I think silkies have five toes. Maybe favorelles too.I don't know.Would feather feet leave a proper footprint or would the feathers rub them out as they go?
You may have to get dinosaur footprints for a 5 toed breed. ( Huh, five toes? I didn't know that was a thing.)
Not laughing at you here. I think it's very commendable.Don’t laugh at me, I wash straws in soapy water, run water through to rinse, stand them in a glass to dry, and reuse them.
)
There are only a few breeds with 5 toes. Houdans and dorkings are clean legged. Silkies, faverolles, and sultans have feathered.I don't know.
You may have to get dinosaur footprints for a 5 toed breed. ( Huh, five toes? I didn't know that was a thing.)
Oh that's dreadful.Came home from work today, having had a good day. found pullets (and cockerel) up near the house. Closer than normal, but they've been working their way closer. Got pasta treat. They came back up in a hurry. then saw 1 off in the yard, not moving. Go check it out.....Dead Nika, my Dominique. no obvious signs of cause, but cold. Looking around, see Sheba, my RIR, also a corpse. See little Storm, running around (NOT a corpse), where's mama? Keep looking. Find corpse of the double laced golden wyandotte, followed by Dora (the pic posted earlier). Have seen Silver and a partridge rock....not sure if Mama or not, but not near Storm. Find Mama on other side of Russian olives, also a corpse (definitely mama as her comb is smaller than the 2IC's comb. Then spot Rusty on the track down below. Feathers everywhere thigh plucked. Finally (after talking with nearest neighbors (1 of whom also has chickens)), find Thing 1, the smart Houdan, torn open. Never did find Helen, my silver Phoenix. Based upon all the senseless killing and the size difference between Rusty and Helen, the smallest, I'm thinking a dog. I need a fence. RIP feathered friends.
View attachment 2810433View attachment 2810432View attachment 2810440
View attachment 2810426
Of the birds in pictures, I still have little Storm in #4, and the barred bird in the pic around the feeder. I also have the 2 with just tails showing. I took the pic of Rusty on Sunday. View attachment 2810449
No one saw/heard anything so don't know if it was someone's pet or a stray. One of the neighbors did see a stray the other day. The foxes back in May I understand. feeding family. This is senseless.
Silkies are one of the breeds with 5 toes. One of the many things I used to find weird about them but are now adorable. I've heard some silkies can have 6 toes, that may be pushing it a bit much for me on the weirdness level.I don't know.
You may have to get dinosaur footprints for a 5 toed breed. ( Huh, five toes? I didn't know that was a thing.)
OMG. My heart breaks for you. So much senseless loss. You must be devastated.Came home from work today, having had a good day. found pullets (and cockerel) up near the house. Closer than normal, but they've been working their way closer. Got pasta treat. They came back up in a hurry. then saw 1 off in the yard, not moving. Go check it out.....Dead Nika, my Dominique. no obvious signs of cause, but cold. Looking around, see Sheba, my RIR, also a corpse. See little Storm, running around (NOT a corpse), where's mama? Keep looking. Find corpse of the double laced golden wyandotte, followed by Dora (the pic posted earlier). Have seen Silver and a partridge rock....not sure if Mama or not, but not near Storm. Find Mama on other side of Russian olives, also a corpse (definitely mama as her comb is smaller than the 2IC's comb. Then spot Rusty on the track down below. Feathers everywhere thigh plucked. Finally (after talking with nearest neighbors (1 of whom also has chickens)), find Thing 1, the smart Houdan, torn open. Never did find Helen, my silver Phoenix. Based upon all the senseless killing and the size difference between Rusty and Helen, the smallest, I'm thinking a dog. I need a fence. RIP feathered friends.
View attachment 2810433View attachment 2810432View attachment 2810440
View attachment 2810426
Of the birds in pictures, I still have little Storm in #4, and the barred bird in the pic around the feeder. I also have the 2 with just tails showing. I took the pic of Rusty on Sunday. View attachment 2810449
No one saw/heard anything so don't know if it was someone's pet or a stray. One of the neighbors did see a stray the other day. The foxes back in May I understand. feeding family. This is senseless.
Planning is good. Concrete actions that you can take can help.Shock, followed by pissed, mostly, going cold anger, which is good; I can still think/plan. Last time my young rooster was 9 months (rusty). This time, Cheetah isn't even crowing yet and at least one of the others the same age is still peeping rather than croaking/honking. I love dogs, but I catch this one, I'm going to be putting it in my crosshairs and shooting it. I did get confirmation from the other neighbor that the motion sensor solar power garden spot light works great!. Anything comes in on that angle at night, and they should get lit up nicely. Problem is during the day, and with this looking like a dog, stray or not, people-around-predator-deterrents won't have any effect. One of the neighbors has some trap traps and offered to deploy. I don't want the cat or chickens caught, so not a good plan at this point. Fence probably best option: going to be checking classifieds/Craig's list for materials. I handled all the birds tonight, willing or not. Needed to check wounds: none on remaining birds. Silver has a couple of small black spots on her comb, probably from avoiding Rusty. She's still moulting. Storm has a perch on top of the nipple water bucket (a black rubber bin wedged into the top) with the heat lamp on above that. I guess we're starting the test early to see if it keeps the water from freezing come winter. The nipple system is new and teaching the adults to use it got interesting (peanut butter with scratch/treats stuck to it). The littles all have it figured out. Not sure how I'm going to work things in the winter with a fence. Main water sources outside the coop in winter have been crock pots in several locales set to warm. Maybe instead of fence, shift all to carport, gate/ fence end, line inside (metal walls). Have electrical sockets there, skylight, larger space and water spigot just outside.... could set up inner/outer....rake out the gravel....which supplies can I find first.... I'm rambling/running in mental circles. time to try to get some sleep so can work on addressing the ground predator issues in the morning
So do I. They always seem happy.
I usually cry over everything (happy, sad, angry, frustrated, for others who should be crying but aren't). Rarely do I get so pissed I don't cry. I've been up off and on all night my temper is still going, and I'm debating: let them out today (have the day off) after we get back from getting the heater fixed (thank you packrat!) with loaded rifle by the door, or keep them locked up today to 1, be safe and 2, settle into the new order. 3rd option, follow up on some of the free to $10 roosters listed on craigslist....problem is most of those are around the same age as the pullets and I still have Cheetah.OMG. My heart breaks for you. So much senseless loss. You must be devastated.
