***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[CityClucks]

Quote:
Jan, That is great! Do you have any neighbor complaints? I worry about one neighbor. I figure we will bribe her with eggs I think we have restrictive covenants, but the neighborhood is 30 years old and no one seems to be following those anymore. It think we are ok, but I still worry...

We are going to see "Poco Pollo" Saturday to get some pullets. Knowing my hubby, we will come home with more pullets than we need. He will say, "Well, we might lose a few so lets get extra!" lol

Michiele

Michiele - I'm glad you're getting your chickens from Poco Pollo. She has very nice, healthy birds and you are smart to get extras!

 

[jcatblum]

Will check into a minnow trap. I honestly never thought about using a pair of lopers. Great idea for smaller snakes. Not sure if it would work for most of the snakes I run across out here. Smallest bull snake was big around as a coke can & 5ft 2 in. Had one that was over 7ft.
Last weekend got a 20 gauge for the snakes. DH wants to keep it in the case locked & aminution somewhere else. I want to keep a few rounds in it & ready to grab. I think the trigger lock & safety is enough precaution. My girls are old enough to shoot it have been to hunters Ed & know gun safety. Never thought I would be the mom that wants a loaded gun by the door!

 

[mjgigax]

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lol! Well, I KNOW we won't end up with 75 chickens! We only have 1 acre I have to ask, did the chickens cause you to sell your house in town and move out into the country??? IF that is the case, I better stop now! lol

Michiele

We have 9/10 of an acre and have about 75 chickens!

All but 4 of them are bantams so thats o.k. right?

 

[sjarvis00]

Quote:
lol! Well, I KNOW we won't end up with 75 chickens! We only have 1 acre I have to ask, did the chickens cause you to sell your house in town and move out into the country??? IF that is the case, I better stop now! lol

Michiele

We have 9/10 of an acre and have about 75 chickens!

All but 4 of them are bantams so thats o.k. right?

MJ,
you cannot count a bird that is too young to lay an egg or crow. So I am sure you don't really have that many.

 

[Grace'sDad]

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That is fine because bantams don't count as full chickens. Based on the breed it can be as high as 4 bantams to one large foul. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Grace had around 100 in a lot and 1/2. At one time she had 14 pens to take care of. We have sold all of the show birds and only have 14 layers and a few chicks running around so what used to take almost two hours to feed and water now takes about 15 minutes.

When we get rid of the last of the lawn tractors they will have even more space to run around.

 

[mjgigax]

Quote:
We have 9/10 of an acre and have about 75 chickens!

All but 4 of them are bantams so thats o.k. right?

MJ,
you cannot count a bird that is too young to lay an egg or crow. So I am sure you don't really have that many.

Ok, then I only have 17. I feel much better now!

 

[sjarvis00]

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Pulled 13 out f the hatcher last week and 9 today I am sure there is a roo in there somewhere.

Are any of these LF or are they the Bantams? I think you said you were cutting back on LF whe I was there last time.
I lost my splash roo in the trio of the LF Cochin chicks to heat and want to replace him.

All we have in cochin are LF we did cut back some, got rid of all teh buff, partridge, The big black rooster and two black hens.

I am seriously considering letting the trio of bantam blue wyandottes go, as well as some of teh other assorted bantams.

 

[sjarvis00]

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We actually already had the land, purchased it to build a house on after DH retired (still another 6 yrs away). DH woke up one day & decided we should move on out to our farm. So we packed up & moved from our 2500 sq ft house to a single wide trailer! Have no idea when we will build a house. But I do know living in this trailer will hall us k ow what we want most in our house real fast! The extra chickens are just a plus. Four chickens was working ok in town. We went through many chickens before we picked the 4 we liked best. DD would hatch them out & slowly select her favorites. If they were noisy or not very nice she would give them away (and by not very nice she means they didn't want to be held & loved on like kittens) She was very selective. Think we hatched out 4 dz before she kept 4!!!!

Does anyone has a list of local snakes that eat eggs? I have killed 3 bullsnakes this month that were eating eggs. (I do know they are not bad snakes, but they are eating eggs & scare the kids & birds). Today I found a different snake eating eggs at the barn. Was a dark brown diamond like patterned snake, guessing about 4 ft. Real thick scales & DD says it had orange - red on the side. I didn't see any color on the side, but it had a red tounge. Didn't see the tail. But did see an egg in it The dog chased it away before I could find something to get it with.

Any snake will eat eggs. I keep a pair of limb lopers next to the hen house door and cut the snake where ever I can grab onto it. Not fun sticking your hand into a nest box to get out eggs and find a snake in there. Someone on here uses a minnow trap he purchased at Walmart...the kind that has cone entrances at each end. It comes apart into two halves. He baits it with an egg and has caught several kinds.

Your black snake with the red on it's side is a rat snake. Really stinks when you mess with it. And, don't worry, you will see it again. It will be back.

Copperheads ... That is not a snake you want your children or dog to get hold of...kill that snake. The minnow trap worked on these.

Bull snakes of course will eat not only the eggs but will eat your chicks.

We have killed several big snakes that have a yellow belly and a crisscross pattern on it's back ...don't know what they are, but 5 - 6 feet is big.

I have placed ceramic eggs in the nest boxes to entice the hens in to lay and killed a rat snake a few weeks ago that had eatten one. Hubby saw a sanke he swore was 6 feet long...wouldn't fit in the minnow trap....but two ceramic eggs are missing so I know we have another snake. Going hunting in the hen house at midnight tonight armed with a flashlight and my limb lopers.

Nana,
The black snake with the yellow belly and yellow pattern is a speckled King snake, if you want to get rid of your other snakes leave them alone. The Speckled kings eat snakes and only snakes. They will not bother you, the birds or your eggs. They are great to have around and are a sure sign that you have many more snakes there.

 

[Buckguy20]

In case anyone hasn't noticed, its hot today!

 

[old*cowboy]

Yes but when you factor in the wind chill it is still hot