Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Kris5902]

@Kris5902 Those young raccoon's grow up and can kill chicken's too, along with stealing egg's. Watch out for them. The parent's are probably around close by also.

Oh, I know...trash pandas, Little Danger Bears... they aren’t quite as cute as baby mink, but just as potentially destructive! I chased them off... and no signs tonight, thankfully

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

With Roosties recovery very questionable, I decided to hold back “little Red” as a potential breeder for my meat girls, so Tuesday morning I packed up all the rest of the meat birds for their final morning trip. In retrospect I should have pulled four girls with him, and sent in Roosties four youngest girls instead. Little Red has nice conformation an looks more like a heritage breed than a 4 way Hybrid meat ranger bird. He was also a bit of an outsider, and would distance himself from all the other meatbirds.

Tuesday mid day: Red would not integrate with Roosties girls. Purple came at him like she was another cockerel, not a hen, and he retaliated in kind. This set Roostie off, and he started trying to chase little Red (not working very well because of his foot issues, but Roostie doesn’t tolerate his girls being upset, even if they are the aggressors)! I gave in and put Red in my general yard, free ranging with Sammy, Dean, Cass, 21 Layer pullets, and 11 hens. Come Roosting time Red was looking to get back into his old empty tractor, so I popped him in with Sammy and girls, then promptly had to put him in the Bad Rooster Box for separation.

Wednesday was essentially the same, until a little windstorm hit and tore off all my tarps around midnight. This is the biggest negative to chicken tractors IMO. I fixed up Sammy’s Tarp, but left the rest for the morning when I could see better. 2:30 am Thursday morning, I awoke to the trailer rocking with the wind, which had changed direction. Back out to re-secure the tarp for Sammy and add some windblocking. I released little Red to get him closer to the flock for warmth. I got a days work making nut burgers on the other side of the island Thursday, but this meant I needed to be at the farm at 9am for a carpool. It was a frantic morning of fixing the wind damage and getting the Chickens set up for the day. Work ran Late as Mr. Murphy seemed to rule the day.

I arrived back on the farm a little past 6:30, in full dark, with a half hour or slippery Mud between my chooks and I. I managed to get a ride a little more than 1/2 way home (BIL was useful for a change) and everyone was Up. Even Little Red, snuggled in right near Sammy, no less. Sammy is very good at herding the girls up for the night, and will not settle until his own girls, as well as Cass and Deans, are up. He probably rounded up Little Red too, I will see how things go at Roosting time tonight and have a better idea of how things went while I was at work.

After getting everyone closed in, while I was doing an egg Check, I spotted Three young
Raccoons up in the trees... I am thankful everyone was at least up and Ok when I got home. Sammy took in a Teenage Cockerel, mostly on his own last night, again, and with very little integration attempts on my part. He gets my #1 Rooster award for being diligent, not a total a**hole, and an excellent breeder with awesome offspring.

Thanks for the awesome update Kris.
Sounds like Sammy has everything well in hand (foot?) as assistant farm manager. Its nice to have somebody you can rely on.

How is the house progressing? Does it have a roof yet?

 

[BlueBaby]

Oh, I know...trash pandas, Little Danger Bears... they aren’t quite as cute as baby mink, but just as potentially destructive! I chased them off... and no signs tonight, thankfully

Well if they come back, here's a solution for you.

https://www.cooks.com/recipe/a91bz9tg/raccoon-stew.html

 

[Kris5902]

Thanks for the awesome update Kris.
Sounds like Sammy has everything well in hand (foot?) as assistant farm manager. Its nice to have somebody you can rely on.

How is the house progressing? Does it have a roof yet?

Thanks! I totally just copied and pasted my post from @BY Bob ’s thread... that’s where I’ve been hanging out mostly...

As to the house, we are waiting on a Part for the tractor (BIL broke the front end AGAIN) so we can hoist the panels up and tarp for winter. All I can do is try to keep it dry, but we are in wind storm season again

 

[Kris5902]

Well if they come back, here's a solution for you.

https://www.cooks.com/recipe/a91bz9tg/raccoon-stew.html

Have you tried that?

 

[BlueBaby]

Have you tried that?

No, I haven't. I remember last winter you had all of those carrot's though and you were trying to figure out what all to make with them.

 

[Kris5902]

I haven’t bit the bullet and bought another of those bags yet... I’m still working my way through last years frozen soups, stews, and Chillies! I am down to my last 1/2 jar of last years Sauerkraut (featuring those carrots and beets), but I still have three jars of fermented carrots left to go! I am used to cooking for myself and three guys, plus leftovers for lunches. It’s been three years, but I still have the habit of doing really big pots of things at once. It’s the taking them out of the freezer part that seems the most difficult. And my mom is a very picky eater now, she likes her white bread and jam, marmalade, or margarine, cookies, wonder bars (cheap sugary chocolate), and that’s about it. I have only done the one big batch of sauerkraut with my cabbage from the summer garden at my friends farm this year, and haven’t been invited to scavenge the remains of the garden here for edibles yet.

 

[Kris5902]

So, after that super lengthy introduction post, I give you all “Little Red” almost 4 months old, now very suspicious of strange tall thing that keeps picking him up.

Upon morning release and feeding he took off back to the field he has been in the last two weeks, so he is still not flocking with Sammy and the girls yet, but at least he accepts them as sleeping buddies. And that travel trailer in the background is going to become my winter chicken housing... very soon.
Edit to add: another post lifted from Fluffy Butt Acres! I realize I should probably post some of my updates over here on my own thread too, once in a while, eh?

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning Kris Glad things are better for you....

 

[RoyalChick]

Thanks for the awesome update Kris.
Sounds like Sammy has everything well in hand (foot?) as assistant farm manager. Its nice to have somebody you can rely on.

How is the house progressing? Does it have a roof yet?

Ooooh yes - we need a house update. Pleeeeeease @Kris5902 !!