NY chicken lover!!!!

[Pyxis]

My aunt has guineas, and boy are they LOUD. But she has almost no ticks... Course, she has chickens, ducks, and geese too, so that's probably a team effort.

Hey, would anybody be willing to give a good home to a buff orpington rooster? He's a really sweet little thing and has never been aggressive. My bigger rooster is just bent on making his life terrible, so he could really use a good new home. I also have a pair of barred rock/cochins that need to go. They belong to the neighbors, but every time I bring them back over the neighbors don't lock them up or something because they come right back and eat my food. Finally the neighbors told me to 'keep them' but I don't want them! They said they'd take them back if I don't want them and the wife browses craigslist constantly so I can't even post them there! They'll just 'take them back' again and I'll be stuck with them.

 

[Glasshen]

You made me laugh.

 

[cheeka]

I was driving on a section of route 30 this afternoon, one of the 55 mph sections... and there is a rooster hunkered down in the middle of the road. I was the only one to stop. he might have been clipped by a car... I'm not sure, he didn't move when I approached and he let me pick him up. A police officer pulled up, asked me if he'd been hit... I told him probably, but I didn't see anything wrong with him, but what rooster just lets a complete stranger pull up in a car and walk over and pick him up without blinking an eye??? none that I know. I brought him to the big farm that is right there and saw lots of free ranging chickens, nice ones... naked necks, ameracaunas, EE's WL's... he was a WL roo, and none too small, at least 7-8 months old I would think... no one answered the door, but I could hear kids inside and the vehicles were there. I put him under the porch steps, bc it was starting to rain. he didn't move at all... I feel so bad, if I had room for him, I would have just driven off with him in my lap,

it's the official end of the first full day that all the birds are together, everyone is on their best behavior, not one feather missing! I never dreamed that I would be able to keep all 3 boys, much less keep them together... as long as it keeps working out like this, I have zero winter worries. Come Spring, I will have turned the portable run into a breeding pen, and have time to build a broody/chick coop. Spread things out a bit...

 

[marquisella]

Don't chickens eat ticks? We are having trouble with ticks, first time in the 10 years we have been here. I thought it was because they had migrated here, but also because the chickens hardly get to free range since the fox issue. Are guinea fowl the best for ticks, or the only for ticks?

guineas are the "tick" eaters of all time. The deer ticks are so small, I could hardly believe how tiny it was, and how hard it was to pull out...yes, I had to do it, ewwweeooo..

I don't want those ticks around. The only reason I got rid of my guineas was all the hens were picked off by fox while they were sitting on eggs. I always picked up the eggs if I found the nest so they wouldn't get eaten, but finally,I could not find it, and the last one disappeared. I was left with 4 males that just constantly chased each other around, or else chased my roosters, and then I had to let them go.

If you have enough hens ratio to roos, they are ok. I found they are only noisy the first year, when they are a year old or older, they only made noise when there was danger, and I appreciated that. They would sound the alarm if a fox or hawk was near, and all the chickens would run like crazy into the coops. They were almost self sufficient. I hatched them under a chicken hen, and they were raised with other chicks. They would fly out of the chicken yard, over the 5 foot fence that kept the chickens in, spend the day roaming the fields, and then at night would fly back into the coop. I think I only had 1 guinea that spent one night outside in a tree during the winter. I had to throw something at it to make it come down, and that was the last time it did that. Otherwise they were very smart to go innto the Coop at night or during inclement weather.

Of course, you cannot rehome an adult guinea. I learned that lesson the hard way, 2 times. They will eventually just walk away. You have to raise them on your land, coop, etc. so they stay, unless you keep them confined, and for me, that defeats the purpose of having them going out & eating ticks & bees...

 

[rancher hicks]

Hi folks,

Busy day. Forgive my brag. Went to my sons promotion ceremony today. He's now a Technical Sargent. It was nice to see all the other young and older people who work so hard being promoted to higher ranks.

 

[Cass]

Glad to see that everyone survived with minor or no damage. Only damage here was the dead tree that fell across the phone line. Lost my DSL along with the land line.

Chickens survived just fine. They sure didn't starve, cuz I had to fill the feeders again today (and they were FULL on Monday) Water was a minor issue. They had enough, just pooped in it, so I had to take it out of the coop and dump off the contaminated part twice a day. (And I thought I wouldn't have to tend to my flock until the storm past)

It does seem that the more prepared I am for a storm the smaller the storm is. I am going to fill everything in the house with water, buy extra bread, ice and milk every time they forecast snow, all winter. You're welcome. LOL ( hate the new format of BYC requiring we select from menu to post an emoticon, so I am going back to "LOL" and other old style expressions of mirth)

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: Sorry to hear about your little pigeon ..we do get attached to them ..& feel their pain ..My hubby " their just chickens ..you just need to ." feed -em collect eggs ..thats all "

We have a chicken that is getting picked on by everyone ...as she is different ..she is all white ..We have a mix of brown chickens & a black roo .
She was supposed to be a red pullet ...I believe she is a second generation golden comet ..she lays brown eggs ..We have had to rescue her from the flock a couple times..
Some of them were on top of her drawing blood ..behind her comb ..She is so sweet & tame ..I can pick her up easily ..
If I could she would be a house chicken ..Hubby " get that chicken out of the house ."
We would trade her for a brown chicken or sell her to a good home ..$15.00 -20.00 ? maybe ? I may know a friend that might be interested in her ..
I have even thought of taking her to the beauty parlor for a new do ..LOL ..a strawberry blonde to match everyone else

The storm missed us in Jordan . Sunday was worse ...rain & gusts of wind ...Monday was peaceful ..

 

[vmdanielsen]

Sorry to hear about your little pigeon ..we do get attached to them ..& feel their pain ..My hubby " their just chickens ..you just need to ." feed -em collect eggs ..thats all "

We have a chicken that is getting picked on by everyone ...as she is different ..she is all white ..We have a mix of brown chickens & a black roo .
She was supposed to be a red pullet ...I believe she is a second generation golden comet ..she lays brown eggs ..We have had to rescue her from the flock a couple times..
Some of them were on top of her drawing blood ..behind her comb ..She is so sweet & tame ..I can pick her up easily ..
If I could she would be a house chicken ..Hubby " get that chicken out of the house ."
We would trade her for a brown chicken or sell her to a good home ..$15.00 -20.00 ? maybe ? I may know a friend that might be interested in her ..
I have even thought of taking her to the beauty parlor for a new do ..LOL ..a strawberry blonde to match everyone else

The storm missed us in Jordan . Sunday was worse ...rain & gusts of wind ...Monday was peaceful ..

Are you able to separate her with a buddy for a while? Sometimes when you do this, then reintroduce them to the flock, they will get along better.I would spray the white bird's injuries with blue kote or something so she doesn't look so tasty to the other birds. Good luck!

 

[vmdanielsen]

OK, when BYC switched to this new format I could NOT get notifications by mail, no matter what I tried. Somehow, now I get all notifications to subscribed threads. Since I have gotten used to not receiving notifications, I just check my subscribed threads. Now I can't stop getting the email notifications. Anybody else getting funky changes?

 

[Lapeerian]

Rain/cold combo can stop any time now. Horses have been in the barn since Sunday afternoon, used up the last of the stored water this morning. Tonight they will get some turnout time in the pasture to run and so I can re-fill buckets. Chickens still wander freely wherever they want, but have been hanging out in the horse barn more obiously. The dirt aisle has been scratched up big time, have to be careful not to twist an ankle in the holes they have dug. Miss Broody Pants Luna has resumed her golf ball hatching. Only gave up the one day when we moved the coop around. Not sure what to do with her. Not sure about hatching chicks in November, although I can set up the Eglu in the horse barn to separate her. It would be the first time hatching for her and me and don't want to risk killing chicks in the process. Ideas?
Also think I need to swap out the grey/brown tarp covering the hoop with something clear. Between the horse barn being partially closed up and the coop backed against a wall, it is really dark inside. Some chickens are already on the roost when I get home at 5:30 and egg production has been decreasing. I can't use supplemental light (no electric), so rethinking the available light. Another option would be to leave it wide open, or at least one side, then humidity wouldn't be a problem. The barn would be closed up in winter, so drafts not a problem. It is 36x48 with open 6' overhang eaves, stalls are made of roundpen panels, so plenty of ventilation. Only with real gusting west winds they get a dusting of snow inside.