Moving forward...

[Mini Meat]

I try to avoid using the term "Predator PROOF".

"Predator Resistant" is my preferred term.

Today I was proved right.

My 2 1/2 year old granddaughter entered the barn with my daughter and they walked up on this.


It was of course alive at the time and my daughter quickly jerked the wee one back.
She called out "Snake" and I came running.

Luckily there was a shovel close at hand and I dispatched the creature quickly.

My normal MO is to call a Rattle snake in to be collected for venom harvesting to produce anti- venom, but with my grand baby so near I just reacted. I generally don't just kill them as they have value for that purpose.

After we settled down we searched for the entry point and found this



A gap on the high back wall about 1"x 2"
We stuffed in steal wool and then shot it full of expanding foam.

The moral of this story... never underestimate the will of a predator.

No chickens where harmed.

 

[aart]

<SHUDDERS>

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Now that's scary!!! Not a pleasant thing to have in your barn. In a way it's good, now you know that the holes have been plugged up.

 

[Mini Meat]

Now that's scary!!! Not a pleasant thing to have in your barn. In a way it's good, now you know that the holes have been plugged up.

You are right. I try to look at things in a "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." kinda way.

So, to the good:

1) Weakness identified and fixed
2) Granddaughter got introduced to snakes and now understands they are dangerous and to be avoided.
3) My neighbor skinned the snake got a nice 3' snake skin w/ 8 rattles out of the deal and he was thrilled to have it.

Interestingly, the little one was very calm but wide eyed while we dealt with the snake. We had quickly placed her up on the table and she was silent but observing closely. She even watched as I cut it's head off. After all was done she talked about the "nake" for hours. Running her tongue in and out of her mouth like the snake did.
I don't think she was traumatized by the incident but I know it made an impression on her.

 

[aart]

Will be interesting to see how she reacts to snakes in the future....very young children don't know enough to be afraid of dangerous things.
But ya'll set a good example...good to be aware of the pros of a situation.

 

[Mini Meat]

We had a DC hen from the free range flock come out of the woods today with 14 chicks.
That makes exactly 50 chicks hatched from 4 separate broody DC hens.

One hen has hatched 2 clutches 9 & then 7

One hen hatched 17

One hen hatched only 3

This hen doesn't mate and sat one clutch that produced nothing. She must have hijacked another birds nest and she hatched 14.

Crazy...

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

We had a DC hen from the free range flock come out of the woods today with 14 chicks.
That makes exactly 50 chicks hatched from 4 separate broody DC hens.

One hen has hatched 2 clutches 9 & then 7

One hen hatched 17

One hen hatched only 3

This hen doesn't mate and sat one clutch that produced nothing. She must have hijacked another birds nest and she hatched 14.

Crazy...

I'm glad to hear that cornish can hatch out eggs- mine are persistently broody. I did not want any more chicks this year so I didn't let them hatch anything, but I'd wondered if these great big heavy hens would crush their chicks.
I lost my favourite cornish hen, she went broody somewhere outdoors, something must have found her, she never showed up again :-( . Everything loves a chicken dinner. My coops are as secure as I think I can make them, so I don't worry about them when they are in the coop. We don't have any large snakes, but we do have weasels. Half inch hardware cloth seems to keep them out, and now they are welcome to find any mice or rats in the barn.

 

[bobbi-j]

Mini Meat, would you please post a picture of your DC hens? I have two DC hatchery pullets that are the same age as the rest of the flock (about 4 1/2 months) and are the smallest ones of the bunch.

 

[Mini Meat]

Mini Meat, would you please post a picture of your DC hens? I have two DC hatchery pullets that are the same age as the rest of the flock (about 4 1/2 months) and are the smallest ones of the bunch.

I'd be happy to share some pics of these girls. I'll try to do it tomorrow but it may be Thursday. I will say that my original birds are from Stromburgs and also seem small. They have small frames but are very meaty. They also grow pretty slowly. The fact that they are hard feathered also makes them seem smaller then some of the other breeds, but they are very dense.

So I have been thinking about the water system for the chicken barn. I was going to use nipples and while they worked great for the chicks I feel that now that they are older it takes them a long time to drink from the nipples. I don't think they dispensing enough water for the juvies.

Then I thought I would use small horse waterers but they are $35. each and would need to be cleaned often because of the amount of exposed area that could catch debris. No go.

I came up with this Idea.



Simply a bucket with 2 floats (In case one clogs). A 1 1/2" outlet pipe would run along the floor under the bedding to all pens. In each pen there would be a riser that is open at the top. This is where the chickens would drink. The outlet pipe would run out the other end of the barn and have a valve out side. Each night I could simply open the valve and drain/flush the whole system. This would hopefully remove any debris that may have gotten into the waterers during the day. If I cut the riser +/- 1/2" above the water level in the bucket they should stay full but not over flow. The water level in the pipes and the water level in the bucket should always stay equal.

Adding more drinkers would just be a matter of cutting the pipe and adding another riser.

Dealing individual waterers can be such a pain, filling, cleaning, constantly being polluted and they take up space even when hung.
This seems like such a simple system... I can't help but wonder... am I missing something?

 

[Mini Meat]

I'm glad to hear that cornish can hatch out eggs- mine are persistently broody. I did not want any more chicks this year so I didn't let them hatch anything, but I'd wondered if these great big heavy hens would crush their chicks.
I lost my favourite cornish hen, she went broody somewhere outdoors, something must have found her, she never showed up again :-( . Everything loves a chicken dinner. My coops are as secure as I think I can make them, so I don't worry about them when they are in the coop. We don't have any large snakes, but we do have weasels. Half inch hardware cloth seems to keep them out, and now they are welcome to find any mice or rats in the barn.

I'd go so far as to call mine psycho broody. Sorry you lost your hen. They always seem get the favorites.