***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[erinszoo]

I'm feeling somewhat better tonight after sleeping for most of the last two days. Still running a fever though and freezing to death since our heater went out and no one can find the parts to fix it. Its a 75 year old floor furnace with a mercury thermostat. Anyone have a spare $7000 laying around??? Sigh. Lol.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

I'm feeling somewhat better tonight after sleeping for most of the last two days. Still running a fever though and freezing to death since our heater went out and no one can find the parts to fix it. Its a 75 year old floor furnace with a mercury thermostat. Anyone have a spare $7000 laying around??? Sigh. Lol.

Ugh sorry. That really stinks. Hope you can find the part.

I have been told by several people that minnow traps make good mouse trap, so I decided to try it. Day 1 (baited; rainy night)- 0. Day 2 (baited)- 2 mice. Day 3 (unbaited)- 2 mice. It was rainy last night so I don't expect any mice in it this morning but so far I'm pretty impressed! This trap was $7.99 at walmart. Going to get one of those electronic rat traps for the rats. They won't fit in the minnow trap. But rats and mice are overrunning my chicken yard and I'm ready to start the war. Cats can't go in the chicken area because my dog won't tolerate them and she patrols the chicken yard.



My brother lives in Australia. He shipped a nativity for my mother to my house so I could keep it a surprise until Christmas. The post office DESTROYED the box. I glued as many pieces as I could find back together but we are still missing a leg, a tail, and some ears. But it's cute!


Peg Leg wiseman. ^^^^

 

[Kassaundra]

Ugh sorry. That really stinks. Hope you can find the part.

I have been told by several people that minnow traps make good mouse trap, so I decided to try it. Day 1 (baited; rainy night)- 0. Day 2 (baited)- 2 mice. Day 3 (unbaited)- 2 mice. It was rainy last night so I don't expect any mice in it this morning but so far I'm pretty impressed! This trap was $7.99 at walmart. Going to get one of those electronic rat traps for the rats. They won't fit in the minnow trap. But rats and mice are overrunning my chicken yard and I'm ready to start the war. Cats can't go in the chicken area because my dog won't tolerate them and she patrols the chicken yard.



My brother lives in Australia. He shipped a nativity for my mother to my house so I could keep it a surprise until Christmas. The post office DESTROYED the box. I glued as many pieces as I could find back together but we are still missing a leg, a tail, and some ears. But it's cute!


Peg Leg wiseman. ^^^^

I will have to try this in the rabbit yard, I have been needing a mouse trapping / killing method in the rabbits area.

 

[kelielliott]

Going nuts! My oldest came out of the coop with a our banty cochin last night at lights outs. We was sopping wet and sneezing. She has been moved to the garage. This morning the bedding of the coop was saturated with moisture. WE CAN'T SEEM TO GET IT TO STAY DRY! I really don't won't a garage full of chickens the whole winter!

 

[NanaKat]

Hoping everyone is beginning to feel a little better with all the respiratory junk going around.

The two White Wyandotte hens I bought at the Shawnee Show are laying! The Cockerel is doing his job, so I've put the eggs collected so far in an incubator for a test hatch.
The Columbian Wyandotte are with a new cock bird and several eggs are now in the incubator.
The Bantams are laying like crazy right now so the incubator has Rosecomb, d'Anvers, OEGB, Delaware and Serama eggs too
I moved 6 eggs to the hatcher..two are serama....

Roger helped a neighbor yesterday by taking our tractor down to unload a trailer of huge hay bales. While waiting for the next railer to arrive, he watched some birds on the watershed lake. When Eddie got there, he asked Roger if he noticed the new "pets" he has been watching feed on the fish in the lake. It appears that a pair of eagles have taken up refuge there. Eddie said that he watches them with binoculars and that they have been flying over our ponds to hunt!!!!! I'm wondering how long it will take them to find my chickens. Eagles are protected in all states and cannot be killed even if they are attacking livestock....so I'm going to have to consider freeranging during the day and making sure the big pen has a cover.

 

[ashtree]

@nanakat woa that's unnerving! Yikes. I thought all birds of prey were protected tho. We had a hawk land in an oak tree very close to our bantam runs. Arlo took to acting like a madman to scare it off. We've been here almost 4 months and no predator issues yet. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Our main issue will be Hawks I think.

@kelielliott so sorry to hear about your bantam. How is the coop getting wet? Is it humidity or actually wet? If the first you probably need to increase ventilation. If the 2nd you need to locate how the water is getting in.

@HeyBigRhondaq can't wait to see pics of those jubilee chicks! Also did you ever get your polish eggs?

 

[NanaKat]

@nanakat woa that's unnerving! Yikes. I thought all birds of prey were protected tho. We had a hawk land in an oak tree very close to our bantam runs. Arlo took to acting like a madman to scare it off. We've been here almost 4 months and no predator issues yet. Fingers crossed it stays that way. Our main issue will be Hawks I think.

Our Oklahoma State statutes allow shooting a predatory bird like an owl or hawk if it is caught in the act of attacking your poultry. Eagles are specifically identified in the statutes as exempt. We have had more trouble with owls than hawks. They have actually landed in front of the outdoor coops and grabbed a bird that was frightened out of the side door. At night I now pull a wire panel in front of the openings on those coops. Owls often hunt in pairs as a parent is training a youngster. They come out at dusk about the time the birds in the pens are settling down. 2" x 4" wire will keep them at bay. But a 4" x 6" wire will allow an owl to land and then swoop down thru the panel. We actually had an owl do that. It could not get back out of the pen. It would fly at me with talons outstretched when I tried to open the gate to let it out so we had to shoot it. to get it out of the pen.

 

[artsyrobin]

@kelielliott i have had to resort to covering coops with tarps when we couldn't get the leaking to stop, that would be a quick fix till you figure it out

 

[kelielliott]

So I think I MIGHT have figured out my problem area this morning. We shall see!

After getting 2 Roos and a hen from Betsy because I was certain I had all pullets, someone made a strange noise this morning! I think it was a first time crow! When I stopped in my tracked to listen, everyone got silent!

 

[kelielliott]

@BetsyOK Two of the Roos you gave away were to our friends kids! They ended up with 5 free chickens! Craziness! Lol! One started crowing yesterday!