NY chicken lover!!!!

[Purpletie3]

I know we were speaking about cattle panels as well. i found this one produced for sale and thought I would share:

 

[Purpletie3]

I hit over 60 within 6 months, cut back for the winter, and will have hit twice that number by this fall. It truly is an addiction!

I stopped counting at 100. Only problem is...3 are outside. The rest are my Dec, Jan & Feb hatchers...and a GFF order.

 

[Sristi]

I stopped counting at 100. Only problem is...3 are outside. The rest are my Dec, Jan & Feb hatchers...and a GFF order.

yikes!! At least they're small, right?

 

[Sristi]

I know we were speaking about cattle panels as well. i found this one produced for sale and thought I would share:

My little tractor is a 5x8 version of this, with hardware cloth and steel roofing panels instead of cattle panels. I was very fussy about making it predator proof down to the smallest weasel. No losses so far, but then again, the ducks are in a somewhat porous shed and they've been fine, so maybe we just don't have too many tiny predators right here.

 

[Metella]

Sristi ....

Word of caution - don't think that way - many predators have large home territories - so they only visit a portion (your coop) once every few weeks .. some migrate (hawks) so they may only pass over during a few days .... but they are out there ... just waiting to get the youngest, almost ready to lay, show quality favorite pet one !

That is why sometimes a hen that stayed out all night is fine - and then she does it once too often and .... nothing but a pile of feathers.

Where I am - along Eastern NY border with Vermont - we have a month in the spring and a month in the fall with migratory hawks - one hawk may only be around one day - but the whole month each season - I could have a general hawk at any time.

My fox vixen seems only to visit my area in the spring - but just when I would rely on that - I'm sure she would come over for a snack.

I learned the hard way - the predator scene is not static ....

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I used to think that we were predator free. That was a big mistake. I never saw any signs... Never saw roadkill, would hear the coyotes once in a while, but not to much of anything else...then I got chickens... Got chickens in the spring then that year saw Momma fox and 4 babies, got ducks and one was killed by a opossum. Seems like as soon as I got the chickens and ducks they came out all over the place. Always better to be safe then sorry.

 

[Glasshen]

Welcome, Sristi. Yes, I agree with all of the above, about predators, and enabling. Don't worry about catching the chicken addiction from us, I think you already have it! I am very ready for spring. The extended forecast has some 50s in it I was told. So we may need to put the coops on stilts, but I'll be happy to see the snow melt.

I am researching meat birds...a new form of the addiction, and turkeys...

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

I

I stopped counting at 100. Only problem is...3 are outside.  The rest are my Dec, Jan & Feb hatchers...and a GFF order.

I only have 2 adults and 6 babies under a week old in the house right now, but am waiting on an egg delivery (that should have arrived at the post office yesterday) with two more expected next week. Both my incubators are up and running, ready to go, and my home made incubator has a brand new digital temperature control unit...
I'm going to pack those bad boys full, and probably be overrun with babies come April...
Love this time of year!!!

 

[rancher hicks]

I hit over 60 within 6 months, cut back for the winter, and will have hit twice that number by this fall. It truly is an addiction!

I'm not quite sure why folks downsize for the winter, since hens let up then and you'd get fewer eggs.

Takes me the same amount of time to water and feed half as many birds so I can't see much sense in downsizing. Plus winters can be hard. If you lose a bird or two that can be tough.

Maybe you can enlighten me?

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

I'm not quite sure why folks downsize for the winter, since hens let up then and you'd get fewer eggs.

Takes me the same amount of time to water and feed half as many birds so I can't see much sense in downsizing. Plus winters can be hard. If you lose a bird or two that can be tough.

Maybe you can enlighten me?

We raise ducks for meat, so we sell off everything but the breeders, rare breed birds and rescues in the fall. All my layers are still around! We use every egg we get, so they stick around to keep us in omelettes and baked goods! The birds do a lot of foraging as soon as they can get at the ground, but in the winter, ducks and geese consume a staggering amount of feed. It's not the time - I started with the birds as a physical therapy of sorts, since no matter how much I hurt, I still have to make the rounds with food and water several times a day. For us, it is purely financial. It keeps feed costs down to only overwinter the birds that will turn a profit in the spring. I am a lot more liberal with the quail because they don't eat that much and you would never know there are tons of them in the aviary because they are so small and like to hide in the natural and man made shelters. I should thin them out to the layers, but with the snow, I would have to dig them out of all of their little hidey holes, and I'm totally not feeling it... I have lost birds this winter, 3 to dogs from about 2 miles away that got loose and into my yard, and two to the fact that some of my bigger birds like to pull apart the netting covering my aviary where the strong flyers are.... It is definitely a risk. I was fortunate enough to be able to find replacements for the breeders birds, although they are younger and won't be laying until later in the season, but the game birds are now a year behind.

So, in a nutshell, I'm only paying for around 400 pounds of feed a month instead of 800 pounds, and when you are feeding organic to non working birds the cost can get obscene pretty quickly. It's just simple cost control.