Online Large Fowl Chat Thread

[CapricornFarm]

So I just started outside with a tray of eggs to set in the Bator. There is Queenie with three strange dogs! I put down the tray, got Queenie, stuck her in the garage. Went and got my gun. By then they were on their way down the road but I fired off a warning shot. I am certain that white one was one of the ones that ripped into my chicken tractor. There was a limping Shepherd and a Husky, plus that white pointer mix. Man I wish people would keep their dogs at home.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Ok so now I am really mad. Those blasted dogs had ripped into the Formica siding on the quail pen and ate all my quail! Ugh, I wrote a long post about it under predators and pests.
Today I finished the skirt around the perimeter of the new run, the inner layer of chicken wire on the run, and started working on the next project, creep feeder into chicken coop. I attached one piece of plywood and one piece of plexi to the latest coop project. The nearly completed project needs perches in the coop and run, feeder and waterer. Then the chickens move in. Yay!!!
So I pretty much decided to take queenie back to the former owners, she just won't stay home and escapes under the fence all the time. Bringing all those nasty mutts back with her really did it. I don't need more problems.
Those young bucklings were both in with the herd today. I caught them both and put them in another pasture, hopefully the won't escape from this one.
Tomorrow I need to buy more chicken feed, some hardware and a few groceries so a trip to town is on the agenda.

 

[Chicken Coach]

I'm so sorry to hear about quail. I have never had any luck with bringing home grown dogs, they always eat something, I spent all day running around,and when i got home my girls boy friend who was going to help bag up a 1200 pound box of feed for me told me he had to go home in the morning. So i went to get the tractor and my billy goat somehow turned the key on and ran the battery down( dead tractor] so after about 4 hours later after driving my truck over their and it wouldn't fit Thur the gate and a bunch of other things ,i finally jumped it and got it started. He is out their bagging it up right now---bless he's heart--

 

[CapricornFarm]

Hey Coach, I know I have to take the key out of the mule if the goats are around, they might steal it and I only have one. I used to have a small company that packaged pet feed. I weighed the stuff and sealed it with a heat sealer, then put on my "Mother Hen Farms" labels. We had a chain of pet stores in Canada and we sold a lot of feed.
My war with the mice continues. I have trapped three so far. Only 300 to go:-D I threw two in with the chickens and they were playing keep away, it was funny!
The Great Pyrenees I have is a good boy and I got him at a year of age. He never bothers the livestock, but he is kind of deaf . I saw a different dog in my front yard tonight. I don't know where Joel is, but I have Queenie tied up. I really wish DH would let me fence the front yard .
We are currently putting a new roof on the house in Florida, it is overdue. There goes a small fortune

 

[CapricornFarm]

Sorry double post.

 

[Chicken Coach]

I buy feed in 1200 pound box's and get 4 or 5 box's at a time. It's about half price as feed store feed and full of cereal, like fruit loops. The birds and animals love it also it is 16% protein. Mostly i leave it on the trailer and feed it one box at a time but we needed the trailer to move the antique furniture. I don't like bagging it up because the mice move in and the tops of the bag is open but they love to eat holes in the bottom corners out.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, the danged mice ate a hole in the dog food bag before I even opened it. They have plenty of spilled feed they could eat, but oh no, they have to chew a hole in the dog food bag, little buggers! My cat loves to go in the garage to watch the mice for entertainment , but I have never seen her catch one.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Finally, the coop is done except the board to hang the feeder from. I put the Silver Laced Wyandottes in there tonight. Now I can clean out their chicken tractor and put some young birds in there.
This thing with the dogs hanging around is getting old. We have shot at them three times and they keep coming back. Brain dead, I guess. I wish they would just stay away.
I just feel tired tonight. Strung some more barbed wire near the barn pasture. Put more wires holding the fence to the posts. Need to unload the truck. Still have feed and shavings to unload. Just washed the pots
Tomorrow is the sale, don't know how I am going to get the energy to get chickens into cages and into the truck. Then of course I can sit out there all night waiting for dogs to show up.yippee .

 

[CapricornFarm]

update... Just unloaded the truck. Put away the mule. Added a heat lamp to the chick brooder, it is getting cold out. I had strapped on my gun, and put one of those headlamps on. I walked down by Queenie and saw the shepherd in the pasture kitty corner to her. Then I realized that the PitBull was trapped by the drive gate, and I shot it until I ran out of bullets. It rolled around , and I headed for the house to get more bullets. By the time I got back down there, they were gone! So I went out to the road and saw a dribbling trail headed back to their home. I did get a glimpse of the shepherd, but it ran off in the woods. Hopefully that will be the end of that chicken killer.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Today I went to the sale at Scott's Hill. I sold all the chickens I took, prices were a bit better. And , if you can believe it, I didn't buy anything! It must be a record!
I started building the slanted roof for the creep feeder I am converting into a coop. Got it on, need to do the frame for wire on the floor. It is supposed to rain at some point tomorrow , I hope it is after dark. I need more tin for the roof.
Didn't see any dogs to shoot today, hoping they just stay the heck away from here.
Put the goats in the front pasture, so far they are staying there but one side doesn't have barbed wire , so it is just a matter of time.
Only in Tennessee , my neighbor has a spare shotgun to loan me. Excuse me, can I borrow a gun and a cup of shells?:-D