Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BirdbyGavin1103]

I ended up starting Marion (the BCM) and the tetra on the Tylan 50 this morning. Marion's swelling has spread to the other side of her face (although her other eye has not started to puss), the tetra does not have any further swelling, but I figured I'd start both to be safe. They still do not have any nasal discharge of any sort, nor do they sound raspy or congested. They are also getting the save-a-chick electrolytes in their water, and I've moistened their food with the mixture instead of their normal fermented feed. Any other suggestions to make them more comfortable, or to help with healing, would be appreciated.

 

[nbenevento]

had a bad scare this morning, around four a chicken started "screaming" right under my bedroom window, husband jumped up and ran outside, finally came back, said he didn't see anything. i have two hens and a roo running free, all the rest are penned up and locked up at night, anyway, went back to bed and around four thirty , again, the screaming, i thought, there goes the second hen, we went outside with a flashlight this time and all i could find was the roo, hens gone, this morning told my dh set the trap out under the tree where they roost tonight and maybe we can catch the critter, probably a coon, anyway, i went out to check just in case the hens got lucky and got away, GUESS WHAT, THEY DID, the one hen looks like she was in a heck of a fight, lost alot of feathers, but alive, little brown hen just lost some tail feathers. so i'm guessing a young inexperience coon, tonight, whether they like it or not, the three will be locked up and hopefully we can catch the would be killer.

I have had raccoons coming around every night for a month or two. I kept setting one of those live cage traps but it never works. Sometimes if I use sardines, they actually go in, eat the sardines and leave without ever setting the trap off. I just got some of those hand traps and set it for the first time last night. By 10:00 last night I had one. Those things are awesome! I actually got two of them but only set the one, being unsure if it would work. I will be setting them both tonight! I free range my chickens during the day but they all go in the coop and run at night and I lock them in. I am feeling much better about my odds against these things now!

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

had a bad scare this morning, around four a chicken started "screaming" right under my bedroom window, husband jumped up and ran outside, finally came back, said he didn't see anything. i have two hens and a roo running free, all the rest are penned up and locked up at night, anyway, went back to bed and around four thirty , again, the screaming, i thought, there goes the second hen, we went outside with a flashlight this time and all i could find was the roo, hens gone, this morning told my dh set the trap out under the tree where they roost tonight and maybe we can catch the critter, probably a coon, anyway, i went out to check just in case the hens got lucky and got away, GUESS WHAT, THEY DID, the one hen looks like she was in a heck of a fight, lost alot of feathers, but alive, little brown hen just lost some tail feathers. so i'm guessing a young inexperience coon, tonight, whether they like it or not, the three will be locked up and hopefully we can catch the would be killer.

Hopefully ya catch it, I'll cross my fingers for ya. I know what I'd do with it if I caught one, but we've shot several coons that have tested positive for rabies. I hate them and have no qualms admitting I intentionally run over them and possums.

 

[fisherlady]

everyone raises chickens for their own reasons. The reason I say this is because Bruce really got me thinking. A lot of people where I work actually call me the crazy chicken lady although I only have a small backyard flock of 11. I have come to realize that a lot of people have a huge disconnect of where their food comes from. We eat mostly venison that we process ourselves. I got chickens just to have fresh eggs from chickens that aren't pumped full of hormones or live in those horrible conditions that they do. A lot of people need to realize what is really happening to these animals and it's not just chickens. I guess what it really boils down to it its the out of sight out of mind thinking. I would sooner raise and process my own food then to support big business and the cruelty of animals. some people laugh when I say that I would love to save all of the animals in the world. Reality is I can't, but I can work to give my animals the best quality of life I can. Call me crazy but thats how I feel.

I totally get this. I got my chickens because years ago, I read about how chickens could help you in your garden. I immediately wanted chickens, funny...I don't even have a garden now...But the thought stuck. When I talked to DH about it, step-daughter and her 5 children were living with us That meant 8 mouths to feed. We went through 2-3 dozen eggs per week...easily. The more I researched, the more I realized that this would help us with our more natural/healthy eating life that we were trying to teach the kids.

2 funny stories about people's disconnect with food.
My sister was getting married, and her husband is lactose intolerant. So she was calling the bakery that the wedding location uses to ensure that they could do a DAIRY FREE cake. The woman on the other end told her she didn't think that was possible, as all cakes require eggs.....ummm....yeah. My sister's response was "As long as you can find chicken eggs and not cow eggs, it'll be ok" She then called the wedding location and told them she'd be using a different bakery.

My mom and I were discussing raw milk. DH and I have gone to using raw milk, and my mother had apparently never even heard of it. As I explained the difference between my milk and hers...I could literally hear her disconnecting. I finally laughed and said "you believe the milk magically appears in the store behind the cooler section, don't you?" Yup. Love my mom...but she doesn't want to think about where her food comes from.

There are a lot of us who have gone through this same thought process in our journey into chicken keeping. It starts with the desire to have healthier eggs, then it is 'what to do with the extra birds/roos?' situation, then the desire to raise some for your own meat instead of getting it at a store... Basically if we weren't raised around it we tend to have quite the mental journey finding our way back to a more 'home farming' oriented approach to food.
Many of these experiences and opinions are spoken of in the thread Sally started a couple of months ago... her 'processing day support' thread really seemed to help folks who were deciding what they wanted to do or wanted to try. It is certainly worth the time to read through much of it if you are debating how to handle extra roos or raising meat for yourself. The link is in her signature I think.

got the link... it is in her signature
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ort-group-help-us-through-the-emotions-please

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

I have had raccoons coming around every night for a month or two. I kept setting one of those live cage traps but it never works. Sometimes if I use sardines, they actually go in, eat the sardines and leave without ever setting the trap off. I just got some of those hand traps and set it for the first time last night. By 10:00 last night I had one. Those things are awesome! I actually got two of them but only set the one, being unsure if it would work. I will be setting them both tonight! I free range my chickens during the day but they all go in the coop and run at night and I lock them in. I am feeling much better about my odds against these things now!

Where did you get the hand traps? I haven't seen any around, but want to get some.

 

[wingstone]

 

[tweetr1979]

Morning all!!

 

[nbenevento]

Where did you get the hand traps? I haven't seen any around, but want to get some. 

I ordered them From Amazon. They are pretty cheap. I think they were around $10 or $12 each. They work SO MUCH BETTER. Than the cage traps. At least for me they did. Just be forewarned, the coons don't seem to enjoy being trapped in it and for whatever reason, they won't just hold still for you to get an easy shot. Lol

 

[fisherlady]

had a bad scare this morning, around four a chicken started "screaming" right under my bedroom window, husband jumped up and ran outside, finally came back, said he didn't see anything. i have two hens and a roo running free, all the rest are penned up and locked up at night, anyway, went back to bed and around four thirty , again, the screaming, i thought, there goes the second hen, we went outside with a flashlight this time and all i could find was the roo, hens gone, this morning told my dh set the trap out under the tree where they roost tonight and maybe we can catch the critter, probably a coon, anyway, i went out to check just in case the hens got lucky and got away, GUESS WHAT, THEY DID, the one hen looks like she was in a heck of a fight, lost alot of feathers, but alive, little brown hen just lost some tail feathers. so i'm guessing a young inexperience coon, tonight, whether they like it or not, the three will be locked up and hopefully we can catch the would be killer.

Glad your hens made it through without more extensive injuries! I hate that feeling you get when you hear something like that. Mindy is usually first out the door any time we hear a bird making funny noises, she hasn't had to take care of any coons yet (thankfully) but she did catch and do in a possum last week. Hoping Dillon follows her lead as he gets older!
Good luck catching the culprit tonight!

 

[patrickschick]