FoodKiller's chicken journal!

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

I second Baymule's comments! Being new to owning chickens and quail myself, I can attest to the fact that it is a true learn as you go experience. Every time I think I know it all I learn something new. I love how you said that the Dinosaur was yelling...you put such a human "feel" to your pets and it makes your journal very endearing. Please continue!

 

[FoodKillah]

19 December 2010 - Update with some pictures
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Hey Baymule thanks for your kind words, i feel better already, always good to hear from you.
(edit: Thanks BigDaddy'sGurl i absolutely feel like that, it is really a learn as you go experience, and there is a long way to go to that simple chicken keeping hobby)

Today i got some pictures of my flock, the coop i have the flock right now, the proper coop of the future

that i am building for them and the bunny.

I want to note that the coop of the future, costs alot of money. This is the reason i am building it slowly and its not ready yet. However the coop they live right now, its big enough for them, secure from cats, and safe from the weather. I dont love it, but the hens do, so its ok. Flintstone coop would be a good name for it. Those darn sparrows still can get in there and eat the feed, but their time will come when i cook them and eat them all

Not too much talk today here is the pictures.


First picture of the row above, all my birds together. Second picture, how my rooster looked like few months ago when i got him, tiny cute bird back then. Third picture is my flock eating oxalis weeds and their flintstone coop in the background.
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First, the male quail that is feeling lonely and bored after his wife died, he is fat! Second, the rooster and "The Baker" making a plan on how to get that bird out of there to eat his food. Third picture, the quail again, dustbathing.
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Five random pictures of my flock in their "Flintstone coop"
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First picture, the "Flintstone coop" where they live the past months and propably will be there for a while untill the "future coop" is ready. Second picture, the rooster, note his size, his is a big boy

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Three pictures of our bunny, she is usually on free range playing with the chickens in the morning until the afternoon, she likes to be around the rooster because he is trying to scare the bunny that wants somebody to run after him to play. She is more than 5 years old.

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First picture shows how the coop was in the beggining, in July and August, that was before the "Flintstone coop". Second picture shows the "Future coop" and so does the third picture. Its only the chicken run. Its made from metal pipes of 2 inches and 6.5 feet high. It still needs the top cover, that i will also use chicken wire like the walls are. Its a very big run in my opinion where i will house many chickens. I plan to make a concrete ground next to the run on the left, that i will build a big chicken coop with bricks. That concrete ground will be ready by the end of next week, but the coop will be build untill the summer because i have no money left for that purpose to finish it now! But who knows..
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Those two pictures show the chicken runs door, that i made of PVC pipes (1.25 inch)
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Thats where i must leave.

Bye bye journal!

 

[FoodKillah]

That hen, Dinosaur. She is so aggressive with all the other hens, especially the Baker.

She destroys my flocks peace. Why is she like that. I feel i have to do something to bring peace to my flock.

Today i decided to give them grinded feed which they love. I fixed the feed hanger because the Dinosaur broke it, and i filled it with 50/50 half grinded feed and half regular feed with broke down seeds. The Dinosaur would not let the cockerel or the Baker near it. She was attacking them with so much passion, so much hate. Poor Baker moved at the other side of the run and layed down, the cockerel was standing next to her to protect her, not that he attacks back the Dinosaur, but he is a hero and would take the pecking instead of the Baker.

I didnt like it and had to do something, so i made a new small feed hanger to try to get all the birds to eat. No way, the Dinosaur noticed something was going on and as soon as i placed the feed in the new small hanger, she pecked the poor Baker that tried to get a bite out of it. Then the Baker went to the other feeder, but the Dinosaur was after her, she didnt want Baker to eat any of the food.

Then i got the Baker out of the coop/run and let her free range, while i prepared a nice 100% grinded feed plate for her, she was eating like crazy, watching around her for the Dinosaur, who was locked in the run with the rest of the flock. At this point the Dinosaur stopped eatting from both feeders and was just trying to find a hole to get out of the run to get to the Baker. Dinosaur must be retarded, she only lets the brown hens to eat, with minimal pecking. She even pecks the cockerel. She is a bully.

I think that when i go back to the chicken farm i bought them from, i will ask if they have more of them brown hens, to replace the Dinosaur. I will EAT HER, no matter how big eggs she lays. She is one of my 2 first hens, but i hate her bully attitude.

Thats my todays chicken news.
Bye bye journal

 

[Baymule]

I think that when i go back to the chicken farm i bought them from, i will ask if they have more of them brown hens, to replace the Dinosaur. I will EAT HER, no matter how big eggs she lays. She is one of my 2 first hens, but i hate her bully attitude.

Ha Ha, when you have a bad chicken, they still make good chicken soup.

I loved the pics, what a beautiful rooster, He is really a nice looking boy.

 

[FoodKillah]

Cat poop in my yard.

What was going on....
My relatives brought a cat and her kids long time ago "outside" of my yard. Now the kids are full grown cats and love to take a crap on my vegetable garden destroying my rare seedlings that i bought seeds of the internet and raised them with all the care i could. They dig here, they dig there, they poo and they get lost. I always run after them when i see them and they are scared of me, so i cannot catch them and give them back to my relatives or take them somewhere else far away from here. Even tho they are scared of me, they dont hesitate to take their daily crap on my vegetable garden. This is going on for months, i gave up my vegetable garden because of this, 1 month ago, i was tired of gathering cat poop to throw them away. They continued to go to toilet there, and i decided not to blame my relatives anymore and cause more trouble, because they defend the cats and dont care about my troubles with those evil cats. Ok i said, i am worthless compared to the cats, and just let them have poop allover. Keep in mind my vegetable garden is NOT where i free range my chickens. The big part of the yard where the chickens free range only has trees and the cats never bothered to go to toilet in this yard.....

BUT TODAY.....
I wake up in the morning in good xmass mood. I went out and let my little flock free range and while i took a little walk in the yard, what do i see...CAT poop under a tree!?! I took a small shovel and threw the poop out of the fence because i didnt want the chickens to notice them and eat them. Thats when the rooster went where the poop was before and called over the hens with the "food here" call. I said "inside" right away and all the chickens went in the coop, i closed them in and i said THATS IT.... WAR. My eyes propably got red and i guess smoke was comming out of my ears while horns grew out of my head. I will get this cats.

Nobody messes with my chickens

I converted the cage/coop i have made in the past out of clothracks, into a trap. I hanged a slice of salami from a small stick, then a part of the stick goes out of the stick, and i placed a brick on it that is ready to fall of the coop from the outside and its tied with a small rope that goes from this brick to the inside of the coop and the other side is tied at the door. I HOPE when the evil nasty cats try to grab this salami slice, the stick will give a small pressure to the brick and the brick falls of and closes the door. If everything goes well, i will then put any cats i get in the pet travel box and will either give them back to my relatives, or if its another cat i will release her 20 miles away from my house.

I will get rid of the toxic cat crap for sure, if that fails and everything else i will think of fails, i will adopt a street dog, i really love them and tolerating the dogs crap will be my personal choice, at least.

MERRY XMASS JOURNAL
MERRY XMASS BYCers

 

[FoodKillah]

Hawk attack!! FAIL

Ok earlier today i was taking soil inside the future coop to level it up a little bit with the shovel and wheelbarrow. My girls free ranged, so did the dwarf rabbit.

Mr rooster called over the girls for a dust bath, where i digged earlier and the soil was softer. They dustbathed for 20 minutes and the girls left, the rooster continued to enjoy his bath for 20 more minutes when suddenly he started running to the hens that was gathered near the coop, calling them loud and nervous. I didnt know why he does that as i was kinda busy but it seemed funny to me and watched him as he was running and screaming. I noticed nothing weird, not that i looked for. As i was digging "The Baker" was running up and down very nervous and i assumed he was looking for a spot to lay the daily egg. (when my flock free ranges, their coop is not at its place and they rarely use it this way)

I called them all "inside" and i locked them up in their coop, so they can lay the eggs, they were ranging for many hours anyway. I was also a little tired from digging and i went inside to have a smoke and take a small break. As i was sitting, looking outside from the garage door, i hear a LOUD "FLAP FLAP FLAP" and i see that bird at full speed flying DOWN from my balcony or my roof, going to the yard at top speed. I immediatly stand up and say "WHAT THEEEE....." as i run outisde. The first though was that it might be the "woose" one of my brown hers, that had a flight from the balcony to the yard one time in the past. But then i remembered they are all locked in. All this as i was running outside to see what happent. Obviously something was going on. As i exit the garage, i see that HAWK flying over the fence out of the yard and the usual sparrows that steal my chicken feed flying away scared in front of him. He took off to leave, from behind the coop (2 feet from the coop) i kept running that way and i see my wifes dwarf bunny hanging out there smelling and being silly like always. The hawk attacked the bunny, for sure, he failed tho.

Possibilities:
1) The hawk thought the bunny was too big rodent to take it with him.
2) The hawk got scared of the rooster that was already alert (propably because of the hawk being around the yard when they free ranged)
3) A long piece of not used metal wire was next to the bunny and that could helped for failing the attack
4) The hawk heard me yelling "WHAT THEEEE........" as i was standing up before i start running

Whatever happent there, i got the bunny indoors and my wife told me if the hawk kills the rabbit she will kill me then.. lol.

To be honest i feel lucky i saw the hawk so close performing an attack, thank god nothing bad happent and there is no victims.

 

[lovinlife]

I love reading your journal.

It's clear that you love your chickens, as do we all, and you have quite a way with words.
Good luck with the cats. My cats and chickens all get along really well and hang out together.

Happy Holidays to you!

 

[FoodKillah]

Quote:
Thank you lovinlife

One of the cats grew up with my mother so is more polite and sees i dont want her around but their kids are not grown with humans, they are wild and always come around to poop with no remorse. My father and mother pass by to feed them beasts everyday, that way they have created a cat ghetto spot outside of my yard and especially one of the outsider cats that gather sneaks to the chicken coop like a tiger when it gets darker, i am not sure what she wants but i dont want to find out either. After few months of daily poo in my vegetable garden and frequent rambo-style sneaking moves around my coop, i dont like those specific cats anymore. Whatever i do they dont give up, so i am helpless against them.

There is a black street dog that was seen to eat a kitty and i was thinking to adopt him and keep him loose in the yard, i wouldnt have cat feces then but i would have dog feces, i dont want that either.

Best wishes to you and yours

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

There is a black street dog that was seen to eat a kitty and i was thinking to adopt him and keep him loose in the yard, i wouldnt have cat feces then but i would have dog feces, i dont want that either.


That is too funny! Keep posting, this one is my favorite thread!

 

[BooBear]

Hope the trap works for you. More than likely you need to take the kitties far far away or put them down.
Not sure if adopting the street dog would be the best move as you do not know if the dog will behave around your flock or decide to eat them. Dogs not trained to behave around chickens will eat them.

Hope everything turns out ok for you. Yeah Dinasaur needs to be invited in for dinner for her bullish ways. Maybe you should try getting another hen like the gold n black one being the brown girls are being too clickish? Ofcourse, you could get a Silkie hen being your wife liked the Silkies. Your roo may take to the hen better (hopefully).

Enjoyed reading your journal and watching your little flock grow.