***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[shelbydog]

Kassaundra, I love the one with the white collar.

 

[Ksane]

Tony and MJ-thanks. Kass, your pictures as always are awesome! I've got a bunch I'm fixing to post but my camera is nowhere near as good as yours. You have a knack for getting awesome shots. MJ, I hope Christina comes back soon. I miss hearing about Taron. Hey, Kass-you didn't tell me Little Man was puppy-tame! I reach down and pick him up and set him on my lap and rub his wattles and he just sits there almost falling asleep. You may not realize it because you don't have many roosters but they're not typically like that. He's so dang cool! He's tame just like my 2 favorites here.Here's some pictures I took of him when I was out taking pictures of everyone. I won't post all the pictures I took of everyone but it was sure hard to get down to even 20, sorry.
Little Big Man-my best new buddy:


My Faverolles girl I got from Mike D 2 yrs ago....(Orloffs I got from Terri on the list in the background)

My Serama rooster, Channing, and my Chihuahua puppy 10 wks ago. He's 15 ounces, she was 20 ounces at the time.


One of my Cochin girls I hatched last summer


The other girl I hatched last summer, both sweethearts.


The Cochin/Ameraucana boy I hatched out last summer, He turned out awesome and has always been huge and healthy.

Group shot of one of the yards.


Brown Red Bantam Ameraucana, Dennis. He can't have girls because he gets too ornery and full of himself.


My Faverolles/Orloff cross again, good huge boy.


The Brown Red OEGB pair I got at Blanchard Sat night. He's such a doll!


My 2 Pigeon girls that live in one of the roofed pens, 2 Ringneck Doves live in there, too, along with some OEGB's



My Orloff/Marans cross. He's normally way cooler looking but he's in the middle of molting, has no tail feathers :-(

Spiderman (Spidey for short), my Modern Bantam. I've had him for almost 2 yrs now. I'd love to have more.

2 of the Spitz.They're in the middle of molting, too.


Spoc. He's been around here since before I ever got chickens, he used to belong to the neighbors and they moved off and left him like 5 yrs ago. He's survived every one of the diseases that have killed my other chickens and he's still healthy and strong. I've come to appreciate him after all these years and he's one of my favorites. He lives in the sacred Cochin and Brahma girl yard. He's got to be going on 8 yrs old now. He's a great rooster for having been feral the 1st 5 yrs of his life.


My sweet baby Silver Bantam Ameraucana, Tinker.

 

[Kassaundra]

Good pics ksane. I have the same problem narrowing down pic choices. You sure do have quite a variety all diff shapes, colors, patterns. I love the pic of Channing w/ the puppy really shows his size!



Oh and how could I forget those pigeons!!!!!! They look like the queen of England w/ those collars!


Awesome tomatoes!!!!!

 

[TimsHens]

 

[NanaKat]

 

Not a happy camper today.  something took the head off one of the keeper cockerels during the night.  Had to have gone over the 2x4 inch wired and post fence to get into the pen.  Do skunks climb?  That's the only critter I can think of that takes the head and neck and leaves the carcass.

Is there any way something could have snuck UNDER the fence? Skunks can climb a little, but a small to medium one can squeeze through a 2 X 4 inch wire. They're smaller than they look because of all the hair, and if they can get their head in, the rest can follow.
However; Sounds like an owl to me though.  They do that if the chicken is to heavy to fly off with.

Sometimes a raccoon will do that too, and they CAN climb.

I did not know that about owls! The pen has 2 inch pipe structure with the 2 x4 wire panels welded on to them. No signs of anything digging under. We have never had an owl attack before but will take precautions from now on. I can corral the birds in their coop at night with portable fencing. And I'm setting the trap each night. A few weeks ago, something took a juvenile chick two nights in a row. Actually ate them in the drive to the pasture leaving tidbits but no tracks. Hmmmmm

 

[artsyrobin]

hey guys, will a rat snake be a threat to grown chickens? this guy was hanging around yesterday- the guineas were following it- he's about 4 foot, i have hardware cloth around the pens....

 

[artsyrobin]

Alright, guys and gals. I've spent the past 2 days attempting to get somewhat caught up on what's going on since I was MIA for most of 2013. You all have slowed way way down and you've hidden Christina somewhere! Bring her back out, I miss her.
We went to the Newcastle auction last Saturday night because it's been so long since I've been to an auction. It was so sad, baby chicks were going for 25¢ each. He could barely get a bid on some of them. Maybe it's typical for this time of year. Hens were bringing around $15-$20 and roosters a few dollars a piece. Some sort of stag rooster (?) brought $20 but that was the highest. There was a teeny tiny black Serama rooster I'd have brought home cuz I felt so sorry for him. But they took so long selling all kinds of other stuff before they got to birds that I didnt want to wait around til midnight to bid on the Serama. If anyone knows if someone bought him, let me know so I can quit feeling bad for him. My Serama, Channing, would *not have appreciated him. I did get a tiny Brown Red OEGB pair, love that color. They're all set up in the 4x8 coop I made last year. I'm sure they're not show quality but they're personality quality and that's good enough for me
We're getting started on putting up another chicken building, 8x8 or 8x16. The plan is putting Silkies and Showgirls in it and using it to grow babies out in. I made it a year without hatching but I can't do it anymore. I guess I had to come to terms with the facts that chickens are seldom long-lived animals. I'm going to enjoy them all I can while they're here from now on. I'll get some more pictures later.
Assuming anyone comes around anymore :-O Where did you all go??

Nice to see you back.... i still have boaz, glad to see channing is still with you! i lurk alot, once the weather gets cooler i'll be on more...

 

[erinszoo]

My birds have been feasting on this many tiny tomatoes about every 3 or 4 days. I can't eat that many and DH doesn't like raw tomatoes. The plants are scaring me with the amount of fruit they are putting out. I have another plant that produces yellow ones that are not much bigger than these. It is scarring me too. A couple of days ago, when I went to close up the pen, my giant LF Cochin hen and my tiniest Mille Fleur Cochin hen were MIA. I found them over feasting on the yellow tomatoes and they did not want to stop. They are buddies, It is so cute. I need to get a pic of the unlikely pair.

Are those from the plants I sent you? Wow! Our birds love them too. Glad you've had such a good harvest. That salamander looks like a tiger but usually tigers are pretty big. We don't have but two or three types in the state so a search online or at the library should narrow it down quick. Yes, a four foot rat snake could take out a chicken if the guineas don't kill it first. But hardware cloth should stop it.

 

[mjgigax]

Are those from the plants I sent you? Wow! Our birds love them too. Glad you've had such a good harvest.

That salamander looks like a tiger but usually tigers are pretty big. We don't have but two or three types in the state so a search online or at the library should narrow it down quick.

Yes, a four foot rat snake could take out a chicken if the guineas don't kill it first. But hardware cloth should stop it.

Yup, from your plants - Thank You Again.

 

[BetsyOK]

One of the most disgusting things about rat snakes, other than eating eggs and chicks, is that they sometimes attempt to swallow a grown chicken, head first. They can't and have to regurgitate it, but it has smothered. You can always tell, because the head and neck are slimy and the feathers are backwards. They can also wrap around them and squeeze--not quite like a boa, but similarly.