NY chicken lover!!!!

[stonykill]

Oh and I meant to ask...has anyone ever heard or seen low flying helicopters over their house/neighborhood late at night with spot lights? We were getting ready for bed the other night when we heard this noise outside (thought it was just a plane at first). It wasn't going away but was getting louder. I finally looked at outside after seeing some flashing lights (weird cuz it's pitch black out here at night) looked up and saw this helicopter flying around the area with two huge spotlights shining down at the ground.



It was obviously searching for something but what? My husband was just talking to his bar manager that day and he told him that they actually have people that fly around in helicopters at night looking for hunters because apparently it's illegal to hunt at night? This was around 10:30pm. Was just kinda creepy cuz it was so close to our house. I tried seeing if there was anything in the news but found nothing.

it is illegal to hunt deer at night but 100% legal to hunt predators at night. I can not even imagine using helicopters to look for deer jackers. The deer jacker would hear that thing coming for a mile away and simply hide. They do that when they are looking for someone. A suspected convict, an escaped convict or someone who is lost.

 

[miquwid]

I have 5 that have hatched another one is zipping now. That would make 3 eggs left. One of them I almost positive it won't hatch movement stopped some time ago but it was so dark and didn't smell I just put in lock down with the rest. The other two have pipped but one doesn't look good. Either way 6 out of 9 is still awesome if that is what I end up with especially for my first time.

Here is a pic of the first four. The incubator is crude but now that I have some experience I will be able to clean it up a bit.




Once again I find eggs this time buried under the silkie coop, those evil silkies I swear they have a plan.

Lynzi I hope you can get enough eggs. How is Gru doing? I have a hard time telling eggs apart that is why I was surprised by the dark one. Unless that means he's a male we shall see. I think I put a Barred Rock egg in there thinking it was one of my sexlinks. I like them because they are hardy strong forage well fly well especially for being so heavy. I'm hoping to get ahold of more leghorns this spring to breed and experiment with colors just for fun.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quickly more pics



Corner brackets used to hold it together. The door doesn't close a good as when first built but since I lock the girls in I don't worry about it. Perhaps next year I'll change it.






My connecting switch for the Christmas lights lets me switch them off during the day.



This is with a .7 ml plastic drop cloth. Last year I used one and it tore when it got windy. Since it was on another run with less staples I decided to try it on this run. I like is because I can see the birds through it. At the bottom you can see where I rolled it up and put some lumber on it. It will hold til the snow comes and then the snow will help hold it.



I flared out the bottom on this hoop coop and planted some mint under it. I also thought of doing parsley but the chickens would eat it.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

THANKS TO ALL ON BYC THAT TRIED TO HELP ME POST PHOTOS.
I HAVE A DELL AND AOL AND I THINK IT IS NOT WORKING THE SAME
AS IT SHOULD. ALL THE ICONS NEEDED TO POST...ARE NOT VISIBLE.

I SENT THE MESSAGES TO MODERATOR AND HOPEFULLY SOMEONE
WILL HELP. THANKS AGAIN.

I HAD PHOTOS I WANTED TO SHARE...BUT WILL NEED TO WAIT.
THANKS AGAIN. YOU ARE ALL SUPER AND I AM LEARNING A LOT ABOUT
CHICKENS. REGARDS, ARIA

Aria,

If you want, you can email me a few of your pictures and I will post them for you on BYC. If you want to do this, let me know and I'll PM you my email address.

TOB

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Welcome to YOU, Farmgirl...!

Gramma Ted Nugget is far scary. He is intelligent, a good husband, good father, no substance abuse, and a good homesteader. And of course a Rock Legend. Love me some Ted!

Armor im so excited, looks like 2 more are about to pip.

Lynzi im using a homemade incubator, my parents bought a forclosed house so i took a bunch of stuff that was left behind and used some of it to build it. The only thing i bought was a water heater thermostat sponges and another thermometer/hydrometer.

They are suppose to just be golden duckwing leghorns mixed with amber sexlinks but one looks like i put a barred rock egg in there.

Thanks everyone i will post pics soon.

Even though I am not enough of a true rocker fan to appreciate Nugent musically, I get that he's an American rock icon. My appreciation and respect comes from his passion to be self sufficient and to keep big, bloated government out of his life. I just love that about him and respect his philosophies on this particular subject. I think it's a particularly poignant time in American history to be as bold and outspoken on the topic as Nugent is...not to be cowed by the dolts in Hollywood, the media and naysayers. He is fearless, and that's pretty cool.

Miquwid......CONGRAT'S ON THE HATCH!!!!!!!!!!!

TOB

 

[rancher hicks]

Got another minute. The baby's asleep and the queen is watching Sid the Science kid.

One of two water buckets with nipples and heaters. The mice traps on top get set at night to catch the occasional mouse.



I'm always adding to the fencing around the garden. I've stopped trimming the branches in case deer do come around. You can see the cardboard I add during the winter. Come spring there will be now weeds. By the time the card board disintigrates summer will be well under way so weeds won't be much of a problem.




Straw on the floor of the run keeps their tootsies warm and dry. The bales of hay are up on blocks or milk crates to keep critters from building nests.



This is a side view of my largest hoop coop. Four cattle panels long. There is a door on each end so I can add another run on the other end. Easily holds 12 birds. Floor space is 8x9 of the coop part. Total about approx. 16 x9.



These pics are for Marq. You can see all the white on the youngest of hens. She is not yet laying. Which is why I prefer to hatch early in the year. BM's don't do well in the incu so I intend to use all broody's next year. Any go broody she' s getting BM eggs.









I posted all these pics so folks can see what I've done and perhaps use them or modify them for their own use. Certainly there are many ways of doing things and not all work for each of us.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Lynzi,

Regarding the helicopter with the search light....

As Stony said, they were probably looking for someone, either nefarious or lost / missing.

Here near Otisco Lake, we some times have night copters w/ searchlights flying over the lake, and that's never a good sign. Someone overboard or an accident on the lake, etc.... I always feel kind of creeped out when I see / hear them, but they're doing their job and thank goodness for them.


Heni,

Love your adorable gobblers. They look like they've got "personality!"


Miquwid,

OMG, too precious. Love the little chickies!

TOB

 

[Lynzi777]

it is illegal to hunt deer at night but 100% legal to hunt predators at night. I can not even imagine using helicopters to look for deer jackers. The deer jacker would hear that thing coming for a mile away and simply hide. They do that when they are looking for someone. A suspected convict, an escaped convict or someone who is lost.

Thats what we were saying, so thats why I didn't think they were looking for hunters. Of course my husband said the same thing about them looking for a convict, or in his words a "serial killer" and I couldn't sleep that whole night!

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher .... under the metal roof - when one of the curves leaves a space - that is big enough for a weasel ... do you do anything for that sneaky space ? That was my problem with the coop that burned down ... and I plan to build another permanent coop and will have the same problem.

I've never had a weasel here that I have spotted - but I know they can wipe me out in just one visit - so I want to be prepared !

Since I don't leave the chickens in the run at night it's not problem. If I use them on a coop I will use hardware cloth to block access just like on the soffit my wooden coop. I believe they sell foam pieces to use or there may be wooden ones. I'm not sure.

 

[Lynzi777]

I have 5 that have hatched another one is zipping now. That would make 3 eggs left. One of them I almost positive it won't hatch movement stopped some time ago but it was so dark and didn't smell I just put in lock down with the rest. The other two have pipped but one doesn't look good. Either way 6 out of 9 is still awesome if that is what I end up with especially for my first time.

Here is a pic of the first four. The incubator is crude but now that I have some experience I will be able to clean it up a bit.




Once again I find eggs this time buried under the silkie coop, those evil silkies I swear they have a plan.

Lynzi I hope you can get enough eggs. How is Gru doing? I have a hard time telling eggs apart that is why I was surprised by the dark one. Unless that means he's a male we shall see. I think I put a Barred Rock egg in there thinking it was one of my sexlinks. I like them because they are hardy strong forage well fly well especially for being so heavy. I'm hoping to get ahold of more leghorns this spring to breed and experiment with colors just for fun.

So jealous! LOL I'm so happy for you and the success of your first hatch! I'm still on the fence as to what to do as far as humidity goes. I was thinking about it today and if I can, I want to set 2 eggs from Stella the Lav Orp, 2 from my BR and 2 from Buff Orp, along with as many as I can get from my silkie before setting them. Right now I only have 1. But I'm also going to set the ones I know for sure are from each hen. If I don't know who laid the egg, I wont set it because I don't want any guess work going on like last time. Right now I have an egg from the Buff and an egg from Stella, I'm waiting on my BR today. Oh and Gru is looking MUCH better these days! Back to his good looking self!