Maine

[MEMama3]

MeMama, enjoy your trip!!!!!

Thanks!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Thanks! It's just Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. If I coop them I don't dare let them out Friday morning as I'll never get them back in. Sunday they'd get to escape for a bit before nightfall.

With temps well below 80, I'd leave them locked in, too. Lots and lots of extra water. They can always go without food for a day or so if they were to run out, but not water. Do you have room in the coop for a flock block to give them something to do?

 

[MEMama3]

With temps well below 80, I'd leave them locked in, too. Lots and lots of extra water. They can always go without food for a day or so if they were to run out, but not water. Do you have room in the coop for a flock block to give them something to do?

Yeah I do. I also have a cabbage ready for the pickin'.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Yeah I do. I also have a cabbage ready for the pickin'.

They're gunna be fine. You'll come home and find them sitting on the couch gabbing.

 

[CoopChick719]

I, once again have had all my smaller poultry picked off. I finally found the one thing a coon can't resist and will go into a trap for. Three raccoons down, two to go. Marshmallows are the magic lure.
I am not getting any more chickens or small ducks until I get some electric netting fence, and a game cam, and will only let them out when I am going to be home before dark.
I have got to get a dog to let me know when anything is around.
Anyone else have a game cam, if so what brand, and what are the pros and cons of that brand?

I feel your pain bwockbwock! Sorry for your losses!

I've had 3 chickens taken by a fox. 2 were just 7 week old chicks. We finally saw the fox last Wed. A friend is lending us a trap but I doubt the fox will be dumb enough to go in. I've been supervising range time each night when I get home from work since the fox was so bold as to try for a 4th one while DH & I were 10 feet away. The girls were locked up while we were camping last weekend. I'm sure the fox will be back.

Me neither. I would have guessed wild boar. Do we even have those?

That was my first thought too!

I've found the almost perfect method to catch those pesky Japanese beetles. I cut an ammonia bottle into a scoop form, leaving it as tall as possible. Then I used a rubber band to attach a plastic bag to the "screw top" end. I use my trowel to "tap" the beetles into the funnel, they slide down into the bag before they even know what hit them. This works much better than my previous method of tapping them into a 1 qt. yogurt carton with a couple of inches of water in the bottom.

I like this better than my 5 gallon bucket & my hand method. Some of my girls turn their noses up but a few like them.

 

[ashandvine]

Been gone for a few days. Gosh Maine gabs! lol

Quick related story on the beetles, in the vein of my random 'zany recycling ideas'
I have realized that if we freeze the Jap Beetles we can feed them to the chickens in winter when there are no other live sources to go a hunting! Yes, that means we have a couple peanut butter jars in the freezer with beetles in them. They have been bad here this year but at least that means there are plenty for winter.

 

[buckabucka]

Frozen Japanese beetles! You could be on to something here, Ash.

Good luck with your bold fox, Coopchick.

I just found out I have an unexpected olive egger. This happens to me every time I do a mixed hatch. I hatched 3 olive eggers, thought they were all roosters, and they all went into the freezer. Then I kept getting these green pullet eggs.

It turns out one of those roosters was a blue Marans (I had no idea they had cuckoo patterned sickle feathers) and one of my blue Marans pullets is a blue Isbar x blue Marans cross. I always wondered why she was smaller than the other blue Marans. She has a splash pattern and looks like a light blue leopard.

I might have considered keeping the Blue Marans roo had I known, but I would have to get rid of our olive egger roo, and he is very polite to us, so maybe it is just as well. Meanwhile, one of the cockerels in the bachelor pen I eventually found out is a pullet. She is solid black, and I think now I will name her "Guy Noir".

 

[Jazor]

Welcome to the tread! Many people do not insulate nor add heat (even my Canadian "friends" on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread.) The breeds that were developed and raised here do just fine. They are birds--lots of down for warmth. Frost bite is usually a moisture issue, not cold--so the more ventilation, without a direct draft, the better. See Woods Open Air Coop for example. There is also a really good article somewhere on BYC called something like "The big coop ventilation page." My coop is very open & airy and not insulated at all.

I hadn't even thought of this. That makes a lot of sense, actually. My coop will be inside a portion of my barn--so the birds will have more than sufficient shelter, I suppose ventilation is what I will focus on. Thank you

 

[Jazor]

I'm not noticing as many bugs this year either, though the Japs are still decimating my bean leaves, and boring holes into my rose blossoms. I've let the girls out for the occasional hour here and there to work over my lawn. They did a wonderful job on some huge ant hills and are also cleaning up my snails. I wish I could convince them that slugs are just as tasty. Even the deer flies and black flies have not been as bad. Perhaps your skunks are helping with the insect population. I know they turn my lawn over pretty good, cleaning up the grubs. For this small detail, I'm glad I don't have a dog!

MeMama, enjoy your trip!!!!!

You can have some of my deer flies if you'd like?! They have it down to a science, to where I can literally take 2 steps out of my vehicle and they are already landing on top of my head. I've used some pretty colorful language to express how I feel about them lately. I hope they take notice of it.

I'm just a week or two away from being "chicken ready" (as if that's a thing) and I'm sure they will enjoy the grasshoppers should they be able to catch ahold of them. Not sure why, but I've got tons of them in the yard, and they seem far more docile that the ones I chased when I was a kid. They're in for a wake up call when the chooks arrive!

Cheers,
Jazor

 

[klf73]

this is my last call for the Hedemora rooster, he is getting culled this week. He is just too noisy. I keep putting it off but now he is getting one of the other roosters I was going to keep riled up. On to this other rooster....
I have a lf project chocolate orpington rooster, I hatched him from Korfus Klucker eggs I got last year. He isn't as huge as my blue orpington rooster but I think he will still grow some and after all, he is a project bird. He has taken to making too much noise and I have decided to toss his girls with my blue roo and just not do any more projects. I would REALLY hate to cull such a beautiful bird. I will let him go for $20. I am not sure of his manners as I have really not spent much time with them unfortunately. I do know he chases my husband sometimes but hasn't done more than chase, no assaults on his record. If anyone is interested in working on the lf chocolate project he would be a great addition.