Cornish Thread

[OHmamma]

Sorry to hear that. I lost a couple of birds to foxes this year. The scoundrels were coming and killing four or five carrying two off and hiding the rest in my hay field for later. We surprisesd them on thier return...... I heard that the Marten only like fresh meat do you have those around you? They are fierce creatures for their size, I tried to trap one using a live trap that had a live bait box attached. I never did. Found out my problem was a coyote anyway, that time.

I hope you can recover after the loss.

-Nicol

 

[Cedarknob]

Thank you both for the kind words. Getting out from under my old home is a real blessing, but by the end of today I am just as poor as I was when I woke up. LOL After paying the fees, the taxes, and the liens against it, there was not much more left than it took to buy a cheap, solar powered, fence charger.

 

[OHmamma]

Ain't no day like today to stat over!

 

[kfacres]

steve lost all of his birds again.

how many times will it take? I'd say it's time to abort on the bottomless, movable, snow fence pens- seriously- how many birds have you lost over the last year and a half-- that I've known you?

If you insist on movable pens-- I'd be putting wire bottoms on them-- otherwise- stationary and built to last will be the only way to go...

 

[heritagehabitatfarms]

get a really good dog... if you have to u can tie them to the cage and put a dog house nearby...

 

[aviangems]

Get some dogs for your place.

Predators keep other predators away.

 

[Cedarknob]

get a really good dog... if you have to u can tie them to the cage and put a dog house nearby...

I always believed that good guard dog for my property was a great asset. The law here says that I am liable if my dog bites a person or another dog coming on my property, even if my dog is tied and/or fenced, unless that person or dog can be proven to be a threat to my own physical safety. It kind of defeats the purpose of having one.

I am making progress at making my birds more secure against predators and thieves, but obviously paid a price for the time it is taking me. I guess this predator prefers quality, they went past pens that were easier to tear into and picked the pen of DC. Last year a human picked a couple of hatchery type Cornish to steal while I was gone for a weekend to the Indianapolis show. I do not want to speculate about who knew where to find them and had access to the fact that I was gone to the show.

Today was wasted just spinning my wheels, trying to find a new tire for my mower so I could mow where my electric fence is going. [I will put up temporary hot wire around the small area of the pens and then start the on the permanent chain link I now have waiting to go up, with electric wire added top and bottom. It is working well on my grow out pen in another area of the property.] A few weeks ago I let a sales person talk me into buying a tire more narrow than what it is supposed to be. It was the third place I had looked, so I told them go ahead. It did not fit the rim, they forced it on, it leaked at the rim when they tested it, so they remounted it. I told them I was afraid the bead had been damaged, and they said it was guaranteed. Yesterday, by the time I got home to start working on the fencing, it was flat and would not seat on the rim to fill. Naturally the sales slip has been misplaced. LOL I tried several places today with no luck, and the rest that I could think of had closed at noon. I finally just bought an inner tube and will see if I can get it in that tire tonight. Guess I better get busy.

 

[galanie]

Well my one hatchery DC got some baby chicks finally. I wanted to see how good a broody she'd be. After setting for a few weeks I know she'll set! And now with the 3 little feed store EE chicks, she's a great mom. Yesterday she proved to the rest of the flock that she's a real chicken and not to be trifled with. (all the rest are Orpingtons) She and her chicks sleep in their own little coop but the whole flock is out together during the day.

"Second in Command" buff Orp messed with one of her chicks. HUGE mistake. Then the Top Girl, the Queen of the Coop, intervened and got her butt kicked! That DC showed those fluffy butted Orps that there's real muscle under those dark feathers! It looked like a cock fight but no blood was drawn. I watched and let them work it out. Lets just say that the DC has established herself as something that shouldn't be trifled with. All I said was that it's about time. She's been posturing and warning them for a long time. Guess she finally had enough.

I love Cornish that way. They are tough.

 

[Cedarknob]

Well my one hatchery DC got some baby chicks finally. I wanted to see how good a broody she'd be. After setting for a few weeks I know she'll set! And now with the 3 little feed store EE chicks, she's a great mom. Yesterday she proved to the rest of the flock that she's a real chicken and not to be trifled with. (all the rest are Orpingtons) She and her chicks sleep in their own little coop but the whole flock is out together during the day.
"Second in Command" buff Orp messed with one of her chicks. HUGE mistake. Then the Top Girl, the Queen of the Coop, intervened and got her butt kicked! That DC showed those fluffy butted Orps that there's real muscle under those dark feathers! It looked like a cock fight but no blood was drawn. I watched and let them work it out. Lets just say that the DC has established herself as something that shouldn't be trifled with. All I said was that it's about time. She's been posturing and warning them for a long time. Guess she finally had enough.
I love Cornish that way. They are tough.

Congratulations.

Sometimes watching chickens can be more entertaining than anything available on the TV can't it? I'd much rather drop a June bug in the brooder than sit and watch most football games. LOL

 

[Cedarknob]

I tried a dry hatch last weekend, though did not use a hygrometer and outside humidity has been sky high, so do not know what the hatcher was actually running at. I also had no DC eggs in there. However, after a 6 hour power outage resulting from the storm we had here Friday night, with no attempt on my part to keep the eggs warm, all but two eggs hatched One had pipped at the wrong end and probably drowned. I get my best results by hatching with the eggs standing on their pointy ends rather than laying naturally, but those pipping at the wrong end sometimes don't make it either way. I'm not sure if they needed it or not, but had three eggs that had stalled [from the whites under my now only DC cockerel of breeding age] that I helped zip.

"Stalled" is not really the right word. They had pipped and not yet attempted to zip, possibly slow because of the power outage. I had the last of my DC eggs of this year waiting to go in, so a few hours after the end of the 21st day I zipped them, and set them back in. They were really not quite ready; no blood in the outer membrane, yolk absorbed, but still puffy where they had been attached to the yolk when they climbed out of the half shell.. Some here probably have seen it and know a term for it; it looks a little like a prolapsed hen, and chicks that hatched a bit early sometimes show it. They sometimes seem to get infection entering there and die at around one week, so don't know if these will make it or not. I did disinfect them with an Oxine solution and applied a medicated salve before moving them to the brooder. Last week another hatched on its own that way and never grew, finally needing culled last night. Some have made it in the past. I have not tried disinfecting their bottoms before.