OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[blessedchick]

Anyone have tips to covering raised beds? I will be transplanting some tomatoes from the basement under lights to outside soon. Right now the birds are scratching up worms and kicking dirt all over. Last year the veggie plants were so big they didn't do too much damage to them picking at leaves. Toward the end of the season they would hangout under the canopy of the leaves. Also I want to start a asparagus patch but am afraid they would scratch up the bare roots.

Any tips/advice is appreciated.

This is where I want to do the asparagus patch




This was last years garden... A little out of control




Eggs from my birds. An EE, a RR and a Australorpe




Oakley / Cincy BYC what's up?

Hi Egg!
I put together these simple grazing frames to put in the chicken's garden so that their veggies could grow without being scratched to pieces. I also use them in the bottom of my outdoor runs so that grass/clover can grow thru them...

 

[minihorse927]

I broke. I just set 14 call duck eggs from my pure grey pen and my mixed pen. Plus a couple eggs from my ancona hen. Most of these will be for sale when they hatch as I don't want to keep mixed color ducklings for breeding but should be nice tiny calls!

 

[cbradio]

good looking brooder though! Is there wire on the floor or is it just something you can easily clean?

the left side has left over peel and stick flooring and the right side is wire. for 2 weeks they live on rough paper towels on the left then move them to the right when they start pooping too much to keep the left side clean for longer than 6 hours. most of it falls through the wire to a large photography developing tub i had left over from my black and white photography days

 

[minihorse927]

the left side has left over peel and stick flooring and the right side is wire. for 2 weeks they live on rough paper towels on the left then move them to the right when they start pooping too much to keep the left side clean for longer than 6 hours. most of it falls through the wire to a large photography developing tub i had left over from my black and white photography days 

sounds like an awesome design.

 

[cbradio]

sounds like an awesome design.

works well so far. have 11 rhode island whites and white leghorns in it right now with 3 silkies. I use gatorade bottles with a poultry nipple installed in teh cap hung from screws with zip ties as water-ers.

i use HD buckets with nipples for our outdoor grow out pens and the laying hen run.

only bad thing is i think im going to have to diassemble it to get it up the basement stairs and into the new barn we are having built in late May.
whoops... lol

 

[minihorse927]

works well so far. have 11 rhode island whites and white leghorns in it right now with 3 silkies. I use gatorade bottles with a poultry nipple installed in teh cap hung from screws with zip ties as water-ers.

i use HD buckets with nipples for our outdoor grow out pens and the laying hen run.

only bad thing is i think im going to have to diassemble it to get it up the basement stairs and into the new barn we are having built in late May.
whoops... lol

haha, that's like the one we just built. It's heavy as heck and we have to move it to the new barn as soon as I get it built!

 

[minihorse927]

Watering nipples are awesome. It's about all I use anymore. When the new barn is done in going to try to fab up a automatic watering system with PVC and nipples. We don't have city water so in going to use one of those metal cage water totes to feed the system.

 

[Avianman]

AAAAAGH!

I came home yesterday from work around 3:30...wet and rainy but warmer, so the chickens were out finding worms and the like.

I get a voicemail on my phone and begin to check it...I'm listening to the VM and staring out the window when I see a fox, out in the open plain as day, trotting across my driveway....

Oh, no.... I put the phone down, throw on my rain coat and run out. I am just in time to see the fox running away with something in his mouth - he is about 250 feet from me now, a trail of feathers leading from thee huge pine tree the chickens use for cover from rain... None of my 18 chickens can be seen or heard.

I grabbed my bow and quiver and ran towards where the fox was running, probably more out of anger than anything...the ground was wet and waterlogged and I didn't get far as I still have my tennis shoes on. Ran in to get my boots and tried in vein to find the fox which was, of course, by this time no use.

Back to the coop....one hen was still sitting on eggs. None of the other 17 could be accounted for.

Slowly, I began to walk around, looking for movement from either chicken or fox. They came home, one by one, but not all. The fox was on a killing spree. I discovered piles of feathers everywhere, as though my chickens randomly exploded...then I started finding the bodies. He got 5 of my hens, seriously wounded two FULL GROWN JERSEY GIANT hens. Took two roosters.

I found the bodies of 4 of the hens...its like he killed them, carried them about 100 - 150 feet toward his den, and then dropped them and went for another!

At the end, when night fell and everyone was back in the coop, there is still one missing jersey giant hen and two mixed breed roosters. I stitched up one jersey giant hen and I am hoping for the best - a big gash, but I have seen them heal from worse. I cant believe he went for the giants - I saw the guy, and he wasn't big at all - no way he could carry one off.

I am so upset! I get that free range means predation, and I accept the circle of life. If a hawk is going to start stalking I will lock up the chickens for a while and chase off the hawk and all is well. Most of my issues with coons, skunks and coyote happen at night, and the chickens are locked up tight so I havent had a problem in a decade. My only problem during the day has been dogs and hawks.

But, other than dogs, I have never had a wild animal just kill and drop and kill again. That just pisses me off!


Now I have a flock of almost all roosters....all of whom ran and sounded no alarm as they do with the hawks.

 

[minihorse927]

AAAAAGH! 

I came home yesterday from work around 3:30...wet and rainy but warmer, so the chickens were out finding worms and the like.

I get a voicemail on my phone and begin to check it...I'm listening to the VM and staring out the window when I see a fox, out in the open plain as day, trotting across my driveway....

Oh, no.... I put the phone down, throw on my rain coat and run out. I am just in time to see the fox running away with something in his mouth - he is about 250 feet from me now, a trail of feathers leading from thee huge pine tree the chickens use for cover from rain... None of my 18 chickens can be seen or heard.

I grabbed my bow and quiver and ran towards where the fox was running, probably more out of anger than anything...the ground was wet and waterlogged and I didn't get far as I still have my tennis shoes on. Ran in to get my boots and tried in vein to find the fox which was, of course, by this time no use.

Back to the coop....one hen was still sitting on eggs. None of the other 17 could be accounted for.

Slowly, I began to walk around, looking for movement from either chicken or fox. They came home, one by one, but not all. The fox was on a killing spree. I discovered piles of feathers everywhere, as though my chickens randomly exploded...then I started finding the bodies. He got 5 of my hens, seriously wounded two FULL GROWN JERSEY GIANT hens. Took two roosters.

I found the bodies of 4 of the hens...its like he killed them, carried them about 100 - 150 feet toward his den, and then dropped them and went for another!

At the end, when night fell and everyone was back in the coop, there is still one missing jersey giant hen and two mixed breed roosters. I stitched up one jersey giant hen and I am hoping for the best - a big gash, but I have seen them heal from worse. I cant believe he went for the giants - I saw the guy, and he wasn't big at all - no way he could carry one off.

I am so upset! I get that free range means predation, and I accept the circle of life. If a hawk is going to start stalking I will lock up the chickens for a while and chase off the hawk and all is well. Most of my issues with coons, skunks and coyote happen at night, and the chickens are locked up tight so I havent had a problem in a decade. My only problem during the day has been dogs and hawks.

But, other than dogs, I have never had a wild animal just kill and drop and kill again. That just pisses me off! 


Now I have a flock of almost all roosters....all of whom ran and sounded no alarm as they do with the hawks.

wow, I'm at a loss for words. I'm so sorry he nabbed your hens mostly. You would think the roosters would of make a ruckus especially after the first one was grabbed. Maybe he snuck up on the first one but I don't see him doing it to the rest. It's very odd a wild animal would killand leave it. You said it's small? Maybe it's an inexperienced kit? I definitely wouldn't let anyone out again until after your sure he's not coming back or you take care of him.

 

[minihorse927]