Maine

[dowgirl71]

I think only one of my girls actually came outside & she tried to fly over it but it was my little black Silkie, Mavis & we all know how well Silkies fly. But at least she tried. She's so cute! The rest of them stayed inside but all of them did lay an egg-5, today!

 

[Mc620]

Half of my chickens came near house and bird feeder or perched on our bench by back door other half went in shelter under coop has a wind break but all went in coop cept for the one rooster who never does he perches in pine above the coop doest get along in there with other roo but does while free ranging

 

[buckabucka]

We are headed to Eastport to watch the maple leaf and sardine drop! Apparently, that's what they do there . Hopefully, we can ski or snowshoe before it rains there...

 

[CoopChick719]

Tons of rat tunnels here, too.

So far nothing is working.

And I'm going insane.

I don't know about cabin fresh, but someone told us peppermint oil is a repellent. We bought peppermint essential oil from the health food store, dipped Q-tips in it, and put the swabs down their holes and anywhere we found a tunnel. It seems to be working for us in the hoop coop, along with strategically placed rocks, hunks of hardware cloth, etc. We haven't seen any obvious rat evidence. It made the coop smell minty-fresh! Almost too minty at first. That stuff is pretty strong!

This morning there were no new tunnels in the run. Either they had been coming in by the door hinge that I blocked off, or they were taking a night off, perhaps browsing in the compost. The de-con I put in the coop entryway, where smaller rodents come in, was decimated overnight.

Rattilocks Jr. checking in here. They're still here and haven't gotten too smart for the traps.
Bought myself a Rat Zapper for Christmas. Put it in a container with a hole cut in the side (since it's outside in the pen & can't get wet),
followed the directions--baited with dog food.
left it out without turning it on for longer than the necessary time the directions said
andddddd little bahstids still didn't eat any of the dogfood!!!
Switched bait to a soda cap full of peanut butter with an M&M in it and one M&M at the door to the trap. NADA!!!

Just a tad irritated!!!

.

bucka, is this a hit list of how many you've killed?

Perhaps a rat sculpture would strike your fancy...

So this scared me just a bit when I saw it out of the corner of my eye. My first thought was Mutant Rat!!

 

[lazy gardener]

My flock hasn't ventured out of the coop since Monday. Their run is closed off for now... b/c the slope of the coop roof will dump an avalanche into the run when ever it warms up enough to loosen it up on the metal roof. They COULD come out the people door into the yard, BUT... choose not to. Egg count up to 16!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Mine came out as soon as it was shoveled. BF threw down a flake of hay and some scratch and that was all it took. When I got home from work I finished the shoveling. The toms were underfoot the whole time, they thought it was some kind of game with the scoop.

Just like the goats do.

 

[diana507]

DH roof raked the coop yesterday and shoveled the run. One took forever to come down the ramp then went back inside. Then they just hung out on the ramp some in the sun. But did notice after dark last night when we went to shut their door the run was covered in little chicken footprints. So they did venture out! Bet it felt good since they had been shut in the coop for 3 days. So thankful I ended up building alot bigger coop then what they needed. Going to let them out today too. They will be happy.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Mine are happily out. Some out more than they should be!

 

[buckabucka]

Hmm....is that a Guinea on the wrong side of the fence?

My chickens haven't been out at all, because I had a chicken sitter and didn't want her to hassle with comings and goings. Perhaps tomorrow they will get the opportunity. I feel badly that it is supposed to drop below zero Monday night. It doesn't seem like the chickens have had much time to acclimate to those temperatures. I'm sure they'll be fine, although not too happy about it.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Yup guinea adventure