NY chicken lover!!!!

[Henicillin]

Blasted raccoons. Alan thought he saw one recently, but we haven't had a recurrence, and I see no other evidence of it. I really need a couple of game cams, just to be sure. If nothing else, it'll get nice photos of the deer eating the hostas.

I turfed two wannabroods out of their spots tonight. My other BLRW and my BO whose last hatch failed completely are at it. Nope - we're done for this year, ladies. Get over it.

 

[Henicillin]

Oh, and I have a crazy duck. Our roosts are made of 2X6 boards with the wide sides up. Because the boards are friendly to webbed feet as well as clawed feet, she insists on hopping up the levels of the ladder roost at every opportunity and walking around on the top board as though she has some important business to conduct up there. I've also found her sleeping on the lower levels of the roost, and sitting in the lowest nest boxes. I'll have to get a photo of the silly thing on the roost, as it's funny. Maybe she thinks she's a chicken!

 

[Henicillin]

Ya'll , I got rid of two chicks I had , one being a frizzle, and believe it or not he and his did not know about BYC? Well of course I told him and expect we might see her here soon. They've got the Itus. At least she does but he seemed susceptible to it. You know? Chickenitus.

It's contagious and progressive, and there is no known cure. All we can do is learn to live with the symptoms, and join support groups like BYC.

 

[featherz]

OMG I am so sorry to hear that Cass.. =( I think you may have to consider the electric wire - that coon will be back. =( Poor mama, she made it back to her smashed eggs. I will have a few chicks this weekend if she makes it and needs a chick!

Are all men this dumb? Ray comes in the house, after walking through the yard around the chicken coop and says "they are all singing the chicken song". So I figure oh oh ,an egg and put on my coop shoes and go down there. And EVERY SINGLE CHICKEN in the yard is singing the egg song. Even the chicks were trying to. I get to the coop and there is a racoon chewing on the head of my broody D'uccle. NOW, if he had stopped at the coop on his way by to find out what the noise was all about he could have gotten his gun and shot the darn thing. Noooooooooooo, he goes in the house, goes upstairs to change and doesn't come out for 15 minutes ....the whole 15 minutes I had been screaming my head off for him to bring a gun. "Oh, I didn't hear you" OMG the air traffic controllers in Albany heard me, cuz they were rerouting planes away from my yard. (anyone who knows me, knows I am NOT a quiet person and when I want to be I can be VERY loud)

Now this broody is one DETERMINED momma. There are feathers from the attack in THREE places and she STILL got back to the nest and her (now smashed) eggs. She is VERY traumatized and will probably lose the sight in one eye, if she survives. Personally, I hope she doesn't make it, cuz she will be picked on by the other chickens, but if she does she will have her own nest box in the small coop, where the roosters can't get to her for a loooong time. For now she is locked in her broody cage so NOTHING can get to her. Poor baby.

And I am not destined to hatch ANY of the breed of chicks I want. She was sitting on 2 of my ameruacana eggs. They were smashed and the third one (a mutt egg) she has rolled out of the nest and is just sitting there on the shavings. (Right now I don't care about the eggs, but this is a heck of a way to break a hen of broodiness)

Edited to add: All the sumantras fled the area and have not been seen since. I swear if that coon goes after those birds tonight it is going to die a slow and painful death. (And mostly I think coons are cute, but this one is on my last nerve)

 

[stonykill]

Cass, box trap and canned dog food as bait. That coon will be back until you kill it, or it kills all your chickens. A little .22 caliber lead poisoning between the eyes once in the box trap takes care of the problem.

 

[featherz]

Cass, box trap and canned dog food as bait. That coon will be back until you kill it, or it kills all your chickens. A little .22 caliber lead poisoning between the eyes once in the box trap takes care of the problem.

X2. I have traps if you don't have any. I hear marshmallows also work well for raccoons, plus it won't trap your cat/dog if you have one..

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Blasted raccoons. Alan thought he saw one recently, but we haven't had a recurrence, and I see no other evidence of it. I really need a couple of game cams, just to be sure. If nothing else, it'll get nice photos of the deer eating the hostas.

I turfed two wannabroods out of their spots tonight. My other BLRW and my BO whose last hatch failed completely are at it. Nope - we're done for this year, ladies. Get over it.

Cass--so sorry to hear about your loss. (I thought I heard someone yelling yesterday...didnt realize it was you!). I hope you get that coon. I am with Stoney...lead poisoning usually rectifys these problems so they dont occur again.

Hen--my psycho wyandotte betty broke from her broodiness and now her sister elanor is sitting. Ugh. No more chicks already! I will never let betty hatch anything cause she killed and ate her eggs last year. I may let elanor sit on eggs next year as she is a lady in every sense of the word and I think she would be a good mommy. I told both girls no way. After all my bad hatches I am done this year. Saving up for a new incubator and by next spring the rir's should be laying fertile eggs so elanor can have a couple of them.

Rancher--good luck with your br and her eggs. I'll bet the newbies you gave chicks to will be back. They are like m&ms, you need a handful, and then some more! Just show them the chicks when your br hatches them out. Resistance is futile!

 

[Glasshen]

Ginny, so sorry to hear about Betty White, I was pulling for her.
Cass, good luck making the coon and his friends and family disappear permanently.
It's tough chicken days. I have one in isolation. Her eggs have been weird for months, and sometimes she has shell-less eggs, and her poops are weird too. She was pale and slow and not eating. I treated her with eprinex, as well as the 19 week olds and the rest of Kinky's crew who are about 13 or 14 months old. Kinky's color is better, and she was just singing an egg song from the basement, but her poops are still mostly clear...

I put all the info about Kinky in case anyone has experience and could guide me. I've read of similar symptoms with a sad outcome.

How does one keep the worms expelled by the eprinex from reinfecting the chickens and the dog, and everyone else? I've been picking up what I can, but that will get old fast.

 

[Cass]

Cass, box trap and canned dog food as bait. That coon will be back until you kill it, or it kills all your chickens. A little .22 caliber lead poisoning between the eyes once in the box trap takes care of the problem.

Oh, I know it will be back. It's been around the area for a while. I keep finding pond plants in my outside waterers. (you know those little one leaf plants that float on the top of ponds? Well they don't fly up from the pond out back and land in the waterer, someone is washing their dinner in the waterer and me thinks that someone is a coon) My coops are pretty much all but bear proof. HOWEVER if the door is wide open, even a moose can walk right in....and that's what this coon did, walked in through an open door during free range time. It was only one coon, not a family; of that I am glad. It wasn't full grown either. Nor was it afraid of humans. It just ambled off, but only AFTER I picked up a stout stick and swung it at it. I was screaming for Ray the whole time. My voice did not bother it. It never ran. It just walked off. IF I wasn't afraid it would turn on me I could have beat it to death, but I didn't have long pants and boots on, so I didn't want to risk getting bit. AND I thought Ray would bring a gun, like I was screaming for him to do. (He didn't, but my neighbors heard me...the ones that I can only see the peak of their roof, yeah, those neighbors...so I was LOUD)

Tonight I go to TSC for a box trap. Can't use catfood, cuz I have a cat. A WONDERFUL cat....she lays down by the coop every night. I wonder if she knew about this racoon and just couldn't find the words to tell me? Cuz it's kinda unusual for a cat to just lay there out in the open facing a building, isn't it? More likely she was laying in wait for mice that scurry around cleaning up bits of stuff the chickens missed at snack time, but still, she's a good cat.

The hen is still breathing, but that's all. She isn't moving much, and since she has been broody for months, she doesn't have many reserves to draw on. Poor hen.

 

[featherz]

Poor thing.. I feel very bad for my (ex) little girl and for you too. Keep her calm and we shall see. Try the marshmallows, that shouldn't catch your cat. Or a brand of food your cat hates . My cats never get caught in my live traps but my property is big enough that I can put the traps out of their usual path.

I've had to keep my chooks locked up for the last month except for about an hour every evening when I can sit out there with them. They hate it! But I lost several chickens each time they went out so had no choice. I ordered one roll of electric netting (164 foot) for my birthday and we'll see how it works. I could use several, but not sure I will like it - so worst case only out the cash for one roll.

The hen is still breathing, but that's all. She isn't moving much, and since she has been broody for months, she doesn't have many reserves to draw on. Poor hen.