FLORIDA!!!!!ALWAYS SUNNY SIDE UP!!!

[nanasacres]

@luvmychis What an ordeal for so early in the morning. I can tell you truly luv

your chickens.
Thanks for taking time to describe your and your chick's harrowing experience.
Hoping she recovers quickly and completely.

 

[luvmychis]

Thanks for that idea. I'll have to see if I can find a trap I can borrow. Yep, short ride down the road aught to do it just fine.

Sorry for all the editing done this morning. I'm not usually that prolific but today got me rolling but good. At least I only got ***** . I didn't use any real harsh words. LOL

 

[cmom]

If you catch it and going to release it, go further than down the road or it will be back. My coops and pens are very critter proof but recently I had seen tracks down by my barn and knew there was one around. I used the live trap because they are night time predators. I catch them and permanently relocate them. In the past I have lost birds to possums. Even though I am in a rural area I don't want to alarm the neighbors either even though they don't live very close they can still hear a gun shot and in the wee hours of the morning. People around here have guns and mostly on the weekends we hear them shooting.

 

[chickrunfun]

Announcement!
One of our 6 month old chicks laid her first egg this morning!
Yeppie!!


The white is a large (store bought)
Way to go Jeanie! Not a bad size for her first egg!


Plus while at the feed store, my wife saw the new chicks and...yep...two new chicks at our ark, I mean place.
Both are R. I. Reds. She's been wanting some for ages.





Also, wanted to show my "new" brooder. My daughter got herself a new dresser (her mom's from when she was growing up) we just got the dresser and night side table from her mom's place this past 2 weeks ago. Kid loves it, told her friends it's vintage! So I turned around and repurposed the old dresser. Took the supports the drawers sat on and stacked them on the ends and near dead center, on the bottom.



Put the wire cloth over the supports and tacked them down. Used the sides of one of the drawers and put that in front of the wire floor. (This elevated it so I got baby poop that can drop down into egg cartons for easy clean up! You can see them right clear in these pictures. Set an upright near dead center (scrap wood) used an old grate from my junk pile...little scrap of small chicken wire and shims zipped tied together and secured with gorilla glue make up the lift gate...



Drilled a hole up top and supported the light with a bit of cloth wire...drilled in some screws to hold that in place. This way I can adjust the height.. Bungee cord to secure the lift gate in place at the corner and it all cost me...nada.! Zero deniro! All repurposed materials baby!

Wife thinks my addition of the Eat More Chicken cow is"Just wrong" I think it's funny. The also got a duck to cuddle but she didnt say nothing about that now did she? Newp.


Oh...Names are: On top pf the duck is Lucy. In the nest box is Scarlet. Ain't they cute!

 

[cmom]

Announcement!
One of our 6 month old chicks laid her first egg this morning!
Yeppie!!


The white is a large (store bought)
Way to go Jeanie! Not a bad size for her first egg!


Plus while at the feed store, my wife saw the new chicks and...yep...two new chicks at our ark, I mean place.
Both are R. I. Reds. She's been wanting some for ages.





Also, wanted to show my "new" brooder. My daughter got herself a new dresser (her mom's from when she was growing up) we just got the dresser and night side table from her mom's place this past 2 weeks ago. Kid loves it, told her friends it's vintage! So I turned around and repurposed the old dresser. Took the supports the drawers sat on and stacked them on the ends and near dead center, on the bottom.



Put the wire cloth over the supports and tacked them down. Used the sides of one of the drawers and put that in front of the wire floor. (This elevated it so I got baby poop that can drop down into egg cartons for easy clean up! You can see them right clear in these pictures. Set an upright near dead center (scrap wood) used an old grate from my junk pile...little scrap of small chicken wire and shims zipped tied together and secured with gorilla glue make up the lift gate...



Drilled a hole up top and supported the light with a bit of cloth wire...drilled in some screws to hold that in place. This way I can adjust the height.. Bungee cord to secure the lift gate in place at the corner and it all cost me...nada.! Zero deniro! All repurposed materials baby!

Wife thinks my addition of the Eat More Chicken cow is"Just wrong" I think it's funny. The also got a duck to cuddle but she didnt say nothing about that now did she? Newp.


Oh...Names are: On top pf the duck is Lucy. In the nest box is Scarlet. Ain't they cute!

 

[nanasacres]

Very nice repurposing of the dresser. Thanks for the pictorial. Sorry, I would sympathize with your wife (eat more chicken). You don't have to tell her.

 

[caeti21]

Announcement! One of our 6 month old chicks laid her first egg this morning! Yeppie!! The white is a large (store bought) Way to go Jeanie! Not a bad size for her first egg! Plus while at the feed store, my wife saw the new chicks and...yep...two new chicks at our ark, I mean place. Both are R. I. Reds. She's been wanting some for ages. Also, wanted to show my "new" brooder. My daughter got herself a new dresser (her mom's from when she was growing up) we just got the dresser and night side table from her mom's place this past 2 weeks ago. Kid loves it, told her friends it's vintage! So I turned around and repurposed the old dresser. Took the supports the drawers sat on and stacked them on the ends and near dead center, on the bottom. Put the wire cloth over the supports and tacked them down. Used the sides of one of the drawers and put that in front of the wire floor. (This elevated it so I got baby poop that can drop down into egg cartons for easy clean up! You can see them right clear in these pictures. Set an upright near dead center (scrap wood) used an old grate from my junk pile...little scrap of small chicken wire and shims zipped tied together and secured with gorilla glue make up the lift gate... Drilled a hole up top and supported the light with a bit of cloth wire...drilled in some screws to hold that in place. This way I can adjust the height.. Bungee cord to secure the lift gate in place at the corner and it all cost me...nada.! Zero deniro! All repurposed materials baby! Wife thinks my addition of the Eat More Chicken cow is"Just wrong" I think it's funny. The also got a duck to cuddle but she didnt say nothing about that now did she? Newp. Oh...Names are: On top pf the duck is Lucy. In the nest box is Scarlet. Ain't they cute!

Thats pretty cool , the eat more chicken cow made me laugh lol , thats awesome though

 

[caeti21]

Up all night, working on Stats and taxes. What the hell, I have nothing going on in the morning. Go in the kitchen around 3:30AM to get a drink and hear a commotion in the back yard, big chicken squawk, and a kablam into the chainlink fence! What do I do? Grab the flashlight and go running out, like I'm gonna do something in my jammies and no shoes. Need to make sure the hens are OK. Get out there, see nothing but feathers at first. My Blue English Orpington, too heavy to get high up on the ladder. Keep looking, turn around behind me, there she is, in the corner by the gate, freaking out and all puffed up.
I get down to try to calm her and check her for injuries and what's attached? A ****** Possum!! I grab the bird, kicking at the possum, as he runs up the fence and across the top. I'm hollaring at him to get the hell out of here, beating him with my little flashlight. Because, you know, that's gonna do a lot of damage, as I'm slipping and sliding in chicken ****, holding the bleeding chicken who's flapping and trying to get away in one arm, and whacking the possum with the other. Now mind you, this is not a Mag light, heavy duty flashlight that could do some damage. Nope, it's a new LED tactical flashlight about 5 inches long. About the size of my hand. Duh! Did I think to put the bird down, grab the metal rake, and knock the ****** thing to the moon? No, he might have gotten away if I wasn't eyeing him the whole way off my fence. My God! No brains at that time of the morning, no sleep, and adrenaline kicking! ****** thing turned around and hissed at me, and I'm like, "Oh hell no you didn't!" and I whacked him across the head. You'd think it'd get the message and at least get down, but noooooo, he ran all the way around the pen on the top of the fence until he could jump into the woods.
Now I'm back to the house with a bleeding chicken, blood all over me, covered in muck. Get her settled in my bathtub, clean her up to figure out what's going on, because, hey, I've doctored birds all my life..NOT! Did the best I could for her. Bleeding is stopped, she's settled in a make shift nesting box, lights down low, and I'm finally cleaned up. Oh my God, I can't make this stuff up!!!
I got about a 3 hour nap between 6-9 when my daughter calls to ask me if it's snowing at my house. What? You got it. Snow flurries in NE FL for God's sake. I don't do cold and snow. I live in FL to avoid that stuff. Anyway, my hen is doing good, but her feathers are a mess where I cleaned her off with peroxide and then flushed it all with Chlorhexaderm. She has one small puncture under her wing and the rest of the blood seems to have been coming from broken feathers. I think I got all the blood off but since her feathers a such a tangled mess, and I worry the others will pick on her, she's back out in the pen but in a separate small coop. They can see her but no one can get to her. Do chickens clean their feathers like other birds? How will that work out so she can rejoin the flock? How long do you think I should keep her apart? Do you have any suggestions on anything I should do? Repairs and new work being done on the big coop today so that's it's totally secure. Nothing getting in and nothing getting out. Lost my Black English Orpington and I'm not prepared to lose any more chickens. So thankful I happened to catch this one in time. The only regret I have is not killing the ****** possum. The time that living in a subdivision restricts things that you can do. If he comes back when my husband is home, all bets are off though. He'll get out the .22 and be danged with the neighbors.
So that's the start of my week-end. How about you?

Lisa

Wow that is crazy , we been havong chicken hawks hovering around our pens i ran out there like a crazy lady in my jammies too so dont feel alone lol but the whole possum thing thats insane definitely trap and dispose of it for sure , im glad your hen is ok , i personally if the wounds big give her a dose of antibiotics and put neosporin on it but i would keep her away from the others till her wounds are healed so the other chickens dont pick at her sores and make them worse

 

[cmom]

I encourage the crows to hang around. Yesterday I gave them leftover pizza. They are so used to getting stuff that they hang around. They will chase off any hawks that come around.

 

[LocalYokel]

I encourage the crows to hang around. Yesterday I gave them leftover pizza. They are so used to getting stuff that they hang around. They will chase off any hawks that come around.