that lived under the shed. No rats/mice/voles. Snake gone = have had more rats/mice/voles!

Did you know they also eat eggs? I've seen them swallow an entire chicken egg and have bumps all down their body where they had swallowed others. Last year I was loosing peacock and goose eggs and found that the snakes were putting their jaws around the egg and breaking it, then eating the contents 'cause the eggs were too big to get it all in their mouths. I've seen more than one snake curled up in a nest box as well. A outdoor cat does wonders for mice.
I'm not afraid of snakes, except aggressive ones like blue racers and cotton mouths. (Thank goodness we don't have cotton mouths around here) I actually grab snakes with bare hands. But they are NOT welcome here.
Lat night on the news they said they feared the weather was setting up for a drought year because of the lack of precipitation we had gotten in February. We got hammered last night so there certainly isn't any drought happening here. I don't know why they were thinking that anyway. Anything over a foot down was muddy as of yesterday. Now I can't do the dirt work I planned for this week.

 

[Plinky]

Yes, I knew that. I can see why people would not want them around for that reason as well. I still like them, though. I would get an outdoor cat, but there is familial opposition! There are however a couple belonging to neighbors that circulate.
What I really hate are the dang rabbits. Have plans to trap them.
here in Lawrence up to now it has barely sprinkled. things are very dry. other than a couple of very light snows there has been nothing. much like the past two years. I'm worried that it will all come down in the spring, again, like the past two years. ruined potato crop and other things.

 

[tlzimmerman]

I live in the heart of rattlesnake country. We kill 50+ a summer in and around where we work live and play. I'll leave all the garter snakes I can, and I welcome bull snakes too, but I'll probably be relocating them now away from my Chickens as they will eat chickens and eggs.

 

[Trish44]

Folks, I know I'm the odd one out

, but I WISH I had a snake like that! Used to have one that lived under the shed. No rats/mice/voles. Snake gone = have had more rats/mice/voles!

I'm in agreement with Danz on that one, I hate snakes & we have plenty of farm cats to eat mice & such. This snake was so big that the dogs & cats were actually freaked out by it.

Hello, hello from the heart of Kansas City! Hope my new brood grows up to be Royals fans.

Welcome to our thread! What kind of chicks did you get?

I'm with you! I love to see snakes around, but aside from tiny little garter snakes, we don't see many here. That being said, my chickens and their eggs have never been threatened by them either.

We have all kinds of snakes here. I also know we have rattlers in this area, fortunately I haven't happened on one of those, I would have a heart attack.

Yesterday was such a nice day I decided to burn a big pile of brush that had been sitting out in our orchard & I took apart my old pen that was rotting & threw that wood on it too. I'm going to reuse the hardware cloth that was on it in my little duckling pen because it's still good. I was really glad to get those two things done.

 

[TattooedChicks]

@Trish44 I got a bakers dozen of bantam BB Old English and Fleur Milles on Saturday.

 

[mamalovescoffee]

Well, we got our chicks! We have 4 Australorps & 4 Barred Rocks. I got a couple extra figuring they wouldn't all make it, but so far they all seem very vigorous. They're not even a week old yet, though, so we'll see.

My question is about the run. The spot where we're building it is covered in vinca. Since we'll have to dig that out, should we take the opportunity to add gravel under the run to help with drainage or will it just end up mixed in with the litter & be a big hassle? Our yard is very shady with an abundant supply of autumn leaves which we plan to use for deep litter. The coop is situated on a relatively level spot but our lot is on a bit of a hill, so there will be some unavoidable runoff that passes through, though there has never been standing water and the run is covered.

I'm also starting to second-guess myself about… well, everything, but especially coop & run placement relative to our and our neighbor's houses. How close to your bedroom window would you want a nice-looking chicken coop, provided it wasn't smelly?

 

[Trish44]

Well, we got our chicks! We have 4 Australorps & 4 Barred Rocks. I got a couple extra figuring they wouldn't all make it, but so far they all seem very vigorous. They're not even a week old yet, though, so we'll see.

My question is about the run. The spot where we're building it is covered in vinca. Since we'll have to dig that out, should we take the opportunity to add gravel under the run to help with drainage or will it just end up mixed in with the litter & be a big hassle? Our yard is very shady with an abundant supply of autumn leaves which we plan to use for deep litter. The coop is situated on a relatively level spot but our lot is on a bit of a hill, so there will be some unavoidable runoff that passes through, though there has never been standing water and the run is covered.

I'm also starting to second-guess myself about… well, everything, but especially coop & run placement relative to our and our neighbor's houses. How close to your bedroom window would you want a nice-looking chicken coop, provided it wasn't smelly?

Congrats on getting your chicks. I wouldn't put gravel in the run because you will eventually be shoveling that out with the stuff building up in there. I would think the gravel would just make it harder to deal with. You could put some around the outside of the run because you will need to run your wire down below the bottom of the run to stop things from digging in & you could cover the wire with gravel if you wanted to. Be sure if you're building your run with wood on the bottom to use treated wood. It may not be the smell that bothers your neighbors if the coop is really close but the noise the hens make while laying. It's something to keep in mind.

 

[Trish44]

@Trish44 I got a bakers dozen of bantam BB Old English and Fleur Milles on Saturday.

Congrats on getting your chicks as well. Do you mean Mille Fleur & if so what breed? Mille Fleur is a color. I have Mille Fleur bantam Cochins & Mille Fleur Leghorns.

 

[TattooedChicks]

@Trish44 Feather footed bantams! Sorry, I'm still learning all this breed terminology, now I know there are mille fleur leghorns too!

 

[mamalovescoffee]

[COLOR=0000FF]Congrats on getting your chicks. I wouldn't put gravel in the run because you will eventually be shoveling that out with the stuff building up in there. I would think the gravel would just make it harder to deal with. You could put some around the outside of the run because you will need to run your wire down below the bottom of the run to stop things from digging in & you could cover the wire with gravel if you wanted to. Be sure if you're building your run with wood on the bottom to use treated wood. It may not be the smell that bothers your neighbors if the coop is really close but the noise the hens make while laying. It's something to keep in mind. [/COLOR]

Yes… the noise… I think we are going to have to move this thing. The new site has a slope and maple tree roots to deal with, but better winter sun, at least. Time to roll up our sleeves.