- Dec 8, 2010
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I've been reading the board for awhile and decided to register. I'm not completely new to the world of chickens as I have had some before, but work and other factors influenced me to get rid of them for a few years. I'm now retired and time isn't the issue that it used to be.
I live in Holley, Santa Rosa County, Florida (near Pensacola for those with some geographic knowledge of the area. I live in a residential area but most lots are rather large for an urban area. My lot is over an acre and fronts East Bay.
About 7 weeks past, a friend insisted on giving me 5 mongrel hens and a mixed EE rooster. I built a coop, 8' X 10' for the adult chickens and got myself organized with water and feeders. The first night a varmint got the rooster and I fixed the area where he got the rooster and haven't lost another. Since I have lived at the present location, I knew there were an abundance of raccoons, opossums, grey fox, a few black bears, feral house cats, and an occasional Bobcat. There are also coyotes and amadillas - not sure an amadilla is a threat or not. I haven't lost anymore chickens, but seeing animal tracks around the coop I went proactive and have trapped and relocated 4 raccoons, one opossum and 1 feral cat. The more I trap and relocate the more tracks I see at the coop. My hope was to be able to clean out the varmints to the extent that I could let the chickens free range in the daytime. I'm certainly not at that place yet.
I'm somewhat familiar with chicken breeds, but certainly not an expert. Over time maybe I can get some decent pictures of my hens and see if someone can help with identifying the likely parentage of them. One has me intrigued as it's a mid sized black chicken with a black pea comb, no wattles, black legs. The size makes me think it had some Bantam parentage. The person that gave me the chickens isn't much help as he trades chickens frequently and his information is not reliable (sorry).
Anyway, since this is long, I will just end by saying I am looking forward to interacting and learning.
I live in Holley, Santa Rosa County, Florida (near Pensacola for those with some geographic knowledge of the area. I live in a residential area but most lots are rather large for an urban area. My lot is over an acre and fronts East Bay.
About 7 weeks past, a friend insisted on giving me 5 mongrel hens and a mixed EE rooster. I built a coop, 8' X 10' for the adult chickens and got myself organized with water and feeders. The first night a varmint got the rooster and I fixed the area where he got the rooster and haven't lost another. Since I have lived at the present location, I knew there were an abundance of raccoons, opossums, grey fox, a few black bears, feral house cats, and an occasional Bobcat. There are also coyotes and amadillas - not sure an amadilla is a threat or not. I haven't lost anymore chickens, but seeing animal tracks around the coop I went proactive and have trapped and relocated 4 raccoons, one opossum and 1 feral cat. The more I trap and relocate the more tracks I see at the coop. My hope was to be able to clean out the varmints to the extent that I could let the chickens free range in the daytime. I'm certainly not at that place yet.
I'm somewhat familiar with chicken breeds, but certainly not an expert. Over time maybe I can get some decent pictures of my hens and see if someone can help with identifying the likely parentage of them. One has me intrigued as it's a mid sized black chicken with a black pea comb, no wattles, black legs. The size makes me think it had some Bantam parentage. The person that gave me the chickens isn't much help as he trades chickens frequently and his information is not reliable (sorry).
Anyway, since this is long, I will just end by saying I am looking forward to interacting and learning.
