INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pginsber]

Ew, Ew, Ew, Ew, Ew! 

I was out in the coop raking around the deep litter when I came across a nest of fully furred young mice.  I didn't even have time to react before 26 chicken came at them from all different directions.  I have never seen so much commotion in all my life.

The chickens snatched up those mice and banged their little heads on the floor, walls, and ground until they stopped moving.  Then they played a few rounds of "Who's Mouse is it"!  As they ripped the mice out of each others mouths, they happily ate little pieces of the mice until there was nothing left.

[COLOR=0000FF]Have you ever seen such a thing?  I had no idea chickens ate mice!!!!!!! [/COLOR] [COLOR=0000FF]YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/COLOR]

W-O-W...I have seen videos of chicken eating mice, but I imagine it was quite a jaw-dropping scene in person!

 

[browncow15]

Ew, Ew, Ew, Ew, Ew! 

I was out in the coop raking around the deep litter when I came across a nest of fully furred young mice.  I didn't even have time to react before 26 chicken came at them from all different directions.  I have never seen so much commotion in all my life.

The chickens snatched up those mice and banged their little heads on the floor, walls, and ground until they stopped moving.  Then they played a few rounds of "Who's Mouse is it"!  As they ripped the mice out of each others mouths, they happily ate little pieces of the mice until there was nothing left.

[COLOR=0000FF]Have you ever seen such a thing?  I had no idea chickens ate mice!!!!!!! [/COLOR] [COLOR=0000FF]YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/COLOR]

Yup! I found a baby mouse in a load of mulch I got. One of my girls snatched it up and it was gone before the other chickens even knew what I'd thrown in their pen.

PUMPKINS!! I asked when we picked the kids pumpkins and will be headed back to get whatever will fit in my truck on Friday!

Wonder if cattle will eat them???

 

[browncow15]

My babies are growing fast and catching up to the big girls in size. When would you all put them in with the big girls?

ETA: they're almost 8 weeks old.

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[strssdmom]

W-O-W...I have seen videos of chicken eating mice, but I imagine it was quite a jaw-dropping scene in person!

Jaw-dropping is a great explanation for it. I just stood there while all the chickens and mice ran around me. I didn't even have time to react.

 

[pginsber]

My babies are growing fast and catching up to the big girls in size. When would you all put them in with the big girls?

ETA: they're almost 8 weeks old.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those babies look big enough to be with the big girls now. How big (what breeds) are your big girls?

 

[pginsber]

Dup post-sorry

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Our coop is finally finished!
I have a question about quarantining, though.
Here's a little back story: A friend bought us chicks(group A), from CL, as a gift. She kept them until we could finish our coop. Long story short, we had to find them a second temporary home. In the meantime, I bought four chicks(group B) from Brad Selig.
Unfortunately my second friend introduced three more birds(group C) to group A without quarantining. Before I can put A and B together, I'm going to have to quarantine the original birds, right?
It just took me FOUR MONTHS to build this coop. I don't have the time or money to build a quarantine coop/area.
I need some suggestions! What can I make or buy to do this? I have space to put something in the garage if I need to....
Looking to spend no more than $80 on this. I'm going to be bringing home 2 pullets and 2 Roos about 5 months old.

EDITED TO ADD

A and C have been together for maybe two weeks. Only 4 birds from A will be coming home to me.
I have a large garage, but moved into my house about 4 months ago. That means it's still full of my stuff! I can probably get a 4x8ish area cleared out for them.

If all the flocks involved in the undertaking are healthy and you are only dealing with a few birds, then don't worry about it. IMO

The purpose of quarantine is to avoid dropping a sick bird among your healthy birds. Owners of show birds and poultry producers take extreme measures in this regard.

For a few birds, you can be more lax.

Birds from Brad or equally conscientious and knowledgeable people can be added to your flock with risk approaching zero. Birds from Craigs List should be VERY suspect and you should proceed with appropriate care.

Group B can safely be added.

Group A should be left with your friend for a couple of weeks or so. If no symptoms appear, you should be safe to add them to B.

This would expose you to a small risk, but not recklessly so. IMO

John

 

[browncow15]

Those babies look big enough to be with the big girls now. How big (what breeds) are your big girls?

The chicks are probably half the size of the big girls maybe a little more. My main flock is black sex links, production reds and an isa hen and roo ( the babies are ISAs too)

they've been able to see each other for a few weeks and nobody bothers anyone else through the chicken wire.

 

[Leahs Mom]

But, John... don't forget one thing.

Birds have immunities to the things that are in the area in which they have been growing. But if you move them somewhere else, you have a couple of other factors going on.

1. The stress of the move. Chickens are creatures of habit and can get a bit "wonky" when moved. A stress like that can put a stress on the immune system for a bit of time.

2. The things they were exposed to where they're coming from are sometimes not the same as what's on the land they're moving to.

For point 2, it's good to see how they respond to what's in the new environment and give them a chance to build any needed immunities without the extra stress of being put right in to a different flock in which they will have to learn the pecking order and find their place. A little extra time can save a lot of stress for them.

Not to mention that the current birds also have immunities to what is in their native area - but possibly not the things that the new birds are bringing with them.


So...even if they are all healthy now, giving them a bit of time to adjust to what each side of the equation has coming with them is a good idea. Then perhaps all they'll need to deal with a few weeks down the road is how to get along with the others and finding their place!

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Are your hens aggressive with you? Lavender doesn't have a bit of aggression with me. I pick her and the kids up with no resistance, so Im hoping she will defend them with the flock.

Take a broom with you when you turn them out. That way you can intervene, if necessary, without stepping on a chick.

John