- May 8, 2012
- 49
- 0
- 34
I have been so fortunate to have so many good people on here advise me on everything from incubation to coyotes that I wanted to share my own AHA! moments from my first year of raising chickens. Last year our property was swarmed by snakes. Swarmed. I raked leaves, killed baby snakes, and shivered with fear each time I walked out to the coop to close the chickens up for the night Fortunately, there were no poisonous snakes. It only takes one instance of standing next to the coop door to admire the beautiful chickens and having your boyfriend whisper (with a shovel in his hand), "Dont move. Be very still" as he whacks at a six foot snake coiled around the beam and hissing right..next ...to... your... face to put you off the reptiles entirely.
After intensive research and trying virtually everything, I found only one thing that worked: a combination of lime in a very thick two inch perimeter around the coop and a sprinkling of gasoline around the perimeter. Yes, I know about the flammability factor and the fear of the six very large snakes that I killed on one (1) weekend alone in the coop far outweighed the danger in my book. We had no more snakes but I did redo the perimeter after heavy rains and when it seemed to be deteriorating.
The coyotes were another problem. There is a large and very well-fed pack that roams our creek bed and they were treating my flock like the local Chicken Express. Dead chickens, missing chickens.... I went from 25 very expensive chickens to 8. We set traps that they went right around. Even set traps at the door to the coop and left it open. To no avail. The final straw was walking into the front lawn to come face to face (in broad daylight) with my Salmon Faverolle squawking and flying as a coyote chased her in a flat run right into me. Idiot that I am, I ran straight at him flailing my arms and screaming epithets- that's how we do it in Texas.
Funny thing happened though! I was cleaning out the barn and put the huge Goose decoys out that my mother gave everyone for Christmas- cause we're in Texas and we give each other decoys with bright red bows for lawn decoration- in the chicken yard as a kind of joke. But guess what? No... coyotes...ever...again...! go figure.
And for those of you whose chickens seemed to take forever to lay. They will eventually lay eggs. Once the flock matures, some biological trigger mechanism goes off and they all start to lay. Everywhere. The planter, the lawn, your tennis shoes that you left on the front porch. Thank you to everyone that provided support and encouragement and have happy Spring season.
Happy hatching!
After intensive research and trying virtually everything, I found only one thing that worked: a combination of lime in a very thick two inch perimeter around the coop and a sprinkling of gasoline around the perimeter. Yes, I know about the flammability factor and the fear of the six very large snakes that I killed on one (1) weekend alone in the coop far outweighed the danger in my book. We had no more snakes but I did redo the perimeter after heavy rains and when it seemed to be deteriorating.
The coyotes were another problem. There is a large and very well-fed pack that roams our creek bed and they were treating my flock like the local Chicken Express. Dead chickens, missing chickens.... I went from 25 very expensive chickens to 8. We set traps that they went right around. Even set traps at the door to the coop and left it open. To no avail. The final straw was walking into the front lawn to come face to face (in broad daylight) with my Salmon Faverolle squawking and flying as a coyote chased her in a flat run right into me. Idiot that I am, I ran straight at him flailing my arms and screaming epithets- that's how we do it in Texas.
Funny thing happened though! I was cleaning out the barn and put the huge Goose decoys out that my mother gave everyone for Christmas- cause we're in Texas and we give each other decoys with bright red bows for lawn decoration- in the chicken yard as a kind of joke. But guess what? No... coyotes...ever...again...! go figure.
And for those of you whose chickens seemed to take forever to lay. They will eventually lay eggs. Once the flock matures, some biological trigger mechanism goes off and they all start to lay. Everywhere. The planter, the lawn, your tennis shoes that you left on the front porch. Thank you to everyone that provided support and encouragement and have happy Spring season.
Happy hatching!
