North Carolina

[CricketR4]

Well good afternoon everyone.

I hope you all have a good day. Mine started out good, but I'm now on the couch with tummy issues. I believe I have an intolerance to duck eggs!

On that note, anyone in my area know, what price I should sell them at (for eating)? Or, does anyone want to buy some for hatching from me? They are Indian Runners.

 

[jtbass2756]

Red Oak, NC......have been offered a small coop..you know the kind with a little garden available on the top! It has 4 boxes in it and about a 4' run. The only problem I see is that it has reg. chicken wire on it and I've been reading about needing to varmit proofing the coop and run. I know we have dogs, foxs, hawks, possums, snakes,etc. . We live in a fairly rural area. so I want to take care of my ladies when I get them. I know that I'll need a bigger run because I won't be able to let them free range. We have no trees or bushes for them to duck under. It will also not be movable. I'm somewhat handicapped so I can't do the building thing.. Would have in my younger years but not now. I need any and all suggestions and pointers. Thought I would do some shaving/straw and some sand for my run/house. I can readily have access to both. I would be able to rake and scoop. I have already bought several rolls of the 1/4" square wire to help deter my blacksnake who has been living around my shed and really has been keeping the rodent population down. I'm thrilled to collect his skins and compare them but I also know he will love it if he has eggs available! Would love any feedback you can give me. Thanks wronghandedartistofredoak.com

 

[wildriverswolf90]

just won 18 egg layer eggs on the easter funny post contest YAY

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

just won 18 egg layer eggs on the easter funny post contest YAY

Congrats!

Good Morning, Happy Chicken People!

Slight change of plans for me today. I won't get to WCA until 1:00-ish, and won't stay long. I have to see a lady about a chicken!

Enjoy your day!

 

[nursebecky99]

Red Oak, NC......have been offered a small coop..you know the kind with a little garden available on the top! It has 4 boxes in it and about a 4' run. The only problem I see is that it has reg. chicken wire on it and I've been reading about needing to varmit proofing the coop and run. I know we have dogs, foxs, hawks, possums, snakes,etc. . We live in a fairly rural area. so I want to take care of my ladies when I get them. I know that I'll need a bigger run because I won't be able to let them free range. We have no trees or bushes for them to duck under. It will also not be movable. I'm somewhat handicapped so I can't do the building thing.. Would have in my younger years but not now. I need any and all suggestions and pointers. Thought I would do some shaving/straw and some sand for my run/house. I can readily have access to both. I would be able to rake and scoop. I have already bought several rolls of the 1/4" square wire to help deter my blacksnake who has been living around my shed and really has been keeping the rodent population down. I'm thrilled to collect his skins and compare them but I also know he will love it if he has eggs available! Would love any feedback you can give me. Thanks wronghandedartistofredoak.com

Welcome to BYC and the NC thread! As far as your questions, i am a total newbie, don't even have my chickens yet, but the 1/4" hardware cloth wire is the best for keeping things out of the run and coop from what Ive read and researched. If you need to expand and get another coop, jdoliveira (ok i spelled that totally wrong) on here builds coops for a very reasonable price, and they look great also!

 

[nursebecky99]

You don't have to like them, you just have to appreciate their place on the food chain. Read "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver. Besides, you have chemicals in your brain that allow you to overcome your fears. I used to be terrified of spiders, but I hate to be dominated by anything, let alone an irrational fear, so I started picking up wood spiders (they're like brown orb weaver spiders, we had them in NY). They take up the palm of your hand. I figured that if I could teach myself to control that fear, I could do anything. I can now pick up any spider you put in front of me and that includes black widows (on a piece of paper, I'm brave,but not stupid).

Funny story about black widow spiders (my chickens eat them). I happened to look out my window last summer and noticed a black widow in the window between the screen and the glass. This window was right behind my couch. I like to be able to open the windows when the weather is nice, but even though I am not terrified of black widows, I do respect their ability to deliver a world of hurt. I felt it necessary to remove the black widow from the window. Every time I opened the window she retreated up into the window sash (aluminum windows). I finally broke down and told my husband to hose her down hoping the water would just wash her out of there without killing her.

He sprayed so much water up that window sash, I thought she must be dead and gone. But there she was the next day, hunting bugs and doing a respectable job of keeping the beatles out of my windows. I just kept that window closed all summer until an anole moved in and ate her. I guess that's the world we live in and we gotta try to get along with all of our neighbors.

I did remove every one of her egg sacs from the window so that we wouldn't have a million little black widows in the window. But that put me in a quandry. I didn't want to toss them near my house and I didn't want kill them to remove so many mosquito-eating machines from the ecosystem (I have a degree in biology and I'm a Buddhist, killing a predator would be, for me, like burning a flag or urinating on the Mona Lisa would be for most other people). So I kept them in mason jars and fed them mosquitoes that I caught while they (the mosquitoes) were trying to bite me (for some reason, my respect for all life ends with mosquitoes and ticks- I know I am also a hypocrite). I actually got a lot of satisfaction from putting those mosquitoes inside that jar of baby black widow spiders.

Finally, they got so big that my husband started to complain about having so many black widow spiders as pets and he was really starting to question my sanity (as was I, I was completely aware of how alarming this would sound to an outside observer). So I took my jars of black widows to the Croatan, opened the tops and left them there to their own resources.


Crazy, I know.

Hey, thanks, but I never said I had debilitating fear, just dont like them. maybe like you dont like mosquitoes. i appreciate the food chain, but dont want them enjoying the food chain at the cost of my chickens or eggs.

 

[BHep]

Good Morning... Nothing better to do on a rain day but go to the WCA.

 

[doubleatraining]

Save me a seat!! I'm coming too!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

And since my "lady with a chicken" is coming, I'll be staying! Save a place for my chair, please, please, please!

 

[wildriverswolf90]

well I had a mircale hatch today on day 14 I candled eggs and accidently broke one(craked the shell at the top), in an effort to save the developing chick, I dampened a piece of paper towel and smoothed it over the egg, in the bator the paper towel dried slightly and stuck to the egg nicely. today day 23. the egg finally hatched and a healthy baby cochin is now chirpping away in the bator i am amazed!