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

[cluckitall]

Ok, rhodebar experts. This chick confuses me. It's dark like the other pullets but has the white dot. Cockerel?

Boy Background color can vary light to dark, but the white spot is alwaus the giveaway!

 

[cluckitall]

For xomparison purposes:

 

[mlaff]

Just my luck. Right before I went to worrk I checked my eggs and of course I have one choc silkie eho pipped. All I've been thinking about is if it hatched and if it looks like a silkie. Oh, and if my othet eggs decided to join it. In 4 hours ill be home and hopefully find 7 little fluffy butts. My last two batches all hatched 2 days early or not at all

 

[KirstenJL]

I foolishly once raised 6 chicks in a tub type brooder in my dining room - epic mistake - who knew how much dust 6 little bantam chicks can cause !!!!!

My first six, I raised in a metal trough in my kitchen (because it was November and my unheated mudroom was too cold). They went out there the night before Thanksgiving, and after that epic clean-up I swore "No more chickens in the house!" So far, so good (the mudroom doesn't count!).

 

[Inkheart]

I am with yo uKirsten JL that was a one time thing - i was jsut shocked these lil bantam chicks - soooo dusty!

 

[Inkheart]

Stupid red tail hawks! Outside letting everyone free range. Hear my little p rock hen screaming. I run around the corner. Ten feet above her is a hawk swooping down. Meanwhile my rooster Thor is speeding across yard to stop this. I scream it leaves. Figure it's gone oh no...comes right back. She gets her chicks in the bushes and comes back out to confront it. I grabbed an Apple from the tree to throw at it. Ughhh I am shaking. Needless to say free range time was cut short! She is a tough little hen

Yikes! We have a LOT of hawks here, too (and countless other predators..the neighbor/cousins' stupid dogs and cats included). You can hardly look up or around without seeing one. Until we get our huge covered run finished, free range time is very limited and very monitored.. Glad all yours lived to tell the tale!


Thanks Cluckitail - i have had a horrible fox problem this summer so all free range time is monitored but this was a very fearless hawk. i hate predators -- never had such a bad summer - lost close to 10 chickens this summer to that fox - one dying in my arms

 

[Rnbwbrite1207]

I have a problem with a neighbor I am unsure how to handle, maybe you guys will have some advice. In our area chicken ownership is pretty underground and at the whim of the zoning officer. He thinks they are exotic animals. Several people in our neighborhood have a few chickens. My next door neighbor has maybe six or eight at a time. However the care they provide them is abysmal. They have a couple cat litter boxes with straw for nest boxes and that is the only "indoors" they have. Then they are poorly fenced into a corner of the yard that is too small but doesn't really matter because the escape all the time. The real problem is that the lack of security (and the fact that they leave dog food out) has created a real predator problem. My girls are locked up at night, but I have found several of their hens eviscerated in my yard. They seem totally unfazed. Just go to the auction and buy some more. Mostly the carnage is starting to wear on me but I don't know how to kindly get this point across.

 

[mlaff]

Urg, came home and found 3 pipped chocolate silkie eggs and not fluffy butts. I'm an impatient person and wanna see my babies already.

 

[cluckitall]

I have a problem with a neighbor I am unsure how to handle, maybe you guys will have some advice. In our area chicken ownership is pretty underground and at the whim of the zoning officer. He thinks they are exotic animals. Several people in our neighborhood have a few chickens. My next door neighbor has maybe six or eight at a time. However the care they provide them is abysmal. They have a couple cat litter boxes with straw for nest boxes and that is the only "indoors" they have. Then they are poorly fenced into a corner of the yard that is too small but doesn't really matter because the escape all the time. The real problem is that the lack of security (and the fact that they leave dog food out) has created a real predator problem. My girls are locked up at night, but I have found several of their hens eviscerated in my yard. They seem totally unfazed. Just go to the auction and buy some more. Mostly the carnage is starting to wear on me but I don't know how to kindly get this point across.

I hate to say, you can't. Well, you can try but the odds of them changing their behavior is about zilch and the odds of them resenting you bringing it up are probably pretty good. I'd imagine it does get wearing

but is it a battle you really want to engage? Gads, I feel like a downer, and I could be wrong -- I just can't imagine that a casual, "Hey, you know, if there wasn't food out for them all night we probably wouldn't have half as many pests around" will actually have much effect...

 

[cluckitall]

Urg, came home and found 3 pipped chocolate silkie eggs and not fluffy butts. I'm an impatient person and wanna see my babies already.

Sending sympathy hugs and a reminder to sit on your hands! Waiting's the worst, isn't it???