You too! I have been battling this fir a least two months now. I've caught several but they just keep coming. When I say relocated I really mean relocated to where they can never come back. I've relocated these that bugs caught. I block/fix the place they just find another to get in.
I'm hoping that I can win the war.
Seems like they always take the best layers or the ones I like the most. At this rate I'm going to have to put on another hatch to replace the hens I've lost.
Well, today was the day - weighing day (4 weeks) and moving day! Completely exhausting/traumatic for me, didn't seem all that hard on the chicks. They love their new home (they had most of the day to explore), though they predictably chirped loudly like they were dying for a little while as it got dark (as they tended to do in the brooder), before settling down (I sat out in the yard with them until they settled - the tractor is very sturdily predator- and dig-proof, but I didn't want them harassed through the wire by a cat drawn by the cheeping). So, I have data and I have more baby pics.
Tank continues to astonish and amaze - he's over a pound now. But he has a rival cockerel who's also pretty big. In the second chart (growth curves for each chick), I noted the sex in the legend (it's starting to be very obvious for some of them).
Now photos (if you click on them, they are fairly high resolution). I sat with them in the tractor this afternoon watching them. Puppy was mostly more interested in the dirt than me, but a second pullet has decided that I am awesome. Her name is now Sweetie:
Here's Tank, with a cheeky look into the camera:
One with a lovely black/brown feathering (the neurologically abnormal NH is next to him - still hanging on, though growth curve is predictably starting to fall off):
A black cockerel with a fat comb (it's redder than it looks in this photo):
They loved sunbathing - including one (sex unsure) that first looked black (with all black down), but now has a lot of copper highlights (and white face markings):
And some other assorted shots showing the different colors/patterns in their baby feathers:
I would welcome anyone offering "proper" names for any of these feather color/patterns (though I realize they will grow into adult plumage) - I'm stuck with light brown, dark brown, red brown, brown back, black brown...
Well, today was the day - weighing day (4 weeks) and moving day! Completely exhausting/traumatic for me, didn't seem all that hard on the chicks. They love their new home (they had most of the day to explore), though they predictably chirped loudly like they were dying for a little while as it got dark (as they tended to do in the brooder), before settling down (I sat out in the yard with them until they settled - the tractor is very sturdily predator- and dig-proof, but I didn't want them harassed through the wire by a cat drawn by the cheeping). So, I have data and I have more baby pics. Tank continues to astonish and amaze - he's over a pound now. But he has a rival cockerel who's also pretty big. In the second chart (growth curves for each chick), I noted the sex in the legend (it's starting to be very obvious for some of them). Now photos (if you click on them, they are fairly high resolution). I sat with them in the tractor this afternoon watching them. Puppy was mostly more interested in the dirt than me, but a second pullet has decided that I am awesome. Her name is now Sweetie: Here's Tank, with a cheeky look into the camera: One with a lovely black/brown feathering (the neurologically abnormal NH is next to him - still hanging on, though growth curve is predictably starting to fall off): A black cockerel with a fat comb (it's redder than it looks in this photo): They loved sunbathing - including one (sex unsure) that first looked black (with all black down), but now has a lot of copper highlights (and white face markings): And some other assorted shots showing the different colors/patterns in their baby feathers: I would welcome anyone offering "proper" names for any of these feather color/patterns (though I realize they will grow into adult plumage) - I'm stuck with light brown, dark brown, red brown, brown back, black brown... I am SOOOOOO glad to get them outside!!! - Ant Farm
I'm not real good with color names, but do any of the brown ones look like they may have some pattern to them? Reason I ask getting alot with the partridge look to them. Some that as far ado know have no partridge coloring in their background. .
You too! I have been battling this fir a least two months now. I've caught several but they just keep coming. When I say relocated I really mean relocated to where they can never come back. I've relocated these that bugs caught. I block/fix the place they just find another to get in.
I'm hoping that I can win the war.
Seems like they always take the best layers or the ones I like the most. At this rate I'm going to have to put on another hatch to replace the hens I've lost.
If they have learned your trap location, move it...
Get some smell/scent remover spray from the deer hunting section of Walmart and spray it down after moving.
Try different bait. Smelly/stinky meat is the best... when using this you can put trap further away from chicken pen, they will be drawn to it.
Look for small trails leading to trees around your property edges. Put traps on these trails to get the predators before they get to your coop. 'Possums really are creatures of habit, and VERY lazy... they have a low metabolism and basically just eat and sleep, the closer to home they can find their meal, the happier they are. It's likely that you've had a female have a litter in your area and are needing to clean up the whole clan.
Possibly, if you don't have any free roaming cats/dogs, try some steel traps if you are up to it(#1- #1 1/2 long spring, or 450-700 bodygrip, $>10-15each). They really are not difficult to set.
'Possum can be tasty and non-greasy. It's all in the way you cook it.
But, if they are eating your birds just as well to get them gone regardless!
If they have learned your trap location, move it...
Get some smell/scent remover spray from the deer hunting section of Walmart and spray it down after moving.
Try different bait. Smelly/stinky meat is the best... when using this you can put trap further away from chicken pen, they will be drawn to it.
Look for small trails leading to trees around your property edges. Put traps on these trails to get the predators before they get to your coop. 'Possums really are creatures of habit, and VERY lazy... they have a low metabolism and basically just eat and sleep, the closer to home they can find their meal, the happier they are. It's likely that you've had a female have a litter in your area and are needing to clean up the whole clan.
Possibly, if you don't have any free roaming cats/dogs, try some steel traps if you are up to it(#1- #1 1/2 long spring, or 450-700 bodygrip, $>10-15each). They really are not difficult to set.
'Possum can be tasty and non-greasy. It's all in the way you cook it.
But, if they are eating your birds just as well to get them gone regardless!
The only trap I have here right now is a steel trap, that's what I've been catching them in.
I'm going to pick up a live trap about noon today to see if that will work.
Got another one last night. Top that off I had to cull a sick hen also this morning. Looking more and more like I'm goi g to have to set more eggs. Only thing is I'm durn to 4 dependable laying hens they are the ones that list their husband the other night, so no rooster in there. Four more hens that in full blown molt do not laying and their rooster is also molting and isn't doing his job much either,
That leaves me with the Spangled Aloha in with one or two young pullets that have just begun laying last week. Two roosters that are 19 weeks old today, I've never seen either one doing the rooster boogey. There are two hens in with one of them that are laying but not as dependable as they should be. They are still fairly young themselves, New Years babies.
I know of know one else that have NN's to get hatching eggs from. So ?????????
Got another one last night. Top that off I had to cull a sick hen also this morning. Looking more and more like I'm goi g to have to set more eggs. Only thing is I'm durn to 4 dependable laying hens they are the ones that list their husband the other night, so no rooster in there. Four more hens that in full blown molt do not laying and their rooster is also molting and isn't doing his job much either,
That leaves me with the Spangled Aloha in with one or two young pullets that have just begun laying last week. Two roosters that are 19 weeks old today, I've never seen either one doing the rooster boogey. There are two hens in with one of them that are laying but not as dependable as they should be. They are still fairly young themselves, New Years babies.
I know of know one else that have NN's to get hatching eggs from. So ?????????
Tank continues to astonish and amaze - he's over a pound now. But he has a rival cockerel who's also pretty big. In the second chart (growth curves for each chick), I noted the sex in the legend (it's starting to be very obvious for some of them). 
