***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[dunnmom]

Oh no! That's awful! How many were killed, and how old were they?

 

[ashtree]

Im so sorry for your loss. That's so very sad. Last Easter we lost 30+ ducks to our dog; it was terrible. I hope you're able to start over. It can be hard loving poultry so much but I still think it's worth it.

 

[Tika75]

Oh no! That's awful! How many were killed, and how old were they?

I had eight. They hatched out in May.

Im so sorry for your loss. That's so very sad. Last Easter we lost 30+ ducks to our dog; it was terrible. I hope you're able to start over. It can be hard loving poultry so much but I still think it's worth it.

Thank you. We have our three hens left so we don't have to start completely over.

 

[limited25]

Sorry to hear about your loss Tika75.

Found out we have a mother fox with 3 babies (born around March I guess) living under the neighbor's shed across the street from us.

Guess there were chicken bones and squirrel remains in their den. Hopefully we have our runs safe from them ... so far everyone is ok and haven't seen any fox in our yard (yet). Neighbor behind us has 2 pit bulls but don't know that would deter them since they are not in our yard (and we don't really want to get another dog). We are considering electric poultry netting but not sure that is even legal in our neighborhood. They sleep in 2 separate coops at night ... with the older chickens coop as safe as we can make it ... pretty safe we think. The new pullets are in a small coop that they will outgrow pretty soon. That coop is inside a 10x10 dog cage? covered with hardware cloth. We put a hardware cloth skirt on it and reinforce the door with an extra piece of hardware cloth every night.

Will be glad when we can integrate our 5 chicks (now 10 weeks old) in with our 3 hens and rooster (about 15 months old) but am afraid to do it yet ... thinking the rooster will try to mate them first chance he gets and not sure how receptive the 3 hens would be toward them. One hen is very possessive of the rooster and doesn't want the other hens near him. Though we were told they are all the same age, they vary quite a bit in size, a couple being rather small. Thinking September or October would be the right time to integrate them except that should also be around the timeframe that the hens and rooster should go into first real molt. That would be a disaster, right? Or would they be more apt to leave them alone because they are molting? Right now their cages and runs are right beside each other so they can all see each other, and they seem to watch each other a lot.

Anyone have any advise for me please?

 

[allenw]

Has anybody attended the poultry sale at Hydro? I think they just started this summer. I need to sell some birds and was wondering if any one knew any thing about it. I'll have to check this weeks penny paper and see if the add is in it.

 

[Matt in Okla]

Sorry to hear about your loss Tika75.

Found out we have a mother fox with 3 babies (born around March I guess) living under the neighbor's shed across the street from us.    Guess there were chicken bones and squirrel remains in their den.  Hopefully we have our runs safe from them ... so far everyone is ok and haven't seen any fox in our yard (yet).  Neighbor behind us has 2 pit bulls but don't know that would deter them since they are not in our yard (and we don't really want to get another dog).  We are considering electric poultry netting but not sure that is even legal in our neighborhood.  They sleep in 2 separate coops at night ... with the older chickens coop as safe as we can make it ... pretty safe we think.  The new pullets are in a small coop that they will outgrow pretty soon.  That coop is inside a 10x10 dog cage? covered with hardware cloth.  We put a hardware cloth skirt on it and reinforce the door with an extra piece of hardware cloth every night.  

Will be glad when we can integrate our 5 chicks (now 10 weeks old) in with our 3 hens and rooster (about 15 months old) but am afraid to do it yet ... thinking the rooster will try to mate them first chance he gets and not sure how receptive the 3 hens would be toward them.  One hen is very possessive of the rooster and doesn't want the other hens near him.  Though we were told they are all the same age, they vary quite a bit in size, a couple being rather small.  Thinking September or October would be the right time to integrate them except that should also be around the timeframe that the hens and rooster should go into first real molt.  That would be a disaster, right?  Or would they be more apt to leave them alone because they are molting?  Right now their cages and runs are right beside each other so they can all see each other, and they seem to watch each other a lot.

Anyone have any advise for me please?

That hen will grow tired of him once he starts mating and will be glad to see him go to the others and leave her alone.

 

[limited25]

That hen will grow tired of him once he starts mating and will be glad to see him go to the others and leave her alone.

He started mating the hens last year, he is about 15 months old. Had them separated for a while because I was trying to get that hen to grow some feathers ... got rid of one hen that was a habitual feather picker (she went to a friend with a large flock that said her hens wouldn't put up with it). Will be glad when she stops acting so possessive of him.

The 10 week old pullets .... think he would try to mate them if we integrated them? Have read a lot of integration threads but most of those don't seem to have a rooster in their flock, or they free range. Ours cannot free range due to hawks and such, but when we get done remodeling our coop, will have 3 runs (all connected, but each separately movable along with our tractor coop). Have been working on it every weekend in the heat and it is probably half done. We are going to make the 4' tall run into a 6' run (like the other side). Right now those 2 runs are connected to the main coop and are occupied by the rooster and 3 hens.

The last run holds the small house that the 5 10-week-old pullets reside in. Right now it is separate but will be added to the main coop when we integrate. If we wait until the pullets are laying age to integrate, it is going to be around the timeframe the rooster and 3 hens should be molting. Read molting can take like 3 months and the pullets are definitely going to outgrow their little coop long before that. When should we integrate? If we wait until they are laying age will the rooster be enamored with more hens and nice to them? Would it be incredibly stupid to integrate about the time the older ones are going to molt? Or would it work out okay because they are molting and would be less likely to harass the newbies because they want to be left alone themselves due to molting? Really don't know what the best option is. The original flock is all RIRs, and the new ones are a mixed flock of a buff orpington, a silver leghorn, a russian orloff, a blue wyandotte, and a silver wyandotte.

 

[ashtree]

@limited25

Im no expert but I isually worry more about how the big girls will treat the younger chickens. I've never had a rooster hurt a young chick but I've had hens do serious damage very quickly. If you decide to integrate now I would try to put something in the run only the smaller chicks can assess if they need an escape/hideout.

 

[dunnmom]

@limited25
I'm trying integrating right now. Mine don't free range, and I have no roo that I'm aware of. My SLW pullets are truly being b****es to the younger BRs. I ended up having to separate the run, but the SLWs keep squeezing into the little one's side to terrorize them. I thought at first they were just curious to see if the littles were getting special treatment over there, but no. What irritates me most, is they will kick bedding over the little ones' food and water before they squeeze back over to their side. They get one more chance before I stick them in chicken jail. My Orpingtons have been way more laid back about all of this. I hope your integration goes more easily than mine.

 

[artsyrobin]

they will do that, which is why i don't integrate till they are closer in size- the older ones see them as interlopers, perfectly normal reaction, so work on the sectioned off area for a bit