NY chicken lover!!!!

[Henicillin]

But they are cuuuuuuuuuuute.. =) Hey, I know the feeling. Want some more chicks? Muahahhaa.. Break out that ecoglow!

*points accusatory finger* ENABLER!!!

*ahem*

Once again, I had the joy of getting rid of a crushed egg with a well-developed chick in it today.

It was a Leghorn egg, and it was under the BLRW. The big girls may just be too heavy and inexperienced for those huge eggs - if I want to try for a Leghorn cross, I may need to use an incubator or wait until Gladys the little BO goes broody again. It's not like I need more chicks, since I have seven little ones now and up to three more coming, but it's irritating. I was going to put her in the pen today (eggs are due to hatch Tuesday), but immediately after I set the thing up my JG decided that it was the ideal place for her little family, so the crazy thing took it over.

Speaking of the JG, I let her out of her original enclosure today, as she was insisting on taking the peepers out for a tour of the coop. It turns out that this little black broody is a demonic hellbeast when it comes to those chicks. She went screaming after any hen she perceived as a threat, whether or not the unlucky target had actually done anything. She even picked a fight with Miss Thing the Dominique, my top-ranked hen. As Miss Thing doesn't take kindly to insubordination, she fought back, and for a minute or so they engaged in a rooster-worthy battle complete with raised hackles, leaps in the air, attempted bites, and kicks. The ruckus attracted Captain Morgan's attention, and he came running to break it up, cuss them out, and issue a couple of smackdowns. That goofball keeps the peace well, is gentle with the hens and good with the chicks, and has been giving me a wide berth since I started locking his butt up in the big dog crate at night, so he's on the "nice" list for now.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Ok. NO ONE give me chicks for ANY REASON. PROMISE ME. I have too many birds. I love them all and can't get rid of any of them. Then I have this broody I don't want to hatch eggs, so I get her some chicks. And she rejects them. Would have killed them if I hadn't shut off the coop light and stood there to see how things were going to go. So now I am raising them in the house. In this heat. GRRRrrr....no more birds. No more birds. NO MORE BIRDS.

I am up to 36 and keep telling myself I only want1/2 that many for the winter. I cleaned up the incubater and put it away, but,I keep hearing it call to me from the basement.........

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Lynzi--so sorry about your loss. I know how much you love your cheeps and how excited you were to get some silkies. I hope you are able to figure out what happened.

Hen--it seems that jail if making your roo reform his ways. I hope he stays that way. I, too, have a problem sometimes with the big girls accidentally breaking eggs when they are moving around on the nest box. And I dont even have a roo for them! I do think that when they are big its hard for them to judge where to put their feet and just to be easy on the eggs anyways. Must be something in the air as I had the same incident a few days back between two of my silkie hens. My silkie roo had to break them up and he got smacked around a bit before he got things under control. The hen who started it was the one who stole the chicks from her sister and those two had it out. Stripe lost. Sassy is a little hellcat when she wants to be. I have had to discipline her more than once.

Candled my eggs and had to pull one. One is doubtfull but I left it till tomorrow night, when lockdown commences. I am hoping that all hatch. They look good. I am praying to the incubator gods to give me a good hatch.

My daughter goes back to ga today for summer classes and I have to work. I will miss her terribly. We have a covering today so that means I get to do everything while they just make sure I am handing out the right stuff. I should get their pay and them mine!

Have a good day all!

 

[Henicillin]

My daughter goes back to ga today for summer classes and I have to work. I will miss her terribly. We have a covering today so that means I get to do everything while they just make sure I am handing out the right stuff. I should get their pay and them mine!

I always hated that when I was a tech. If I go cover someone's store, I always pitch in and help the techs out since I was on the other side of that equation for eight years. Evidently this makes me popular, since some of the pharmacies specifically ask for me.

The roo is funny when we let him out of the clink in the morning. We stand off to the side, reach over the kennel and release the door. He comes dashing out, stops, shoots the stinkeye at whoever is releasing him, then hustles his tailfeathers outside. He probably thinks we'll shove him back in if he tries to go for us. Locking him up at night does work to keep him from crowing next to the roof vents, but I refuse to allow that to be a permanent solution - once the ceiling of the roosting area has been reworked to help dampen sound, he won't be kenneled at night anymore.

 

[Sachasmom]

So how old would baby coons be now? We (and by we, I mean my husband, I cannot seem to hit the broad side of a barn) shot a coon out of a tree last night, its appeared to be a nursing female. This of course after it killed half of my silkies. Sacha treed it or it would have been back again. I can't seem to win on the **** silkies, I moved them, they could not find the water where I put it and i lost two before I realized they were not drinking, then two more died bc something I bought has Coccidia. The remaining chicks looked so nice and healthy, or they did before the coon pulled them thru the half inch cage wire.

Does a male Coon hang with the female or is he like the deadbeat dad of Coons?

Anyone know what size fence charger I need for electric poultry netting? Or bought the netting they sell on Ebay? Its cheaper then Premier is, but its *cheaper* netting...

 

[stonykill]

So how old would baby coons be now? We (and by we, I mean my husband, I cannot seem to hit the broad side of a barn) shot a coon out of a tree last night, its appeared to be a nursing female. This of course after it killed half of my silkies. Sacha treed it or it would have been back again. I can't seem to win on the **** silkies, I moved them, they could not find the water where I put it and i lost two before I realized they were not drinking, then two more died bc something I bought has Coccidia. The remaining chicks looked so nice and healthy, or they did before the coon pulled them thru the half inch cage wire.

Does a male Coon hang with the female or is he like the deadbeat dad of Coons?

Anyone know what size fence charger I need for electric poultry netting? Or bought the netting they sell on Ebay? Its cheaper then Premier is, but its *cheaper* netting...

I've killed 5 raccoon's in 3 weeks along with a red fox a possum and my cat killed a weasel. 3 of the 5 coons were smaller than the rest, but not obvious babies. But I do believe they were born early this year. I killed a really large female and male, and the 3 smaller coons. I'm pretty sure they all hunt together.

 

[Henicillin]

Here's a handy-dandy link on raccoon control in NYS: http://nwco.net/08-appendixbnuisancespecies/8-09-Raccoons.asp

 

[stonykill]

Here's a handy-dandy link on raccoon control in NYS: http://nwco.net/08-appendixbnuisancespecies/8-09-Raccoons.asp

my raccoon control consists of box traps, canned dog food and .22 caliber lead between the eyes

. 5 of them killed in 3 weeks.

 

[marquisella]

So how old would baby coons be now? We (and by we, I mean my husband, I cannot seem to hit the broad side of a barn) shot a coon out of a tree last night, its appeared to be a nursing female. This of course after it killed half of my silkies. Sacha treed it or it would have been back again. I can't seem to win on the **** silkies, I moved them, they could not find the water where I put it and i lost two before I realized they were not drinking, then two more died bc something I bought has Coccidia. The remaining chicks looked so nice and healthy, or they did before the coon pulled them thru the half inch cage wire.

Does a male Coon hang with the female or is he like the deadbeat dad of Coons?

Anyone know what size fence charger I need for electric poultry netting? Or bought the netting they sell on Ebay? Its cheaper then Premier is, but its *cheaper* netting...

I'm fighting raccoon hits for the 1st time. I bought a have a heart trap, and it was deffective,so the raccoon was able to steal the bait....so, we returned it to TSC & tried out another one that worked correctly so hopefully tonight I will get one of at least 2. I found 2 different size foot prints today so I'm thinking mom & baby...I understand Raccoons travel in packs, that is why you have to keep setting the traps until finallly they are gone.

I don't want to have to keep all my chickens cooped inside, especially when its hot out. I've lost 3 chickens so far, and don't want to lose any more!!!! I wanted to downsize my flocks, but not this way!

 

[stonykill]

I'm fighting raccoon hits for the 1st time. I bought a have a heart trap, and it was deffective,so the raccoon was able to steal the bait....so, we returned it to TSC & tried out another one that worked correctly so hopefully tonight I will get one of at least 2. I found 2 different size foot prints today so I'm thinking mom & baby...I understand Raccoons travel in packs, that is why you have to keep setting the traps until finallly they are gone.

I don't want to have to keep all my chickens cooped inside, especially when its hot out. I've lost 3 chickens so far, and don't want to lose any more!!!! I wanted to downsize my flocks, but not this way!

you need to test those and make minor adjustments as needed. I'm positive it wasn't defective, just needed to be tweeked out of the box.