NY chicken lover!!!!

[miquwid]

Think Edie enjoyed the nice weather today? She is normally all white

all my hens look like they rolled in the mud today but they enjoyed the warm weather & sun. I think tomorrow when they wake up to snow they won't be as impressed lol

Miquid nice to have you back. I'm sure nicer weather if it ever gets here & stays will help

Thanks

Pharm - I wish I could say done deal but I don't even have anything that I could kill it WITH! I think I may get a trap next time I'm out. And I need to put a lock on the nest box door to the big coop. The silkies are in the shed and there's really no way of getting in there unless the door is open. The Orp coop is sealed pretty tight, not sure how one would ever get in there. If be more concerned about the rabbits at this point than the chickens. I'll be keeping my eye out tho since I'm home all day.

Good luck with that thing,

Do you have a trash can? As inhuman as it sounds you can trap it and fill the trash can with water and put the whole trap in the can....drowning it. (I said it sounded inhuman, but if you don't have a gun, what's a gal to do?)

This is a good idea.

Thinking of doing something like this along the back side of the house...

Needs to be high. This looks great.

http://linklogscanada.com/product_gardenBeds.php

Very cool!

Meant to add, tomorrow is lockdown and I'm not even candling before hand because those eggs have jiggling wiggling and moving around since Saturday!!! Anyone ever have a pip ON lockdown day? One of my eggs is moving around so much as if it's dying to get out!

Newbies should be arriving tomorrow. Hoping the storm doesn't interfere too much with me picking them up tomorrow morning.

That is so cool good luck.

A mink is a very serious predator which needs to be eradicated ASAP. A friend & her chickens were tormented by one for over a year before they finally caught him. In the mean time he killed at least half a dozen of her chickens and her pet bunny. They don't just kill, they shred their prey and leave a massacre scene behind.

My friend thought it was a raccoon and started w a havahart trap which was put under some hay. Nothing caught so that progressed to a motion sensor camera which photographed him looking right at the camera. They tried sitting out there w a shotgun and then leaving the shotgun next to the door to act quick... Very smart elusive animal. Very tough to catch.

What finally caught the mink was a conavair trap purchased at bass pro for $7 inside a wooden box with a small hole for the mink to go in. Apparently small openings make them curious. The trap was bated with chicken livers and the box was covered w hay. He was caught w/in 7 days of setting this trap. They were able to then sell the pelt for $35.

Minks are beautiful animals which are sad to see killed. But they need to be taken care of before they hurt our birds. Nothing is like going out to feed the chickens and finding carnage. Ugh.

Good luck!!! Hope he's either moved on or you catch him quick!

Thanks for the info I will get one of those traps to have just in case

Everyone arrived safe and sound!! Here they are...

Splash Sizzle Cockerel:


Splash Smooth Pullet:


My Favorite of the Bunch, Splash Smooth Roo:


Silkie/Cochin Cross Black Pullet (she DID NOT want her picture taken!):

Silkie/Cochin Cross Mottled Cockerel:

Very very cute congrats, I know what it is like waiting for birds being shipped in.

You do know you're not supposed to put up pictures of "inappropriate" material. Right. I will have to flag future posts with this type of stuff in it!

LOL

Rancher, I did sand. I HATED it once got over 10 birds in the coop. I did NOT have a poop board because they roost in the rafters. Even before my flock grew to over 10 I had to shovel out some of the sand and replace it due to "urine saturation" and it smelled soooo bad. If you try it, try it in your smallest coop so if it doesn't work you don't have a lot of sand to shovel out. (oh, and sand it a LOT heavier than wood shavings)

I hate sand too!

ROSE OF SHARONS ALL BENT DOWN

Looks like my yard!

I made tons of bread and I buy my to in bulk, so we will have about 90 rolls after the world ends till we have to worry

I'm using leaves when the world ends!

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

Holy Snow Batman!

The girls got snowed in under the coop and wouldn't come out to get back into the coop. I stuck my hand in the chicken door to throw some oatmeal in so they could scratch around a bit, and the rooster attacks my hand. His days are numbered. He's lucky it's too cold out to process him.
This time I'm holding out for a pure ameracuana roo, no TSC or hatchery mutts. If anyone around the rochester or west syracuse area has one this spring let me know! Or if I get a broody I might just order some Blue Wheaton Am. eggs.

Watched the sparrow hawk go after all the songbirds today at the neighbors feeder. He looked hungry! And I never saw the fox again today.

 

[miquwid]

So today was an interesting day, No school for my son so he was home with the animals all day. It got wet and snowy but I had a full schedule of appointments. The store closed early and lost power as we were closing and yet I still managed to work some over time LOL. My truck is pretty jacked up so it was interesting getting home. I'm just happy my truck turns over LOL. So I shoveled my neighbor helped took an hour. My son shoveled out back and the chickens. I got a fun molt going on so there are feathers everywhere.

These are the latest the isolated one is far younger and these guys are too much all at once. When she is a week or so old I will let her mingle more, she tries to hide under my buckeyes since they are so big. So there are two americuana two polish and four buckeye. My baby is a leghorn cross. There is much more space you just can see because I have it covered due to the cold.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Holy Snow Batman!

The girls got snowed in under the coop and wouldn't come out to get back into the coop. I stuck my hand in the chicken door to throw some oatmeal in so they could scratch around a bit, and the rooster attacks my hand. His days are numbered. He's lucky it's too cold out to process him.
This time I'm holding out for a pure ameracuana roo, no TSC or hatchery mutts. If anyone around the rochester or west syracuse area has one this spring let me know! Or if I get a broody I might just order some Blue Wheaton Am. eggs.

Watched the sparrow hawk go after all the songbirds today at the neighbors feeder. He looked hungry! And I never saw the fox again today.

I dont extend my bare hand to my roos for treats ...LOL.
He may have not meant to hurt .
With all the Crowing Neck action ..my roosters have one heck of a peck ...even when they are just pecking at food

 

[Sweetpea3829]

I dont extend my bare hand to my roos for treats ...LOL.
He may have not meant to hurt .
With all the Crowing Neck action ..my roosters have one heck of a peck ...even when they are just pecking at food

LOL, I don't extend my bare hand to any of my birds, unless I'm just petting one. I had a hen give me a sharp peck when she was trying to take a treat from me.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:

Well Hello Stranger ! Cute Babies ....did you buy eggs ? You dont have buckeye hens do you ?
This is my new baby Tweet T ( left )...Sweet T (right ) went broody I wish I had given her more eggs .

 

[miquwid]

I got chicks the little was the one i hatched but she passed last night light went out then came back on. Its a brand new light. Oh well. I'm so tired, off to work.

GRAMMA ur babies are cute.

Have a good day everyone.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Brisk out this morning. We have a frozen car door alert this morning! All the mud has frozen. Unfortunately so did the pop door and the people door on the big coop! Had to go get a hammer and bang them loose to get them open. Got three eggs already from the terrorists. I took pity and gave everyone some scratch this morning. I see many of you got dumped on with snow. You have my condolences.

Gramma--I have blue and splash silkies and one porcelain.

Long day today 1130 to 930. See you all tomorrow.

 

[Lapeerian]

Two hour school delay here, which I am not minding at all with this cold weather. Our road ditches have been a problem. Culverts are plugged up, so all the water has been running over our driveway. Which then froze over into a lovely pond of ice at the end of the driveway and just below the driveway is ice all across the road. The Amish driveway just uphill from us is the primary source of this problem, narrow buggy wheels do more damage than you think.
Got the heat lamp set up over the brooder last night to get the right height. Got it adjusted then left it in for a few minutes to make sure temperatures held, came back to a blown bulb. Got a spare, but very glad I don't have chicks yet. Will buy another new spare when I do get chicks.
Thinking of calling the Ithaca and Vestal TSCs to see what they have in. Becoming impatient for some chicks, because I'm thinking of when they would start laying this summer.
ETA: Vestal only has BR and red pullets. Ithaca has Golden Comet, BR, bantams, GLW and Tetra Tints. Now if this weather would straighten up, I'll be making a trip to Ithaca after work.

 

[Lynzi777]

Morning!
Just got done taking advantage of the two hour delay to get my driveway shoveled for the 4th time! Ugh I'm beat!

I'm a little worried about my eggs. Is it normal for them to not move so much at lockdown?? They were wiggling so much this last week and now that I took them off the turner and layed them on the shelf liner I put in there I haven't seen one wiggle yet. Humidity is still keeping at 68-70% so that's good. Just odd there's no movement :-(