NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

"Mama" hatching her 3rd brood of the year. Egg Shells.........

She looks like my EE, except of course the EE has muffs.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Wow Stony---that is one relentless broody mama you have there! She is a hatching machine! Brinsea has nothing on her.

Today turned out beautiful. Too bad I had to work all day. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same. Working all day then too. Missing my cheeps. Poor dh has had to feed and water them when he gets home from work as I have been working late these past nights. Removed the bandage from Elanors foot and it looks good. Going to give her a couple more days in the crate before I move her back out. I want to be sure the sores are closed and its still healing well.

Rancher--have mouse issues here as well DH put out mouse traps and one of the rir girls decides to check it out. Next thing he knows the trap goes off and there is all kinds of drama as the flock is standing around by the garage trying to figure out what happened. Wish I had seen it. He was laughing as he told me. Maybe she will be more careful about where she puts her beak from now on! lol.

 

[Adoravachick]

"Mama" hatching her 3rd brood of the year. Egg Shells.........

Go Mama hen! Get your hatch on!

 

[rancher hicks]

Wow Stony---that is one relentless broody mama you have there! She is a hatching machine! Brinsea has nothing on her.

Today turned out beautiful. Too bad I had to work all day. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same. Working all day then too. Missing my cheeps. Poor dh has had to feed and water them when he gets home from work as I have been working late these past nights. Removed the bandage from Elanors foot and it looks good. Going to give her a couple more days in the crate before I move her back out. I want to be sure the sores are closed and its still healing well.

Rancher--have mouse issues here as well DH put out mouse traps and one of the rir girls decides to check it out. Next thing he knows the trap goes off and there is all kinds of drama as the flock is standing around by the garage trying to figure out what happened. Wish I had seen it. He was laughing as he told me. Maybe she will be more careful about where she puts her beak from now on! lol.

I don't have traps near the chickens. Only in the back room and garage where there is feed. Well ok, there are the brooders but not near the bigger chickens.
I do plan to plant Mint around the runs and coop area. Mints and Lemon Balm are two things they don't seem to bother. I'm hoping it will keep mice away, as I've read they don't like mint. Also It will keep some green and make things look nice. Hopefully.

Now if you have an area you want cleared or don't want to mow, just toss some scratch in that spot and the chickens will scratch and kill or keep the weeds low. I do this on the outside of the garden fencing, then I don't have to weed whack that area.

 

[Lynzi777]

All this talk about mice - I was up all night because of some little nuisance in my bedroom wall! I'm so mad, thought I got rid of them but they are back! We have bait traps in the basement but those don't seem to be helping. I may try putting some outside along the foundation, see if that helps. I cannot sleep easy if these things are in my walls. Skeeves me out. Got no sleep, had another lesson today at the barn, this is the second time riding - my legs are killing me!

Silkies are out today, they've been staying pretty close to the house rather than out in the open, which is a good thing I guess. We had a flock of 4 turkey vultures flying around here last weekend, and when we went over to feed the horse my neighbor informed me that she lost two hens this summer. She thinks a hawk got them. I don't worry too much about the orpingtons because they seem to know - I swear when those hawks are flying about my roo looks up at them and then herds his two girls into the coop. It's quite amazing actually. The silkies - well you know, they're pretty dumb. LOL So I obviously have to keep a close watch out for them. Got 3 eggs from my lavender orp since I last stated how they weren't laying. Still nothing from the BO mix, and still 2 a day from the silkies. I have a bowl full of eggs from them! Going to send my inlaws home with some this weekend.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Morning all. Another mouse bit the dust this morning in the trap. Love to hear that snap. Elanor is back in the coop this morning. Her feet look good and its supposed to be nice and dry today so I decided to put her back. She is happy to be able to move around again and do chicken things. She is definately molting, as are the other girls. Letting the silkies out this morning for a while to freerange since I havent been home enough the last 3 days to let them out. There has been a hawk hanging around so I have to be out there to watch over them. All work and no play is making me cranky. Time for some chicken therapy this morning before I run off to work this afternoon. Have a good day all!

 

[rancher hicks]

Well I"m glad we're all catching mice. Cat's are just to much work for me. If I have to clean up after an animal it might as well be something that gives something back other than poop.

Not all cats are good mousers you know. It's too bad someone doesn't breed a line of good mousers. Around here they'd be fixed before you realized they're good hunters and by then it's too late to breed them.

Good garden o' peas, these CR's are still not layiing. I think Scott shows birds and maybe he's bred the laying out of them. They are big and may make good dinner, but not an egg to be seen. 7months is way to long to wait for eggs. IMO.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

A long time ago I had a cat when I was a kid who was a superb hunter. She just showed up at our farm one day and stayed. Her name was Nuisance and she was a biiggg girl. She caught everything...mice, rabbits, snakes, birds, you name it. Nothing messed with her, including the neighborhood dogs. She was a very sweet cat. I remember one time a feral tom got into the summer kitchen (we had an old farm house) and killed a couple of her kittens while she was out. When we got home, we found the poor kittens and the ones in hiding. Nuisance had that feral tom trapped in a drawer of a cabinet in the summer kitchen and she wasnt letting him out. My father donned his gloves and dispatched said tomcat after we dragged Nuisance back inside. She was determined to kill him. She lived a long life and was great for keeping away all sorts of critters.

My silkies are out enjoying the weather and freeranging. Of course I got an earful about their incarceration for the last few days. Warming up nicely and the terrorists are laying up a storm this morning. Might have to cook up some eggs for the big girls as they are molting right now. No problems putting elanor back with her girlies.

 

[Framac]

Well I"m glad we're all catching mice. Cat's are just to much work for me. If I have to clean up after an animal it might as well be something that gives something back other than poop.

Not all cats are good mousers you know. It's too bad someone doesn't breed a line of good mousers. Around here they'd be fixed before you realized they're good hunters and by then it's too late to breed them.

Good garden o' peas, these CR's are still not layiing. I think Scott shows birds and maybe he's bred the laying out of them. They are big and may make good dinner, but not an egg to be seen. 7months is way to long to wait for eggs. IMO.

Jeepers that is long. Maybe they'll hold off til spring? For you sakes hopefully not. Do you supplement light?

 

[vmdanielsen]

I have been practicing with my husband's old .22. It was actually his father's gun growing up. Today I practiced on a live target. I shot the darn squirrel on the first shot. Took a few more to finish him off. Gun is ready for the next little bugger. What I wish is that the neighbor would stop feeding them. She would shoot ME, if she knew what I was doing. I am surprised that I don't feel all that guilty. Only a little.......