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mojoy

mojoy

Hatching
Nov 24, 2015
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Hi all, I am new to chickens this year and have been doing a lot of reading on BYC the last few months, mostly on links from pinterest. I got my first set of 10 chickens in May, and lost all but four about 4 weeks in, the cat figured out how to get into the little cage I had them in during the afternoon :( so I ordered 10 more in June and was shipped an extra! I did great with them until about August when my dog decided she would have a taste, so it has been a struggle to keep them alive. I am now down to 3 from May and 5 from June. I have a Rhode Island red and 2 black Australorps from May, and from June I now have down to a silver wyanodtte, barred rock, buff orpington, buff brahma, and a new hampshire red.

Besides the chickens, I have a 5 year old dog, Ginger, a seven month puppy, Guss, both bull-boxers, an eight year old cat with ptsd, and we are looking at getting a bearded dragon for Christmas. I started cricket and mealwrom farms last month to supplement my flock through winter with my fodder and layer feed. I have also had fish in the past. I grew up on a farm, and although my dad only grew crops, he bought me a horse and mom always let me bring critters in, despite them giving her heebie-jeebies. I wish I lived outside of town now so I could have more animals, but I am grateful that we live on a corner lot and just bought the vacant one next to us, so I have a large, almost 1/2 acre fenced yard for the chickens and dogs.

I love crafting and doing house projects, and have been considering volunteering at the zoo 20 miles north of our little town, in the bigger town where my husband works. I also love being a mom to the only child we've been able to have. He will be 9 in a couple month. Waiting for some of those house projects to calm down a bit and I will be going to school for massage therapy, and waiting on a substitute teaching license right now.

Guess that sums up most of my life right now. glad to finally be a member of BYC!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm sorry about your losses to the cat. :eek:( It's always sad to lose some of our flock. :eek:( If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
 
I'm sorry you lost so many to your cat and dogs. Dogs(and cats) + chickens = DEAD chickens. You know that by now. The only way you are going to stop the slaughter is to make sure cats & dogs never meet chickens. Otherwise you will be spending a fortune on replacement chickens - that will probably also end up dead. There has to be a change. Either the pets have to be kept locked up or the chickens must be kept in a secure covered run, with no way in for dogs or cats or other predators.
 
After the chickens got much larger, the cat has been uninterested, thank goodness. I have found that if I make sure the chickens go in before sunset, the dogs don't bother them, so it's just been a matter of diligence. They do better too, if they have stuffed toys, which of course don't last more than a couple weeks with a big puppy, so again, just diligence. I am trying to figure out how to put up another fence in the yard to better secure the chickens, but unfortunately we have been so busy with remodeling our house (we had to completely gut the kitchen/dining/living room b/c of mold) that the fence hasn't been one of our top priorities. We didn't even have heat until last week! And the dogs have been doing better with the above precautions. Hopefully we can get the fence before Christmas. I liked that they were free ranging all over the yard, but this time of year it's not like there's much too eat out there anyway. And better a small area than lost chickens.
 
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