My Pests are Two Pretty Little Golden Comet Pullets-Neighbor's Chickens

[speckledhen]

They are sweet, friendly little pullets and I hate to see an animal not treated well. If she wraps the open coop or does something to fix the winter issues, maybe they'll survive, but I know it won't be pleasant for them.

The oversized cage would be okay IF it had an actual place they could go and close up against the winter gales, but it has something like a three sided closet in the corner, no way to stop wind from rushing into where they are roosting. The entire long side is facing the prevailing winds and the half wall is OSB, unpainted /not stained so probably molding and rotting as we speak. Thankfully, whoever built it for her made the top wire half of the walls hardware cloth, but I don't think there is a dig barrier anywhere around it. It could have worked but she just didn't go far enough. We occasionally get down to zero degrees here and they're saying it will be a hard winter.

Here it was before she got the birds, before it had sat out in the weather for months and months.

....well, it won't load pictures right now. Will try again in a few minutes.

Ah, here they are!


This is the end of my driveway.

 

[aoxa]

If she wrapped 3 sides and left one open it would be fine. A pain to deal with frozen water, but they would have a nice fresh air coop.

That is a really big area for 2 hens. What is it that makes it "so much work" to her?

 

[speckledhen]

If she wrapped 3 sides and left one open it would be fine. A pain to deal with frozen water, but they would have a nice fresh air coop.

That is a really big area for 2 hens. What is it that makes it "so much work" to her?

Exactly, that's what I meant when she said she had not gone far enough. She has to block off the winter winds and snow gales. I agree about wrapping it and leaving the side next to her house open and that's just what DH told her to do. I just couldn't believe she had not thought of preparing it for winter and if my husband hadn't said something, she still would be clueless. I still think no dig barrier is a huge issue with our coyote pack and the foxes around here. But, letting them out on her corner lot with dark gravel roads coming in from three directions, our predator highway, is really asking for them to disappear. She'll be calling me and asking, "Have you seen my chickens?".

I have no idea what is so much work. I've never had less than 10 hens so I can't imagine 2 would be any work at all.

 

[aoxa]

Exactly, that's what I meant when she said she had not gone far enough. She has to block off the winter winds and snow gales. I agree about wrapping it and leaving the side next to her house open and that's just what DH told her to do. I just couldn't believe she had not thought of preparing it for winter and if my husband hadn't said something, she still would be clueless. I still think no dig barrier is a huge issue with our coyote pack and the foxes around here. But, letting them out on her corner lot with dark gravel roads coming in from three directions, our predator highway, is really asking for them to disappear. She'll be calling me and asking, "Have you seen my chickens?".

I have no idea what is so much work. I've never had less than 10 hens so I can't imagine 2 would be any work at all.

I can't even imagine 10 being any work at all haha. When we had our fire we had 13 in the basement we moved out to a baby barn (brand new) and I remember chores were max 10 minutes a day. If you don't include the time I spent watching them (which was +2 hours at least)

Gravity feeders are all it takes and check their water twice a day. That coop she has is very large looking. She can't have to clean it out very often at all. 2 hens don't make much waste, especially when they are free ranging all day..

I have mine behind electric fences now. A coyote has killed two of my cats and one of my neighbour's cats. Our ducks would sleep on their pond and the coyote would circle the pond frantically for hours. They are now behind the electric fence as well.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have an idea! Keep the chicks and re-home the neighbor! Surely someone would take her....

 

[speckledhen]

I can't even imagine 10 being any work at all haha. When we had our fire we had 13 in the basement we moved out to a baby barn (brand new) and I remember chores were max 10 minutes a day. If you don't include the time I spent watching them (which was +2 hours at least)

Gravity feeders are all it takes and check their water twice a day. That coop she has is very large looking. She can't have to clean it out very often at all. 2 hens don't make much waste, especially when they are free ranging all day..

I have mine behind electric fences now. A coyote has killed two of my cats and one of my neighbour's cats. Our ducks would sleep on their pond and the coyote would circle the pond frantically for hours. They are now behind the electric fence as well.

I know, ten were barely any work at all, how could two be? The coop is plenty large enough but she turns them out in the morning and they just go where they want, which ends up being down my driveway as far as the gate. I think the coop is probably 8' x 4', though I haven't been there to measure it. She just has to THINK about their welfare and make plans for cold weather. Sorry about your coyote problem. i hear them at night here over the baby monitor we have in the main coop.

I have an idea! Keep the chicks and re-home the neighbor! Surely someone would take her....

Now, that's a fabulous idea!

 

[speckledhen]

DH was coming back from the mailbox, which is down the hill on another street and saw her taking our advice and trying to cover part of the exterior open walls on the windy side, one end with a tarp and on part of the long side she was nailing up one of those rigid foam insulation sheets with the reflective backing on the outside of the hardware cloth. She was trying to nail it herself and breathing so hard, he stopped to help her get it finished. Then, he had to show her how to secure her heat lamp so it couldn't come loose and start a fire-she had it just hanging by the clamp on a 2x4, no other security measures.

If this is a bad winter for her with those two pullets, she will probably get rid of them, if they're alive by spring. So, at least the long wall is partially covered and the end where most of the weather blows in from. Blocking off the howling wind and keeping snow out of there will go a long way toward the survival of those two little layers.

 

[bobbi-j]

Poor things! It was very nice of your hubby to stop and help her. (Don't want to discourage it when we see positive things, right?)

 

[speckledhen]

Poor things! It was very nice of your hubby to stop and help her. (Don't want to discourage it when we see positive things, right?)

Yesterday, we were leaving and while on the main road out of our little area, we were forced to stop for her two pullets in the road, who are obviously headed from her property to the undeveloped woods across the street from her. I'm betting some other folks who don't feel the same way about chickens as we do might target those poor little pullets with their vehicles. Then, later my DH saw them pecking in the grass of the neighbor on the other side of me-our three properties sort of meet up in the pointy end of a pie wedge at one location-well, those two do and mine is backed off up into the wedge a bit, hard to describe, really. So, she isn't keeping tabs on those birds, not at all, just like she said she didn't.

Between us and that other down the mountain neighbor is a barely discernible road, overgrown with grass, more like a leafy tunnel than a road, and it's predator highway. In fact, years ago we smoked out a fox's den in the pipe going under the road, which was about 225' from my main coop. She accused us of killing the fox to every person she spoke to for years, probably still is. Well, it was on my property, my fox, dang it, but no, we did not shoot the mama fox she was FEEDING. A fox will come out of that leafy tunnel of a road and snatch one of those pretty, friendly little pullets and she'll have no idea what happened to it. I'm sure I'll get the phone call. I still don't think they'll last through this winter.

 

[minnehaha]

I also have a soft spot for red sex links.. My 6 red stars want to be held and cuddled all the time. They are such sweethearts. I wish I could scoop those little pullets up and take them home, feed them some fresh mash and put them in my clean coop... I hope nothing bad happens to them. My guess is someones dog will get them. Poor lil' babies.