Maine

[lazy gardener]

The 3 big guys are harassing the daylights out of the little dom roos today. I have a 2'H x 3'W x 6'L bottomless tractor. I may kick them into that during the day, and let them back into the big coop at night. Any thoughts on how that would work?

 

[kinsey228]

So sorry you're having predator issues. How are your Doms doing?? Have you lost a bunch of them?? Are you hatching more Doms? or What?? I absolutely love the demeanor of my Doms. They are not as friendly as my RIR and BSL, (probably because I hatched those) but they are the BEST foragers, and don't seem to have aggressive tendencies, not as flighty as the "araucanas".

I am down to 4 Dominiques, I think. I hope I have at least one female so I can breed them.

 

[buckabucka]

The 3 big guys are harassing the daylights out of the little dom roos today.  I have a 2'H x 3'W x 6'L bottomless tractor.  I may kick them into that during the day, and let them back into the big coop at night.  Any thoughts on how that would work?

Can you tell who the ring leader is? I once put my biggest bully in a cage (in the pen with the other Roos) for a day or 2 just to knock him down a peg.

 

[hoppy]

why move them back to the coop at night?? you don't need your roos with the girls all the time, only a few times/month. you could put just one roo back and hopefully he will behave himself.

The 3 big guys are harassing the daylights out of the little dom roos today. I have a 2'H x 3'W x 6'L bottomless tractor. I may kick them into that during the day, and let them back into the big coop at night. Any thoughts on how that would work?

 

[ducklucky]

Roos, roos, miss mine so much. Behavior, you just never know. Yes, a mess of roos without the girls get along just fine. Several roos with a mess of girls will also get along okay, maybe, they just form their own little communes. There are sure to be some fights here and there, i mean, look at the human male. Who causes all the fights, the girls, yes?!? Have had a half dozen roos and about 70 girls and all was well until one got real nasty with his girls, too rough, and was coyote food that night. After that all heck broke loose, seemed that the king was gone and they jockeyed for position. Sometimes it works to leave them to their thing, but sometimes you must intervene. Most of them went to freezer and they last remaining king, and he was indeed a handsome big RI Red, gave his life trying to protect his huge harem from a fox. Have been without a roo since, and miss tremendously. If you are going to weed out the roos, try to watch and pick the best of the best. Just because they're good lookin' doesn't mean a thing, it's how they treat their ladies. Sound familiar?

Shame chicks are being picked off, could be anything at that age, hawk, rat, fox, skunk, you'd never know unless you had a cam on them or sat there for 24. If feathers are left behind, probably a bird of prey, the four leggers tend to take the whole bird away. But with the young pullets, hard to tell, one swoop and they're gone, but still tend to leave evidence. . Only thing that helped us was keeping them penned for a week or two, the predators soon moved on to greener pastures. Fish net over the pen helps a bunch as someone suggested, just enough to deter. You just have to try to outsmart them, which is tough when you don't know who you're trying to outsmart!

 

[Carrie54452002]

So here is what I believe to be a 4-5 wk old mille fleur booted bantam.. so I wanted to ask my expert friends here on BYC do you agree with the breed and do you think this is a roo or pullet?


Another pic of him/her


This is what I THINK is a handsome OEGB roo, very sweet bird


And lastly, here are my pair of 4-5 wk old golden sebrights. I think I may have a boy and a girl... thought they were both pullets but lately my "girl" on the side has had her comb swell quite a bit compared to "her" friend.... thoughts??

 

[cassbickford]

We are in Wiscasset and I have finally have the chicks that I have been wanting for the last twelve years. They are three weeks old today. We have two Buff Orpingtons, two Barred Rocks, two RIR's, two EE's, two Golden Comets and two Black Stars. My husband is just finishing our coop now and I can not wait because the brooder is set up in our living room with an extra large metal dog cage and cardboard around the sides to prevent draft. So happy to have my girls (although my suspicion is that we have one roo).

 

[ashandvine]

Tilled one of the chicken runs last night so I can plant corn and some pumpkins in there. All that fertilizer has been tilled in and bugs scratched out. Now if it would just stop raining. *I* garden in the rain but not the little babe. She would too actually but not for as long as me and probably not with good results. I have entered a few birds in the show this weekend. I am thinking one of them might be a mistake if not two. They are not cage training (conditioning) very well. Giving them a bath will be interesting. It will certainly be a huge learning curve for me this weekend. I hope not to go home with too much egg on my face.

 

[Mainechick168]

Love the new avatar Ash!

So because of all of this rain, the canoe trip is cancelled (east machias river running dangerously high) Soooooo I think I'm going to attend the show this weekend!

 

[hoppy]

you will do just fine!!! relax. it's all about learning and if you don't enter, it's harder to really see what you have.
I also will be glad when it stops raining, need to move some birds around.

I have entered a few birds in the show this weekend. I am thinking one of them might be a mistake if not two. They are not cage training (conditioning) very well. Giving them a bath will be interesting. It will certainly be a huge learning curve for me this weekend. I hope not to go home with too much egg on my face.