NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

Well, it's now around 5:30pm and I just saw all three hens settled together on a bough of a pine tree about 10 feet up in the air. Doesn't this suggest that they aren't going back to a proper "home" at night?

I will still hang up a sign but I'm leaning towards finding them a home...

I suspect if you can get them into a run and coop for a while they'll go back to living in a coop. I start newbies out by leaving them in the coop for a few days. If these girls can be coaxed into a run and then shut in for a few days, they'll most likely stick to it.

I had mentioned Robbie whom I put in a half hoop. Robbie had taken a liking to me and kept following me around. I could pick him up. He is not hanging with a Maran roo in the same coop.

I'm following the same thread with interest, since I intend to get ducks next year. I have seen several instances where ducks/geese/chickens peacefully co-exist in the same yard at the same time. Can't think of a good reason why they wouldn't.... I 'get' the don't brood them together because one like damp, the other dry bedding, but otherwise ??
I see you raise Welsh Harlequins - any chance you may have some ducklings for sale next year??

When I go my Blue Swedish they went right into the coop with the chickens. I did keep them locked a run for a while but later they were in the yard with the chickens and no one bothered them and they didn't bother the chickens.

I traded them to Nutty, but she's not been on in a while. Wonder where she is.

In other news came home to see something going across the yard. I couldn't see all that well and it tripped the spot light to go on. I'm thinking Coon, from the way it took off. We'd just pulled into the drive. I hadn't shut up the chickens yet so it might have been a close call. I've not seen a cat around in days.

I will certainly be on my guard.

Thing is the new chicks to the hoop coop are peeping still and I think that's a signal to predators that there are young birds around. I may put in a radio set to Rush. If that' don't drive preds away nothing will.

 

[Lynzi777]

Evening All,
Well not even 12 hours in their new run and I had an "attack". Not sure if it was a hawk or a fight between two rooster/cockerels but I went to lock up tonight to find a bird dead in the corner of the run.

I drove up, saw a huge pile of feathers in the run near the coop door and thought Oh no, what happened!? Since it was near dark out there I slowly approached the run incase there was something like a raccoon or something similar in there...I looked inside the coop thru the nestbox door and counted everyone - Sizzle Roo, Little Fella the Blue Orp Roo, Stella, Ella, Chickaletta and Henrietta and the New Splash Orp roo. So they were all accounted for. Went into the run, locked up the coop door and found my little blue Frizzled Sizzle Roo in the corner with a huge gash in his chest. Went back to my car to grab a bag from my trunk to remove him. What is kind of leaving me wondering is this...Yes this new run has an open top but it has a couple of pieces of wood across the top to keep all the panels in place. IF it was a hawk attack, wouldn't the hawk have taken this little guy out of the run? Also, he barely had any feathers missing. The feather pile that was left in front of the coop were lighter in color - like Stella's or the new Orp Roo's color. Do you think Hawk or fight with another roo in the run? I'll look everyone over in the morning and see who else is missing feathers or has any injuries but they all looked fine when I peeked in there tonight. If Stella is missing feathers then I'll suspect a hawk attack but if the new Roo is missing a lot then maybe it was a fight between the two in which case he will need to be separated. I can't have him picking on my other two roos in there.

I'm not too upset about this loss because he wasn't the greatest quality sizzle and I was actually contemplating selling him but I hate that I don't have them in my backyard to tell what happened! I'll be placing some chicken wire over the top tomorrow morning just in case.

 

[Pyxis]

 I'm following the same thread with interest, since I intend to get ducks next year. I have seen several instances where ducks/geese/chickens peacefully co-exist in the same yard at the same time. Can't think of a good reason why they wouldn't.... I 'get' the don't brood them together because one like damp, the other dry bedding, but otherwise ??
    I see you raise Welsh Harlequins - any chance you may have some ducklings for sale next year?? 

I plan to! Are you going to be coming to Chickenstock in the spring? If so I'll hatch and bring some for you if you'd like! I should have muscovies too.


Thanks to everyone who chimed in with their experiences keeping everything together. The other user was just making it sound like it was impossible and that he had heard so from animal science departments and things and I was just staring out at my birds living together with no problems and wondering how the heck I had managed it if no one else could, lol.

 

[rancher hicks]

Evening All,
Well not even 12 hours in their new run and I had an "attack". Not sure if it was a hawk or a fight between two rooster/cockerels but I went to lock up tonight to find a bird dead in the corner of the run.

I drove up, saw a huge pile of feathers in the run near the coop door and thought Oh no, what happened!? Since it was near dark out there I slowly approached the run incase there was something like a raccoon or something similar in there...I looked inside the coop thru the nestbox door and counted everyone - Sizzle Roo, Little Fella the Blue Orp Roo, Stella, Ella, Chickaletta and Henrietta and the New Splash Orp roo. So they were all accounted for. Went into the run, locked up the coop door and found my little blue Frizzled Sizzle Roo in the corner with a huge gash in his chest. Went back to my car to grab a bag from my trunk to remove him. What is kind of leaving me wondering is this...Yes this new run has an open top but it has a couple of pieces of wood across the top to keep all the panels in place. IF it was a hawk attack, wouldn't the hawk have taken this little guy out of the run? Also, he barely had any feathers missing. The feather pile that was left in front of the coop were lighter in color - like Stella's or the new Orp Roo's color. Do you think Hawk or fight with another roo in the run? I'll look everyone over in the morning and see who else is missing feathers or has any injuries but they all looked fine when I peeked in there tonight. If Stella is missing feathers then I'll suspect a hawk attack but if the new Roo is missing a lot then maybe it was a fight between the two in which case he will need to be separated. I can't have him picking on my other two roos in there.

I'm not too upset about this loss because he wasn't the greatest quality sizzle and I was actually contemplating selling him but I hate that I don't have them in my backyard to tell what happened! I'll be placing some chicken wire over the top tomorrow morning just in case.

If you've added a "new" roo then it might have been them. I lost a BR hen to the Roo and they'd grown up together. She was reluctant to go in at night, staying in the run. I put her back in and found her dead the next morning. I felt bad for a long time. And she wasn't the first in the coop. I gave a hen away cuz she would not go in at night. She had a nasty gash. At night she'd be gone but in the morning there she'd be at the door waiting to get in and eat.

Shorty would go in at night with the EE roo but in the morning he'd come flying out of the coop and take off across the yard. I also moved an EE hen cuz she was getting beat on something fierce. Feathers in the corner.

So as I say it could be over crowding. One more chicken may be one more too many. I've given hens away who don't seem to be fitting in.

I am of course sorry for your loss.

 

[Lynzi777]

Also, who all in here keeps chickens with ducks and other fowl successfully? I'm having a debate right now about whether it can be done. I'm staring out at my backyard right now where ducks, chickens, a goose, and guineas are living and free ranging in harmony, as they have been for the last seven years I've had them, and I'm being told that you can't do that because it will cause disease and injuries. So do I just have a really weird setup that has somehow worked for this whole time or does everyone else manage to mix fowl too? I've just been told it's against common sense to keep them together and that telling people they can is spreading misinformation, so I just want to check here if I'm actually wrong on this before I keep telling people you can do it. I know turkeys and chickens are considered a bad idea if your area has blackhead, but I never considered that ducks, chickens, and guineas shouldn't be kept together unless the drake starts trying to mate with the chickens or something.

I have never heard of any diseases or injuries from keeping poultry & waterfowl together. My only advice is this, Yes, they can all get along harmoniously in your backyard. However you may find that when keeping them together, your "coop" or whatever it is you decide to keep them ALL in, will dirty 10x's faster than keeping them separate. So just keep that in mind. Yea it might sound like the right thing to do because it just makes sense - they all get along together, they all free range together, why not keep them all together? I don't know what your set up is for ducks but mine were disgusting when it came to their sleeping quarters. I had a small flock of 5 or so and their hut would be a mess in two days after cleaning it. So now imagine chickens AND ducks sleeping in the same quarters at night. I feel like you're chickens could get away with the deep litter system a lot longer in the winter than if you had the ducks in there with them making everything a hard pile of poo just caked on top of whatever it is you have for bedding. Not so easily "turnable" in the winter like it would be if it were JUST chickens. Just my two cents. Hopefully you figure something out that works best for you.

 

[Lynzi777]

If you've added a "new" roo then it might have been them. I lost a BR hen to the Roo and they'd grown up together. She was reluctant to go in at night, staying in the run. I put her back in and found her dead the next morning. I felt bad for a long time. And she wasn't the first in the coop. I gave a hen away cuz she would not go in at night. She had a nasty gash. At night she'd be gone but in the morning there she'd be at the door waiting to get in and eat.

Shorty would go in at night with the EE roo but in the morning he'd come flying out of the coop and take off across the yard. I also moved an EE hen cuz she was getting beat on something fierce. Feathers in the corner.

So as I say it could be over crowding. One more chicken may be one more too many. I've given hens away who don't seem to be fitting in.

I am of course sorry for your loss.

That's what I'm leaning towards only because I find it very hard to believe that a hawk would have already taken an interest in getting in there after this thing was up only a few hours. I mean, we finished at 1 and I went back at 6 to lockup. I don't have many birds in this coop since removing all the silkies, that's why I added the new Orp roo. Because I only had 6 birds in there, 2 were LF and the rest were bantams. I'll check everyone over in the morning and see if anyone else is hurt. Thanks!

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I plan to! Are you going to be coming to Chickenstock in the spring? If so I'll hatch and bring some for you if you'd like! I should have muscovies too.


Thanks to everyone who chimed in with their experiences keeping everything together. The other user was just making it sound like it was impossible and that he had heard so from animal science departments and things and I was just staring out at my birds living together with no problems and wondering how the heck I had managed it if no one else could, lol.

I have all of my chickens and ducks in the same area together. They have separate coops, but they are all in the same run together. They all get to live together and free range together. I haven't ever really had any issues with them. I do have one roo that likes to chase after my ducks once in a while and If he wasn't my son's he would be gone. I am working on trying to build something so that I can move my ducks out of the duck run, but only because I want more ducks! And turkeys next year!

 

[Pyxis]

I have never heard of any diseases or injuries from keeping poultry & waterfowl together. My only advice is this, Yes, they can all get along harmoniously in your backyard. However you may find that when keeping them together, your "coop" or whatever it is you decide to keep them ALL in, will dirty 10x's faster than keeping them separate. So just keep that in mind. Yea it might sound like the right thing to do because it just makes sense - they all get along together, they all free range together, why not keep them all together? I don't know what your set up is for ducks but mine were disgusting when it came to their sleeping quarters. I had a small flock of 5 or so and their hut would be a mess in two days after cleaning it. So now imagine chickens AND ducks sleeping in the same quarters at night. I feel like you're chickens could get away with the deep litter system a lot longer in the winter than if you had the ducks in there with them making everything a hard pile of poo just caked on top of whatever it is you have for bedding. Not so easily "turnable" in the winter like it would be if it were JUST chickens. Just my two cents. Hopefully you figure something out that works best for you.

Oh, I've had mine living with the chickens for about seven years now and never had any problems. They actually don't mess the coop up too much because I don't keep food and water in there. I was confused because I'd been doing it so long and someone was telling me that it was impossible.

So sorry for the loss of your roo Sounds like it could have been a fight. I guess maybe it could have been a hawk, and he didn't take the roo or eat much of it because perhaps the larger roo drove it off after it killed to protect the hens? But I think it's probably much more likely it was a fight.

 

[Lynzi777]

Oh, I've had mine living with the chickens for about seven years now and never had any problems. They actually don't mess the coop up too much because I don't keep food and water in there. I was confused because I'd been doing it so long and someone was telling me that it was impossible.

So sorry for the loss of your roo

Sounds like it could have been a fight. I guess maybe it could have been a hawk, and he didn't take the roo or eat much of it because perhaps the larger roo drove it off after it killed to protect the hens? But I think it's probably much more likely it was a fight.

Ohhh ok I see...mine made such a mess of one of their coops that they ended up breaking the "tray" that held their bedding. But I guess that was partially my fault because I kept piling and piling hay in there. But other than that, I don't see why you couldn't keep them together. I don't what your set up is like so it sounds like you have something more durable than what I had. If they're living together fine then I'd leave them.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote: I let it grow because it provides cover at the back of the yard for the chickens in a spot we cleared because we planted fruit trees there.
If wild birds eat the berries ...not sure it would hurt chickens . People can eat the leaves if they are rinsed out good 2-3 times - Yes Poke Salad Annie was talking about this plant
these black berries, which are a good food source for songbirds such as Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, and Northern Mockingbird.