Official Squatch Watchers

[Redhead Rae]

It was suggested I get rid of the last 2 Flowers. That they are possibly harboring something that will just eventually run through the clock. I'm not sure on that.... and if they all already have it.... I'm not doing a massive cull and starting over.
View attachment 1615049

Yeah, no, if none of the birds that aren't from that stock are showing signs of the issuesI wouldn't worry about it at all.

 

[ronott1]

View attachment 1614966 View attachment 1614969

It is good to see you have them working on the field for you!

 

[ronott1]

Tis a lovely O-dark:30 here. Gotta love insomnia, it makes it much easier to figure out how to make DD#3's service dog vest better for when she needs to pick Trixie up. Then dumb tater brain jumps to some other random thing I can't even remember, plus things I should do before DD#3's appt this afternoon, etc. So... Here I am, in bed, with my tablet, while Trixie is sound asleep beside me, and everyone else is enjoying the inside of their eyelids and totally unaware that anything else exists. It's only the 4th night in a row.


Just slightly frustrated, and a very sore shoulder

I hope you can get the insomnia figured out!

 

[staceyj]

Quite the start to my day.... something bowled through the chicken fence. It's bent pretty good and the hooks I was using are straight out the wrong direction. So what I hoped would be the first day they would come out in about a week is another day of lockdown in the coop. I knew I needed to finish the fence but I wasn't expecting it to be completely torn off the building. Reassures my instinct to do a door from the coop to the run not a gate on the run.
Lost another hen too. The 2nd Cuckoo Marans. Another Necropsy is in order. I'm guessing much the same as her sister. She was walking around, if a bit subdued, yesterday.

Did you notice any tracks?
Do you have bear in your neck of the woods?
Blind deer perhaps?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Quite the start to my day.... something bowled through the chicken fence. It's bent pretty good and the hooks I was using are straight out the wrong direction. So what I hoped would be the first day they would come out in about a week is another day of lockdown in the coop. I knew I needed to finish the fence but I wasn't expecting it to be completely torn off the building. Reassures my instinct to do a door from the coop to the run not a gate on the run.
Lost another hen too. The 2nd Cuckoo Marans. Another Necropsy is in order. I'm guessing much the same as her sister. She was walking around, if a bit subdued, yesterday.

Good God Nunny! That IS a horrible start.

 

[Redhead Rae]

It is good to see you have them working on the field for you!

Thanks! We did this last year when we knew we wanted to turn this into a garden and it worked really well. So we put up a permanent fence and are going to continue using it as our winter run. They are enjoying finding the butternut squash and gourds we missed. We'll keep them there until it is time to till again in the spring. Hopefully we'll have our new house finished by then and have a coop system set up for them.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Most losses have been of 2 breeds. 5 Swedish Flowers and 2 Cuckoo Marans. (I did cull Cream Puff when she seemed to have given up. But I really think that was due to such a heavy molt.)
I'd say genetics in both breed losses but what gets me is it's at the same time. I'm not one for coincidence of that magnitude but nothing else makes sense.
I guess the stress of not having my care for too long then moving could have triggered something. I feel like I'm grasping at straws and trying to make it fit.

I thought rogue deer at first. But no prints for that. I do see dog... or what could be coyote. I'll have to get better pictures of the fence. It's really low to the ground where it's bent.
Not sure if there are bear nearby. I'm sort saying no but I certainly didn't see big bear paws in the snow.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Most losses have been of 2 breeds. 5 Swedish Flowers and 2 Cuckoo Marans. (I did cull Cream Puff when she seemed to have given up. But I really think that was due to such a heavy molt.)
I'd say genetics in both breed losses but what gets me is it's at the same time. I'm not one for coincidence of that magnitude but nothing else makes sense.
I guess the stress of not having my care for too long then moving could have triggered something. I feel like I'm grasping at straws and trying to make it fit.

I thought rogue deer at first. But no prints for that. I do see dog... or what could be coyote. I'll have to get better pictures of the fence. It's really low to the ground where it's bent.
Not sure if there are bear nearby. I'm sort saying no but I certainly didn't see big bear paws in the snow.

I guess that's one good thing about snow......it shows who is coming around.

I really hope whatever tore up the fence doesn't come back.

 

[ronott1]

Thanks! We did this last year when we knew we wanted to turn this into a garden and it worked really well. So we put up a permanent fence and are going to continue using it as our winter run. They are enjoying finding the butternut squash and gourds we missed. We'll keep them there until it is time to till again in the spring. Hopefully we'll have our new house finished by then and have a coop system set up for them.

Chickens love having work to do. I give them leaves in the winter to chop up and turn in to the run. It make them happy!

 

[ronott1]

Most losses have been of 2 breeds. 5 Swedish Flowers and 2 Cuckoo Marans. (I did cull Cream Puff when she seemed to have given up. But I really think that was due to such a heavy molt.)
I'd say genetics in both breed losses but what gets me is it's at the same time. I'm not one for coincidence of that magnitude but nothing else makes sense.
I guess the stress of not having my care for too long then moving could have triggered something. I feel like I'm grasping at straws and trying to make it fit.

I thought rogue deer at first. But no prints for that. I do see dog... or what could be coyote. I'll have to get better pictures of the fence. It's really low to the ground where it's bent.
Not sure if there are bear nearby. I'm sort saying no but I certainly didn't see big bear paws in the snow.

I did have trouble with Cream Legbars. The last ones I had did better but of the three, one just died one day. No symptoms and she was full weight.

Genetics is a definitely as suspected cause