Okies in the BYC The Original

[luvs2garden2000]

Plans for today..............Gotta get with "picky" Daughter #1 she is having Mom and I make her quilt for the babys room. I embroidered a bear for her to see if she "likes" it or not. 3 more months and Claire will be here. Our grandson's birthday is Sept 1st and he will be 6 and Claire is due Sept 1st.

What I WANT to do is build pens. That wont happen. I do have to move chicks around. Lynn said-------------the boss has spoken---------the chicks WILL be moved out of the bathtub TODAY!!!!!!

I am all for that but it sure makes it easy to feed and water them in the tub. But OHHHHHHHHHHHH the smell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No snakes today so far.....................Teach I AM NOT saving ANY snakes, you want them come and get them. I know they are dead but them just laying out there is still freaky................Lynn WILL be disposing of them TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Going well but a little slower than I had planned, I have to wait till next weekend or so to rough in the electrical and water, I was thinking a light and a spicket in each pen. I got the whole shell up and 2 pens complete, got 4 more to go maybe today I can get more done.

AL

 

[GracefulBantams]

I am left devastated after a racoon attack

I had a horrible surprise this morning..... 6 missing birds!
Most of my small laying flock - a black hen, a buff hen, an easter egger hen, and a buff brahma rooster.
And, my gorgeous Blue Silkie pair

Those Silkies didn't have a mean bone in their body, they were my sweetest little birds! They were also great quality...and expensive!
I am just so upset! How could I loose that many birds in one night

And I loved my Silkies

I searched our property and only found a ton of feathers.... no body parts, or injured birds.
They we drove around. The farthest away we found feathers was about 3 blocks - headed straight for the woods! But, those feathers were just from one of the laying hens... the Silkie feathers and all other feathers ended not 50 feet from our fence!!! Those birds (or their bodies

) have to be somewhere! Why did the feathers end there?!
I'll try looking around some more, but from the large piles of feathers I found, I really don't have any hope that a bird could live through that

My Silkies! Just gone!
I'm sorry, I don't know if that all made sence. I am still crying

 

[CleoChick]

Oh Grace, I am so sorry.
I had the same problem. First my husband's dogs, the cattle dog and the bird dog, killed around 20 hens, then I had a raccoon problem. Couldn't get the body out of the pen, but ate the breast and internal organs and left the carcass. I even lost 2 muscovy hens to the dirty sob.

My pens are pretty secure and I even have wire on the top. It crawled up on top and pulled the wire loose from the building and got in. Took me a few days to figure out what was going on. It was my favorite hens too. Dark Brahma, standard blue cochin, marans. We are putting tin on the runs so there is no openings to get in.
My latest tragedy was 2 mornings ago when I came down expecting to find a bunch of chicks in the incubator I was using as a hatcher and it had heated up so much that it killed all of my babies. There were 44 eggs in there and they were all due and ready to hatch. Naked necks, jersey giants and marans. It was going to be a great hatch. All gone. I am still sad.

 

[TJ's Na-Na]

Gees, guys, soooo sorry to hear about your bird losses.
The critters seem sooo much worse this year....probably
all this rain running them in out of the woods.

Even with these greenhouses - 2x12 bases - completely
enclosed in wire, then covered with visqueen and another
layer of heavy shade cloth - we still have to maintain hot
wires around the perimeter, and watch them constantly.
Doesn't help that 14-Mile Creek crosses this place.

As far as the broken blood feather, Bill says it will be fine,
just probably grow in crooked this go-round. After molting,
the next one should be fine.

Have a good one !

 

[GracefulBantams]

Quote:
The fence... I am not sure what it is called, but it is about 1" x 2" rectangles and 4 or 5 feet tall. The "egg flock" were in their coop, but the door was left wide open (because we have never had this problem before!). The Silkies were in a pen like this http://www.freewebs.com/gracefulbantams/chooseyourbird.htm but their nest box did not lock, so I think that was the "weak link".
The animal (or animalS) must have crawled over the fence, because there was no sign of digging anywhere!

 

[CleoChick]

Quote:
Thanks Grace. Mine were just layers, not show quality birds. I was attached to them, but I didn't have the monetary loss that you did.
I hope the string of bad stuff happening is over and we all have a wonderful rest of the year with our families and birds.

 

[TJ's Na-Na]

Grace - read your post to Bill. He says it's just now time for
the Momma Coons to be tending their young and wouldn't be
running in a pack like that. He feels sure it's a group of males
that would be running in groups this time of year.

Do you know anyone in the area that has coon dogs? See if
they could help you find the pack. Sounds like it would take
several live traps.

But, most importantly, once they have found a spot, THEY'LL
BE BACK ! Having taken that many, maybe not tonight, but
count on them tomorrow night.

Wish we were all closer. We could have a cook-out and then
a "silent, nightvision goggle, gun" party at Grace's.

 

[quenston]

So sorry to hear about the losses!!! The coons around our place have not been so bad the last couple of weeks but I am always on the look out. I have also found that sense I installed the motion detction lights that when they come on they were spooking the coons and they would run off so I dont know if that has something to do with it or not?

 

[muesky]

Quote:
There was a very nice mille de fleur rooster at the Blanchard auction last night. It sold for about $13 and then the hen it was with sold for about $8

The Lexington auction is Monday night. When are ya'll going home?

I might be going to the Lexington auction tonight. It is only about 17 miles from my place which is not that far. I will wear my POOPS shirt. The last time I went to the Evans auction they had a bunch of junk but I did buy some peafowl eggs that are developing nicely.

There is another auction just east of Noble on Tuesday nights. It is on 120th and McGuire. Which is just south of hwy 9 out by Lake Thunderbird. I have not gone in a few weeks because they do sell a lot of junk but I heard it is getting bigger.