Illinois...

[Molpet]

He's beautiful & filled out nicely. Here was Dinner at around 4-5 mo = a tall thin stick. i'm glad Dinner grew into those legs. BTW - his birthday/hatchday was Sept 22, 2017

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I hope he soon learns how to respect his girls. Too bad you can't borrow our Chizzy - a Speckled Sussex who can put any rooster back down in his place. She takes care of the discipline here. If a roo is nice, she'll allow him to think he's in charge. If she dislikes a male..... Look Out!

He is a beautiful boy. Thanks for the date, all I could remember was it was end of sept.

He respect the 3 yr old BJG , but can't help himself around sweet young things. His 2 hens are from last year and 4 pullets from spring. There also is a broody with 2 hatched 9-5-18 that still stays in the nest at night. And a cockerel hatched 8-30-18, his mom is one of the hens (she dumped him weeks ago). They all are in their own coop at night but out in the main poultry yard during the day.

 

[Molpet]

Had an inch of rain last night. I found the big hoop coop wet on one end. Chickens and turkeys looked dry. The clear tarp has holes down the center. Roosts are mainly off to the sides.
It is 2 or 3 years old and the holes are where the turkeys walk. . Now I know how long they last LOL.. I have spares for when this happens. I will let it dry out before I replace it.
Blessed that it happened during a week of 50f weather and not in the middle of winter.

 

[Faraday40]

Our silkie went as a bat this year for Halloween.

 

[Faraday40]

The silkie was an accessory to DD's goth costume. DS was simple. He went as PB&J. However many people only figured out his costume as he walked away & then saw his back (a jar of jelly).

 

[Life is Good!]

Stepping up to rant a bit......Please understand, it's been a rough night here...

How do the predator's know EXACTLY which cockeral you're looking to keep?

Possum attack tonight - lost the Swedish flower hen cockeral who looked most promising. Also lost three pullets, 1 Swedish, 2 Java's, 22wks old, just a few weeks shy of beginning to lay.

Possum also attacked our rabbit who was caged in her hutch inside a secure (so we thought) enclosure...think seriously beefed up PVC tractor with a bunny hutch inside it. As the weather's been so nice, bun was enjoying this last of season before heading indoors.

I hate predators. Moreso, I am frustrated about the laws *protecting* the predators. Heck, I cannot even take a bb gun to the kestrel who got my late-season broody's month-old chick on Monday. Nor can my neighbor do the same to the Cooper Hawk who's taken out 1/2 of his pigeon flock. And we're in a section of suburb where we all have 3-5 acres! So we're not exactly on top of one another...

Serious predator problem here in the Western 'burbs. And the coyotes are so brazen that they're walking down the streets at 5:30pm! Every night on the way home from work, there the pack is...right through a neighborhood of townhomes, alongside 35mph traffic. Yeah, isn't THAT going to be fun when one tries to take out a person? More 'missing pet' posters 'round here than I can count. I know where Fido and Fluffy are - check the pile of offal in my backyard from the **** coyotes. Oh, and we've heard wolves are heading south of Beloit. So soon, we'll have that to look forward to.



Remember when seeing a hawk was rare? Well, yesterday, Bald Eagles were scoping out the Western branch of the DuPage River...cool to see, but not really for a chicken owner.

Thank you for letting me fume. Back to the fun parts of chicken keeping...

 

[cavemanrich]

Stepping up to rant a bit......Please understand, it's been a rough night here...

How do the predator's know EXACTLY which cockeral you're looking to keep?

Possum attack tonight - lost the Swedish flower hen cockeral who looked most promising. Also lost three pullets, 1 Swedish, 2 Java's, 22wks old, just a few weeks shy of beginning to lay.

Possum also attacked our rabbit who was caged in her hutch inside a secure (so we thought) enclosure...think seriously beefed up PVC tractor with a bunny hutch inside it. As the weather's been so nice, bun was enjoying this last of season before heading indoors.

I hate predators. Moreso, I am frustrated about the laws *protecting* the predators. Heck, I cannot even take a bb gun to the kestrel who got my late-season broody's month-old chick on Monday. Nor can my neighbor do the same to the Cooper Hawk who's taken out 1/2 of his pigeon flock. And we're in a section of suburb where we all have 3-5 acres! So we're not exactly on top of one another...

Serious predator problem here in the Western 'burbs. And the coyotes are so brazen that they're walking down the streets at 5:30pm! Every night on the way home from work, there the pack is...right through a neighborhood of townhomes, alongside 35mph traffic. Yeah, isn't THAT going to be fun when one tries to take out a person? More 'missing pet' posters 'round here than I can count. I know where Fido and Fluffy are - check the pile of offal in my backyard from the **** coyotes. Oh, and we've heard wolves are heading south of Beloit. So soon, we'll have that to look forward to.



Remember when seeing a hawk was rare? Well, yesterday, Bald Eagles were scoping out the Western branch of the DuPage River...cool to see, but not really for a chicken owner.

Thank you for letting me fume. Back to the fun parts of chicken keeping...

Are you sure it was the Opossum that did the killing. What you describe sounds like the work of a raccoon. Even if you did see a opossum, he may have just arrived as an opportunist. They will eat carrion.
Sorry to hear about your loss. I know there is little that can be done aside from making the coops FORT KNOX. YOU MAY CONSIDER ELECTRIC FENCING IF YOU ARE ON A LARGE LOT. If you have coyotes, they need to be trained to stay away. Raccoons learn quickly when they taste Joules. Many peeps bait their Hot Wire to accelerate the training. Bacon strips as well as chicken skin work well.

 

[Faraday40]

Stepping up to rant a bit......Please understand, it's been a rough night here...

How do the predator's know EXACTLY which cockeral you're looking to keep?

Possum attack tonight - lost the Swedish flower hen cockeral who looked most promising. Also lost three pullets, 1 Swedish, 2 Java's, 22wks old, just a few weeks shy of beginning to lay.

Possum also attacked our rabbit who was caged in her hutch inside a secure (so we thought) enclosure...think seriously beefed up PVC tractor with a bunny hutch inside it. As the weather's been so nice, bun was enjoying this last of season before heading indoors.

I hate predators. Moreso, I am frustrated about the laws *protecting* the predators. Heck, I cannot even take a bb gun to the kestrel who got my late-season broody's month-old chick on Monday. Nor can my neighbor do the same to the Cooper Hawk who's taken out 1/2 of his pigeon flock. And we're in a section of suburb where we all have 3-5 acres! So we're not exactly on top of one another...

Serious predator problem here in the Western 'burbs. And the coyotes are so brazen that they're walking down the streets at 5:30pm! Every night on the way home from work, there the pack is...right through a neighborhood of townhomes, alongside 35mph traffic. Yeah, isn't THAT going to be fun when one tries to take out a person? More 'missing pet' posters 'round here than I can count. I know where Fido and Fluffy are - check the pile of offal in my backyard from the **** coyotes. Oh, and we've heard wolves are heading south of Beloit. So soon, we'll have that to look forward to.



Remember when seeing a hawk was rare? Well, yesterday, Bald Eagles were scoping out the Western branch of the DuPage River...cool to see, but not really for a chicken owner.

Thank you for letting me fume. Back to the fun parts of chicken keeping...

So sorry to hear what you've been going through.

I agree about rise of predators. Last night while trick-or-treating we saw a red fox run across the street. He darted in front of our path because a large group of kids were on his side of the street. We skipped visiting that particular house because it was dark and we couldn't see exactly where he went. I used to enjoy seeing an occasional fox (before owning chickens) but the last 5-6 times I saw one, we were on foot - not in the safety of a car.

 

[Life is Good!]

Pretty sure it was possum...earlier this fall we felled a very very small possum who was in this same coop. We have four coops, so I think it's partly design flaw on this one coop. The pop door is protected from view by the back of the barn - so I suspect I need to install better lighting in addition to the automatic door. The auto door has helped TREMENDOUSLY. That thing has been amazing.

I've looked at electric fencing before...it's time to get some. Neighbor's got it on their garden. I think I'll pay them a visit today. And price it out at Farm&Fleet.

Momma wants electric fencing for Christmas this year!

 

[Faraday40]

@Molpet
To eat a fresh turkey on Thanksgiving Day, when is the best day to process?

Is the processing the same as a chicken? Any advice or websites or instructional videos to recommend?

Also, I have 3 turkeys. The male is going to a friend for possible breeding purposes. One female = Thanksgiving. The other female will be Christmas. I wouldn't mind growing her out a little more, but would the loneliness be too much for her? Her early life was spent with chickens but for the past month, I've been keeping them in the tractor 24/7. (Too much of a flying risk- even with a clipped wing.) Not sure if she'd be OK either by herself or in the coop. If it would be too stressful for her, I'd rather process both at the same time.

 

[Life is Good!]

Molpet -
Re: turkey troubles!

As for when to process your turkeys for Thanksgiving - Check over on the meat bird section of the forums...I know I've seen this over there before (usually about this time). If memory is accurate, turkeys take a bit longer to rest than a chicken...maybe another day? And there are LOTS of cooking suggestions over there to get the most flavor out of your hard efforts!

As for flock management, I very much try to keep the birds I present on my table as happy as possible. So if the Tom is going to a new home, I'd wait to process the ladies until after he leaves (so he's not alone)...and I'd process both together. Mostly because one never knows what's going to happen (predator attack, she takes off and flies away, she gets henpecked by the chickens...whatever!).

It's been a long time since we watched youtube for processing support...I know there's more out there now. So sorry, cannot suggest anything specific...just know a bunch of them are educational but hilarious too!

All I can say is good luck and I'll be watching on the day after Thanksgiving to see how it all went!