North Carolina

[Jloeffler]

Quote:
Look out Beth has canibal chickens

So are mine! And they like their eggs and chicken with some no yolk egg noodles too!

 

[gavinandallison]

Does anyone on here operate a cam in their coop that runs through an ethernet box so it can feed direct on to the internet without havingto leave my pc running 24/7. If so, what system do you use?

 

[BHep]

Just had a call on my runner ducks that are for sale....guy wants to eat them

Obviously.... told him NO !!!

He asked for pics and I emailed him some. Went through what colors etc. REALLY...does it matter what color they are if you are eating them.

But at least he was up front and honest and gave me the option to say "NO" I did explain that there is hardly any meat on the runners and he need to look for pekins or something.

p.s on a good note sold 8 seramas today to a nice man recovering from a stroke and uses his chickens as therapy. He swears if it weren't for his chickens he would have rotted away.

Happy for them and their new home.

 

[Jloeffler]

Congratulations Beth on finding homes for your seramas.

Jen

 

[Matt A NC]

I lost Midnight yesterday.

She just flat out vanished. No signs, no sounds, no alerts from others, nothing. Midnight is 6 years old. She is one of the oldest birds here. There are only 5 others that are 2005 birds. Midnight is one of Andy's ladies and is one of Dot's first daughters. I lost Dot last year to a cat and that made all his offspring even more precious to me.

Flock Picture: Midnight is the black one in the very back with a few white specks. When she was young she was solid black. I had just let them out that day last Winter and they were headed to the dusting area that the birds have made beside the building.

The Lots were opened at 2pm for everyone to go play. When I was feeding supper just after 6 is when I noticed she wasn't with her sister and Puff where they are usually taking a nap before supper. I finished feeding everyone else and then started looking for her. I walked and walked the yard looking for something. She is starting a molt, so if a hawk or other predator hit her she should have exploded with loose feathers. After searching everywhere in the 1 acre yard I did 2 rounds all the way around the outside of the fence and then searched the neighbor's yard. They haven't been over there in months, but I had to look. After the birds were put up for the night I looked until it was totally dark. I checked every bucket and crate that I could find incase she got caught. No trace of anything was found.

I was awake most of the night trying to figure out what had gotten her and worring about when it would come back. At daylight I open the houses and feed the birds every morning. I was hoping she would show up, but no. I walked the yard again and hoped, but there were no signs.

Every time I went out today I would look around hoping to find something to give me some answers. When I was opening the Lots at 2 I saw the 150' roll of 2' tall chicken wire in the tractor shed beside the lawnmower. The roll is used to keep birds out of the garden and then rolled back up. It clicked in my head that last year I found a small roll full of sparrows. The middle hole was about 1.5" big and the entire 2 feet was full of sparrows. Many were dead and rotting, but the last 3-4 were still alive. I do not know why those birds kept going in there one after the other. One end was on the ground and once they went in they could not back out because their feathers would catch in the wire.

I walked over the the big roll and looked. The hole in the middle was about 4-5 inches across. About a foot up in there I saw a fluffy butt. It was black with a few white specks. I touch the feathers and she moved. %$@#%%@#!!! I figure her greedy butt saw a cricket and she went in after it. She could NOT back out because her feathers kept getting caught and the other end was bent in just enough to stop her. I got Dad to help so that I would not crush her. He pulled the wire to try and widen the hole while I directed her on out the end she was facing. As soon as she was free she took off to Andy and started picking around like the rest of the flock. She went about 24 hours with no food and water, was stuck in a roll of wire, but she was fine.

The thing is I had been past that wire several times while looking for her. Mom and I went cricket hunting about 11 this morning. We are completely infested with crickets this year. The birds are really happy about this. We were right beside her catching Camel Crickets back in the tractor shed. She never made a sound. If I hadn't remembered the sparrows from last year I would have never thought to look in that roll of wire and her butt would have starved to death.

Matt

 

[BHep]

HOw dare Midnight scare you to death like that !!!!

So happy to hear you found her. Jeez.... did she even say Thank You

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
So happy there was a happy ending to that story, and that she is okay,

 

[gavinandallison]

Quote:
Matt,

so good to hear a happy ending to your story!!

 

[gavinandallison]

So, here we are with an update on the chicks. #4 hatched this morning, still in lockdown incubator But here are the latest pics of the other 3:

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Adorable!