NY chicken lover!!!!

[chicken blessed]

Unfortunately I don't have the electrical part of this fencing. And that fencing is way down on the side of the yard and used for the silkies and the few larger chicks I have. These were in a rabbit hutch up in the back of my yard with the rabbits, Orps and ducks. I didn't know where else to put them in this heat. They were getting too messy to be in the brooder inside the house. If I moved that to the shed they probably would have died from the heat. So I thought the next best thing was a secured hutch. Just boggles my mind that if they were getting attacked from the front of the hutch, why didn't they huddle in the back of it out of this things reach!?! Then again, DH said he was probably scaring them to death by going under the hutch to get them to move to the front and that's when he would grab them. I just don't get it. All that money spent on those eggs, all that waiting for them to hatch, I finally have a great hatch with my Orps and then this. Unbelievable.

Lynzi -so sorry for your loss. My heart breaks for you.

 

[hugz4all4]

Ack!! This constant worry about predators has me on the edge all the time, especially with the attack on Lynzi's babies..
I usually go out between 8/830 to lock my coop, the girls usually go in on their own by then. I went out to check on them real quick at 755 before I ran to pick my daughter up from marching band, i had to drop her off at a friends house on the way home, I was gone 30 minutes. I went right to the coop. I could hear them thumping around in there so I knew they were in there. So I go around to the run and was a little surprised to see my 6 week old chicks still out with Wanda, Wanda wont go in untill all of the other chicks are in.. My other 6, 10 week old birds were in the coop.
When I counted their was only 5, I was missing one of my EE's, panic set in.. I have them in a 8 foot chain link fence. Only a small gate to enter. The coop connects securely to the run.
I looked everywhere for her, i turned the igloo doghouse upside down etc. i did notice there was a small pile of dark colored feathers outside of the run, shes a eagle looking EE, getting more panicky, I checked the coop and she wasnt in there, I head out side the run into my pines., there is NO WAY she could of gotten out, I guess she could been yanked thru the fence. Did a quick search, no signs of anything, but that small pile of feathers and a skinned frog..:/.. I ran around to the front of the coop to double check again, the red/black girls lay on one side and the babies lay on the other.. Well I moved the black girls around and there was Sky.. Laying hunched in the corner and they were sitting on her!!! I scooped her up, relieved she was safe! And scolded my birds for not roosting on their poles and sleeping on each other!!
Holy cow!! Im not sure I can survive this chicken stuff, way more stressful than owning ducks..:/

 

[horsekeeper]

Congratulations to you and your son, though you look to young to have a son, graduating.

The Duck house is nice too. Very nice.

Rancher, I wish! That's my 38 year old daughter posing with her son. I wish I was that young and thin.

 

[rancher hicks]

Rancher, I wish! That's my 38 year old daughter posing with her son. I wish I was that young and thin.

Well now I don't know, I'm just reading on Yahoo about Generation X and I'm not sure I'd want to go through that again.

Though it would be nice to feel and look younger. I feel bad sometimes for the younger generation, but then I'm an old hippie .

 

[hugz4all4]

One of my light Brahma chicks is still pretty featherless.. Almost as if she stopped getting them altogether, I have not noticed any new growth. (6/7 weeks old) I will get a pic tom. She is also small... Otherwise, she seems healthy, eats drinks and can run like a dickens.
She is a hatchery chick, I did ask on here under a different thread was told that roosters are slow to grow out feathers and that Brahmas generally grow slow, shes not a roo..
Should I be concerned? Vitamins help?
They have been on Flocker Raiser for about a month, before that chick grower/starter
They also get sunflower seeds, mealworms, grass, scratch, grit whatever bugs they find daily.

 

[Stuffedcritter]

I heat with wood so I always have some. When I run low I burn branches and such in our outdoor fireplace. I do not know if ashes from charcoal would work. Plus I would be worried about whatever chemicals they added to it.

Garden forums say not use it, do to chemicals there is a brand called Cowboy Charcoal that's untreated. Taken couple cups of pelleted bedding used metal can, read somewhere leaf ash works.
Lynniz77 and Horsekeeper sorry about your losses

 

[Nuttyfrom6kids]

Me either. I regret the hens I did let go.

I panicked with all that is going on, but I do have someone who will buy my eggs. I've got chicks plenty and only one pullet who won't lay I suspect for another month.

Of the broodies two have gone back to laying. I've not introduced them back to a flock they seem to like their solitude or single cell mate.

I have a bunch of production birds that I rescued the end of May and they were in some pretty bad shape had combs so pale they were almost white but they haven't started laying again from the move got 48 of them and the first few days I got 40 -45 eggs from them hope they start back up soon. Gave them some meat tonight along with a sugar free high protein protein Powder, that I paid a fortune for at GNC and can't stand it, they gobbled it up with their feed am hoping that the protein kickstarts them back into laying. If the free loaders start laying again I might not have to buy eggs from the store to make brownies.

 

[Gramma Chick]

DH is sooooo city .... he won't ... but I like that - a neighborhood pee - assist

ha ha ha ha

Prob not - they already think I am crazy - why assure them?

Tell him take a walk on the wild side... hes a country boy now !
A New Slogan "Take a Pee Save a chicken"

So I spent the morning madly building chicken fence around my whole back yard to keep the flock from wandering down the hill into the bushes and weeds where I lost three hens in the last two days. Almost dropped from heat stroke working so fast, but had to leave at 12:30 with daughter for a doctor's appointment an hour away. Managed to miss a post with the sledge hammer and have a huge technicolor bruise on the top of my hand.

Got home to discover everyone alive and not too unhappy to be confined, then found one of my pekin hens dead in the nest box.
I have my own annual cardiology checkup tomorrow.

Sorry about your missing hens ..I hope the fence works .
Cute Grandson & Daughter ..Good luck with the exam ..

 

[Gramma Chick]

I have a bunch of production birds that I rescued the end of May and they were in some pretty bad shape had combs so pale they were almost white but they haven't started laying again from the move got 48 of them and the first few days I got 40 -45 eggs from them hope they start back up soon. Gave them some meat tonight along with a sugar free high protein protein Powder, that I paid a fortune for at GNC and can't stand it, they gobbled it up with their feed am hoping that the protein kickstarts them back into laying. If the free loaders start laying again I might not have to buy eggs from the store to make brownies.

You must have a hundred chickens by now !
How old are the Production birds ? Are they stressed ?
so are you selling the eggs or is no one laying ?

Im getting 3- 4 eggs a day ...my 4 older Hatchery chickens are 2 years old now so laying less .
Someone is laying a thin shelled egg that almost everytime breaks in the nest ...I hate that !
2 of my broodys should start laying soon ..I hope !
The rest of the plymouth white Rocks are going to start soon too

 

[Gramma Chick]

On the lighter side
Older Ladies are Divine Song...found on facebook ...even includes a chicken