Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

It closes softly, which ought to take a lot of risk out of the sides.

Yes, I thought of that - likely will, but depends on when the soft close starts, probably enough to let them wriggle out.

 

[rural mouse]

I have lost 2 chickens to my own dogs and one duck to either a cat or coon. The foxes and coyotes avoid our neighborhood I believe due to the amount of dogs. It was a chore to get all 11 dogs broke from chasing chickens.

How'd you do it?

 

[micstrachan]

Oh Bob… I am so sorry for your loss and the trauma to Hattie… and the whole tribe. Good to see Hattie starting to recover. They do get traumatized, and there’s a lot going on in those chicken brains and hearts that we don’t always fully know. She will eventually get back to herself more and more.

After the mink attack here, which occurred in their coop, I had to physically put almost all 60 of the survivors up the first three nights (after I repaired the door, trapped and shot the mink, and cleaned the coop thoroughly and put in fresh bedding). “Not safe there anymore” was the chicken consensus. Five girls persisted in attempting to roost anywhere as far from the coop as possible for almost two weeks. Trees, fences, under my trailer, you name it, anywhere but the site of the attack.

Aww… poor little sweethearts. Almost makes me cry.

 

[micstrachan]

Spot on. There was enough weight on a late 60’s caravan door stoop to just push it over the edge… like so many other things, I just hadn’t gotten to fixing it, and the little soft spot and gap in the flooring right at the entrance allowed gnawing and it got bigger without my noticing it. The little monster widened the gap to about a 2” hole, and got in in the early morning. Absolute carnage.

Spoiler: Awful Mink story

I noticed it was too quiet when I approached to open the door, and upon opening started cursing like you wouldn’t believe. Initially no one would come out, I had to pull out most of the fallen, before I could even step inside. I herded the survivors out from the back roosts and tossed some Feed Out by my trailer and set to cleaning out the rest. As I was pulling a youngling out from behind the dog crate broody box there was a scurrying noise and I spotted it. It was still in there. I covered the door hole with a nest box, fetched my raccoon trap and a smaller mink trap and a garden claw/weed hook thingie with a long handle.

It took almost an hour to trap it. It was terrifying, hissing and jumping at me in attempts to escape. The roosts made cornering it very difficult. The little bugger was strong, like you wouldn’t believe strong. It almost forced its way out of the raccoon trap, and I had to hold the flap closed. It bit my finger through the The trap, despite the hand guard, because of the way I had to hold the trap to keep it in. I set it out and weighted the trap door closed with a rock, then covered it with a stove rack and then plywood to keep it dry, because it was pouring rain to boot. It actually got out past the flap door of the trap but was trapped by the rack. Then I had to wait for the .22, again. I will be buying a .22 and possibly a .303 once the house is done and I have a place for a gun safe. And I will be getting my PAL (possession and acquisition license) because guns are harder to own here. But those two days and waiting on it really drove in the “you need to have this tool, even if you don’t really like them” lesson.

I upgraded my phone and it didn’t like the 3000+ photos I hadn’t backed up on the data transfer, or I would repost that picture… lol such a cute bull! After the mink attack I heard a predator kerfuffle a couple nights later outside and set a trap to be prudent; two days later I caught this! I don’t have neighbours, the farm proper is about 2km away… and he was not happy! I believe that this might be why I haven’t had as many rodent issues with my feed in the barn, and it reassured me that the last year or so I kept swearing I heard a cat outside and everyone thought I was nuts, I wasn’t! View attachment 2989532
Sad story tax:View attachment 2989533

Oh boy. That is so brutal. Honestly, I might be admitted to a psychological ward if that happened to my girls. But then, I’d probably be strong because the survivors would need me. So sorry all of you had to go through that.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

No need! Today DH said he’d build me a coop to save money. Yay! I’m so excited! I will be right alongside him so it turns out how I want. I know with absolute certainty the quality will be good, as he does very good work. I just don’t want him trying to control the size. I want an absolute minimum of 6x8. He has these wooden stages I’d like to use as a floor, so that might dictate the exact dimensions.

Yay!
As long as your marriage survives doing construction together? (Been there, and we're still together 40 years later, still doing projects too.)

 

[micstrachan]

Ok I did see @rural mouse and @featherhead007 you comments about running a test on laces... Did this for u and Pangoo said 'I is a handsome wee Ladd and sometimes I am a bad wee Ladd but today I am just handsome'.

He’s beautiful. And huge.

 

[Kris5902]

I feel so wary about the Cooper's Hawk. This is a good idea and it's a good way to try out aviary netting (get the square-knotted, not diagonal knotted, easier to work with), but I'm afraid it's backup for your presence, buying you time. I don't know but I'm thinking the Cooper's can probably takeoff and fly horizontally from the ground pretty fast, and could follow them into the run. It's so scary. The Cooper's previous attack was when you were out there in the yard with them, so it seems it had no fear of your presence. Like a tiger, it knew when you turned around!

I mostly get red tails, but have had coopers and sharp shins try to take my smaller chicks, 2-3month sized… I was sitting in the trailer and the door was open I saw a flash of grey and the sudden SERIOUS predator alarm. It made a try for my Bully girls chicks that all made it under my jeep. Following the grey flash was a white one. She attacked the hawk! Was pummeling it with her wings a flogging like a rooster a good 50+ feet into the tree line. The one that was taking out my rogue mamas babies (successfully) was a red tail. The only predators I hate more than the hawks/falcons are the mink and Barred Owls.

 

[Kris5902]

Awesome hahaha nope not had chickens in trucks yet....

Had bears in the trucks on work sites though! And one got in the office trailers, got photos of it checking out the photocopier haha

I tried to get a photo of Rose testing out my lawn tractor steering wheel as a roost....

Black bears are a little scary, but where my Uncle lives (and my mom used to) Dawson Creek BC, they get Grizzlies… they had them trying to break into their feed barn for the horses, and even their house. A Problem bear was leaving paw prints on the doors! We used to get black bears frequently in North Vancouver, and I have to say one thing I love about our island is the No Large Predators. I can walk through the woods at any time with no concerns. Except there was that wolf once…

 

[featherhead007]

Yay!
As long as your marriage survives doing construction together? (Been there, and we're still together 40 years later, still doing projects too.)

I have heard horror stories about remodeling homes causing broken homes!

 

[Kris5902]

No need! Today DH said he’d build me a coop to save money. Yay! I’m so excited! I will be right alongside him so it turns out how I want. I know with absolute certainty the quality will be good, as he does very good work. I just don’t want him trying to control the size. I want an absolute minimum of 6x8. He has these wooden stages I’d like to use as a floor, so that might dictate the exact dimensions.

Awesome news!