jwsmith1959
Songster
Just wanted to share my journey so far. It's a marathon and not a sprint. God bless you all who start with chicks. I grew up with chickens, but my Mom was the wrangler who would have been 90 a few weeks ago, so this post is for her. We kept ~100 or so when I was young, and I was not a fan favorite...until now!!
Have my first full year under my belt and started off a pretty successful 2nd year for life in the country. Had settled into a five bird flock since August when "the incident" occurred and picked up 3 RIR that were very near laying. The three new girls settled into their new home with zero issues. Back to that later!
Rewind a bit. I originally purchased six ~17-18 week Production Red pullets last March and after cooping them for a couple of weeks, let them out to FR under a lot of supervision. First night back into the coop, we had an unseasonably warm evening and either a big Rat Snake or Raccoon reached through and throttled one of the girls. She fought it off, but was dead when I checked on them that morning. And then there were five. Other than the normal hiccup or two of a newish chicken owner, things went without issue the rest of the Spring and most of the Summer.
Pretty wet and bountiful July and as bad luck would have it I tossed a belt on my 52" Zero Turn sometime late July. Between mower parts SNAFU's and getting it back and forth to the shop, I was unable to mow for a couple of weeks. I have about 10 acres, but the flock tends to stay in the front four acres or so. I have a ~2 acre Oxbow Lake that runs along one side of the property and a brushy area in one corner that I cannot maintain at my age and the Girls always seemed to like the area as it provides good cover and plenty of insects and other critters. Then the eventful day!! Between 1:00-3:30 p.m. on a muggy Sunday afternoon, I lost four of my five Girls. Grass was very high: and with my mower in the shop and having a hard time managing the terrain with my vascular and nerve issues, it took awhile to attempt to piece together what happened. One pile of feather enough for a single bird leading off to an edge of the property. Daytime attack, likely a Bobcat. Where are the other three?? And then there was one in just a matter of hours!!
To this day...a "Stone Cold Whodunnit". I almost gave up that afternoon! Devastated.
But I had a single hen left and had been getting used to having 5 eggs per day and eating and sharing...so started to look for some replacements! I had not named any of my Girls to that point, but figured WTH! Sophie was named! Hence, the 3 RIR's I noted in the first paragraph. And then there were four! They were smaller than Sophie (a Production Red): at first...but grew quickly. RIR's when younger seem to be more skittish and aware than Production Reds, so I was happy for that. They keep their skittishness, but become a bit slow. Sometime in September, I lost one of my new RIR's and Sophie was nowhere to be found. Drat. And then there were two!
I immediately picked up a new PR pullet that was close to 20 weeks to at least get back to three...and "lo and behold"...Sophie shows back up after three days! Hallelujah! So...now I have two RIR and two PR hens. And then there were four...again!! Sophie took the helm as top dog once again and ZERO pecking order issues. I have moved pullets in and lost flock members with no pain other than my own!
I am a bit superstitious about naming things, but decided WTH....I already had Sophie. I was easily able to figure out whose eggs were whose, so why not? I now have Sophie, "Not Sophie", Big Red and Little Red.
As bad luck would have it....Little Red disappeared. Another whodunnit! And then there were three...again! March...plenty of PR pullets locally. Decided to get two. They were young...~13-14 weeks. Been three weeks now. The dynamic has changed. Sophie is still queen of the coop and never a bully. Big Red has been the bully so far. The new girls are fitting in...but not without their bumps and bruises. They are still not roosting up high with the rest, but I hope soon. I installed an extra roost and poop board up high, but the new Girls might have to earn their spots up there.
I do have enough color variations that I can tell all of them from another. Four PR and one RIR. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to give some encouragement to the new people who always come in the Spring.
From left to right in the background "Not Sophie", Big Red, Sophie, (foreground) back is Scarlet and front is Honey.
Don't give up. It is rewarding. I've almost quit twice this last 13 months...but glad I didn't.
Have my first full year under my belt and started off a pretty successful 2nd year for life in the country. Had settled into a five bird flock since August when "the incident" occurred and picked up 3 RIR that were very near laying. The three new girls settled into their new home with zero issues. Back to that later!
Rewind a bit. I originally purchased six ~17-18 week Production Red pullets last March and after cooping them for a couple of weeks, let them out to FR under a lot of supervision. First night back into the coop, we had an unseasonably warm evening and either a big Rat Snake or Raccoon reached through and throttled one of the girls. She fought it off, but was dead when I checked on them that morning. And then there were five. Other than the normal hiccup or two of a newish chicken owner, things went without issue the rest of the Spring and most of the Summer.
Pretty wet and bountiful July and as bad luck would have it I tossed a belt on my 52" Zero Turn sometime late July. Between mower parts SNAFU's and getting it back and forth to the shop, I was unable to mow for a couple of weeks. I have about 10 acres, but the flock tends to stay in the front four acres or so. I have a ~2 acre Oxbow Lake that runs along one side of the property and a brushy area in one corner that I cannot maintain at my age and the Girls always seemed to like the area as it provides good cover and plenty of insects and other critters. Then the eventful day!! Between 1:00-3:30 p.m. on a muggy Sunday afternoon, I lost four of my five Girls. Grass was very high: and with my mower in the shop and having a hard time managing the terrain with my vascular and nerve issues, it took awhile to attempt to piece together what happened. One pile of feather enough for a single bird leading off to an edge of the property. Daytime attack, likely a Bobcat. Where are the other three?? And then there was one in just a matter of hours!!
To this day...a "Stone Cold Whodunnit". I almost gave up that afternoon! Devastated.
But I had a single hen left and had been getting used to having 5 eggs per day and eating and sharing...so started to look for some replacements! I had not named any of my Girls to that point, but figured WTH! Sophie was named! Hence, the 3 RIR's I noted in the first paragraph. And then there were four! They were smaller than Sophie (a Production Red): at first...but grew quickly. RIR's when younger seem to be more skittish and aware than Production Reds, so I was happy for that. They keep their skittishness, but become a bit slow. Sometime in September, I lost one of my new RIR's and Sophie was nowhere to be found. Drat. And then there were two!
I immediately picked up a new PR pullet that was close to 20 weeks to at least get back to three...and "lo and behold"...Sophie shows back up after three days! Hallelujah! So...now I have two RIR and two PR hens. And then there were four...again!! Sophie took the helm as top dog once again and ZERO pecking order issues. I have moved pullets in and lost flock members with no pain other than my own!
I am a bit superstitious about naming things, but decided WTH....I already had Sophie. I was easily able to figure out whose eggs were whose, so why not? I now have Sophie, "Not Sophie", Big Red and Little Red.
As bad luck would have it....Little Red disappeared. Another whodunnit! And then there were three...again! March...plenty of PR pullets locally. Decided to get two. They were young...~13-14 weeks. Been three weeks now. The dynamic has changed. Sophie is still queen of the coop and never a bully. Big Red has been the bully so far. The new girls are fitting in...but not without their bumps and bruises. They are still not roosting up high with the rest, but I hope soon. I installed an extra roost and poop board up high, but the new Girls might have to earn their spots up there.
I do have enough color variations that I can tell all of them from another. Four PR and one RIR. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to give some encouragement to the new people who always come in the Spring.
From left to right in the background "Not Sophie", Big Red, Sophie, (foreground) back is Scarlet and front is Honey.
Don't give up. It is rewarding. I've almost quit twice this last 13 months...but glad I didn't.
