Icelandic Chickens

[AK Michelle]

Here are the beauties that came from Kathy's eggs.

I got 7 of the eight in this shot, plus a couple turkeys and a mutt (the black one in the center)

This is one hot looking roo!

 

[Mahonri]

Tomorrow is the heat test for the Icelandics.

Should top out at 119 here. If they can make it here, they can make it anywhere.

 

[The Sheriff]

Devastated here. I guess my crappy Pullet Shut door failed the last two nights. Six Icelandic hens are missing. Piles of feathers in the coop and just outside the pop door. No blood, no bodies. I noticed the screen door had been shoved in yesterday morning like there was a fight but everyone was already out and free ranging. It wasn't until I could count tonight that I knew what happened. We used a battery charger and got the door shut for tonight. What would have gone in and gotten them as they came off the roosts and left nothing but feathers? It had to have gotten in through a five inch square hole because that is the size of the pop door opening. I am trying to get my game cam working right know. Hard to see through the tears. I lost the beautiful girl with the laced crest, my blue Lukka twin, one of my orange girls and a little beat up hen who was wearing a saddle. It is gone too! I haven't figured out who the last two are that are missing.

Just needed to tell my friends. This is very hard to deal with. I hate those guys at Pullet Shut. I have complained since the day the door arrived and they do not care. They have the money and that is all they care about. Gotta go cry in the shower.

Mary

 

[thebirdguy]

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Big hug from all of us in Idaho Mary!!

 

[tazcat70]

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Oh Mary! I am so sorry!

 

[The Sheriff]

Thanks, I can't find anything else to say.

 

[AK Michelle]

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Oh Mary, I'm so sorry. When we had the dog attack some of the chickens were "missing" because they went to ground and were completely hidden from view. It took some time for them to show up again. I hope they managed to do the same at your house.

The one millie baby that we lost to a raven was the same way, a puddle of feathers, no parts, no blood.

Good luck identifying the culprit.

 

[The Sheriff]

Thanks Michelle. The game cam is set but it only works sporadically.

 

[Barrdwing]

Mary, I am so sorry to hear about your loss!

That's just awful. I hope that the camera gives you some help figuring this out: it's the best help in a situation like this. Whatever it was must have been big enough to carry the birds off over the fence, but unfortunately that doesn't exactly help narrow things down very much. If it went into the coop, it's a lot less likely to be a big owl, and I don't really see those taking more than one bird at a time anyway. Probably a mammalian predator--cat/bobcat, fox/coyote, raccoon come to mind; I know skunks and opossum can also get chickens. Can you see any tracks, or find any tufts of fur? Maybe a tray of sand or a sheet dusted with flour to pick up tracks?

 

[The Sheriff]

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Good suggestions Barrdwing. Thanks. I think I am done for the night. If the gamecam fails to pick up anything tonight then I will try some of your suggestions.

Thanks,

Mary

p.s. My friend and I will have to share all these babies that are hatching. I have 23 in the brooder and 17 pipped. Two were dead in the shell. Tomorrow is hatch day.