Illinois...

[rfreedlund]

so if you relocate it, it becomes a problem for someone else.... also illegal to release w/-land owners permission.

I only relocated it a couple hundred yards away from the coop and run. Very much still on our property. I will be watching closely, though. He was nowhere I could see today.

 

[Faraday40]

 

[chickendreams24]

Merry Christmas all and to all a good night!!

 

[chickendreams24]

We found a possum in the cooler coop last night when we locked up the flock gorging itself on the entire day's eggs! As the flock ran up and tried to grab bites of eggs. Thankfully while it was hissing it wasn't terribly aggressive and it didn't go after the birds. We did put it down. I don't like it but we had seen it the day before and we now believe it is what has been teaching the flock to eat eggs and possibly why our egg numbers have been fluctuating so much. Hopefully they stop now that it's gone or we're going to have to try something else. I'm worried it may have turned our flock into egg eaters.

 

[Molpet]

We found a possum in the cooler coop last night when we locked up the flock gorging itself on the entire day's eggs! As the flock ran up and tried to grab bites of eggs. Thankfully while it was hissing it wasn't terribly aggressive and it didn't go after the birds. We did put it down. I don't like it but we had seen it the day before and we now believe it is what has been teaching the flock to eat eggs and possibly why our egg numbers have been fluctuating so much. Hopefully they stop now that it's gone or we're going to have to try something else. I'm worried it may have turned our flock into egg eaters.

the chickens will clean up any broken eggs.. did anyone actually see a chicken break an egg? maybe the possum started with a few and as he got bigger and used to the chickens he got braver... usually egg eating is a symptom of a need for additional protein , same with feather eaters.....but a habit is hard to break even with extra protein..

 

[Faraday40]

We found a possum in the cooler coop last night when we locked up the flock gorging itself on the entire day's eggs! As the flock ran up and tried to grab bites of eggs. Thankfully while it was hissing it wasn't terribly aggressive and it didn't go after the birds. We did put it down. I don't like it but we had seen it the day before and we now believe it is what has been teaching the flock to eat eggs and possibly why our egg numbers have been fluctuating so much. Hopefully they stop now that it's gone or we're going to have to try something else. I'm worried it may have turned our flock into egg eaters.

Mine will dive after any egg that hits the ground & splits open. It's a big feeding frenzy! But thankfully, they have never realized that the yummy eggs are what they're laying in the nest boxes.

I had a problem with an old hen that laid thin shelled or shell-less eggs. It was a terrible situation when those would break in the nests. I tried caging her & tricking her into eating more calcium laced treats, but each time the effects only lasted less than a day after she was released. She preferred to live free & snack on a calcium poor diet from the yard. I had to put the old hen down in order to save the rest of the flock from bad habits.

So glad the possum only ate eggs & not chickens (or quail or guineas or....).

 

[Faraday40]

To all those with orps - especially @Junibutt

Does this look like a hen or roo? This is a choc mottled orp that was hatched July 13th as part of DD's project. It "should" have been a female. Junibutt, you have the sister, so could you please post a pic to compare? The woman claims the chicken just started crowing Christmas morning. Although I'm leaning toward roo because of the comb & wattles, I'd hate for her to give away a perfectly good hen just about to lay. (Of course if it looks like a roo & sounds like a roo........ ) If she doesn't find it a good home, I will be hiding it short term in my garage. If anyone wants a pretty orp roo for something other than dinner, please send me a pm.




Do those look like pointed hackle feathers?
The lav orp was from the same hatch date. (Of course my line of giant orps mature painfully slow.)

 

[ChicagoClucker]

To all those with orps - especially @Junibutt

Does this look like a hen or roo? This is a choc mottled orp that was hatched July 13th as part of DD's project. It "should" have been a female. Junibutt, you have the sister, so could you please post a pic to compare? The woman claims the chicken just started crowing Christmas morning. Although I'm leaning toward roo because of the comb & wattles, I'd hate for her to give away a perfectly good hen just about to lay. (Of course if it looks like a roo & sounds like a roo........ ) If she doesn't find it a good home, I will be hiding it short term in my garage. If anyone wants a pretty orp roo for something other than dinner, please send me a pm.




Do those look like pointed hackle feathers?
The lav orp was from the same hatch date. (Of course my line of giant orps mature painfully slow.)

He is definitely all boy! Wish I could take him, would love to put him with my Coco (chocolate Orp), but I am overrun with boys at my house. Does anyone want or need some mottled bantam cochins? LOL

 

[Junibutt]

To all those with orps - especially @Junibutt

Does this look like a hen or roo? This is a choc mottled orp that was hatched July 13th as part of DD's project. It "should" have been a female. Junibutt, you have the sister, so could you please post a pic to compare? The woman claims the chicken just started crowing Christmas morning. Although I'm leaning toward roo because of the comb & wattles, I'd hate for her to give away a perfectly good hen just about to lay. (Of course if it looks like a roo & sounds like a roo........ ) If she doesn't find it a good home, I will be hiding it short term in my garage. If anyone wants a pretty orp roo for something other than dinner, please send me a pm.




Do those look like pointed hackle feathers?
The lav orp was from the same hatch date. (Of course my line of giant orps mature painfully slow.)

Well the feathers say its a roo! But if it was the choc split to mottled, it could not have been. The legs defy it as well. Do you have the day old pic of this one?

 

[Faraday40]

I believe the roo was one of these two chicks. I had a lot of black chicks. They were not pure orps but mixes with my Dominique to make sexlinks. I can't see why one of those chicks would have turned out choc barred. I think they'd be black barred & not look as orp-round & pretty like the roo in my post above..


Here are some pics of the foster mama with the entire bunch.




These are the 3 mystery mauve-white chicks from the eggs marked "D"
Could the rooster from my previous post be the brother of these instead? It's certainly possible that we made a mistake when separating eggs & prepping for hatch.

...and see how beautiful they turned out!
(Sorry. I gotta brag a little. I love this pretty girl so much!)