Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BullChick]

Meat Loaf was never a day long crower, but I knew he was there. I still hear Meat Loaf a little (3-6 crows) if I’m awake around five, but otherwise it’s been a silent yard for about two months. I keep forgetting to check fertility, and yes, I have a cockerel too. He’s possibly the reason if ML is shy, but he’s so tiny still.
Anyway, none of the quail eggs were fertile this summer, and they aren’t crowing either. Is it just a funky year?

 

[TillyPeeps]

She has just one tail feather that quivers when the wind blows.
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I need to take a picture of Blue Bear. She has no tail! And the neck feathers are short.

 

[TillyPeeps]

It stinks that it's starting to cool off for the year. Typically, what i do for lice is dip them in a warm dip with 3oz permethrin liquid in 5 gallons of water. It kills any bugs on them and protects them for about a month at least. Recently, I found mites and buckled down and bought elector psp (ouch!) But haven't seen anymore since.



It's molt season... check out poor Duchess!! Shes not a happy camper right now!

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Elector psp is really expensive. I have captain Jack bug spray, which is less concentrated but the same thing. But I just feel it's too cold to get them wet. It took me 1 hour to blow Henny dry, because she only allow me to use low heat of me hair drier. I never thought about dip them in water. That's a great idea! I'll definitely do it during summer. I will dust them now to see if that works.

 

[fisherlady]

Meat Loaf was never a day long crower, but I knew he was there. I still hear Meat Loaf a little (3-6 crows) if I’m awake around five, but otherwise it’s been a silent yard for about two months. I keep forgetting to check fertility, and yes, I have a cockerel too. He’s possibly the reason if ML is shy, but he’s so tiny still.
Anyway, none of the quail eggs were fertile this summer, and they aren’t crowing either. Is it just a funky year?

Seems like we had a 2 boys to 1 girl ratio on our hatches this year, will have to do a big butcher run in a few weeks. The hens must not be happy with the lead roos and producing a big group of new cockerels as a replacement plan, lol

We currently have 8 hens with new chicks, 2 more with 5-8 week olds they are still tending. Those without chicks are molting, and a few with chicks are starting to molt too...poor girls.

 

[feliciadawn]

So I am pretty sure the fox came back. I was inside, and heard them alarm calling. When I got out, my olive egger was on the roof of the coop, two were honking frantically on the ground, and my tiny crested legbar was missing. She turned out to have flown the fence and she was in the neighbor's yard. No one has ever flown the fence before. I didn't see the fox, and I don't know if he got in the pen, or if he just tried to get through the previous fence hole and found it sealed. Also possible is he got in, got a shock, and went on his way. Once again this was in the afternoon (1 pm.)

 

[Blarneyeggs]

So these are my littles...people have been warning me not to get guinneas, but my youngest DD3 has been asking for years, so we did it. Up until this morning, I have not noticed any issues with how loud they are, granted, they are still quite young. This morning I heard their horrendous cries, I ran outside not even sure what the noise was, all chooks were hidden under bushes and such. As I made my way across the deck, I saw an ENORMOUS pile of bird feces. It was way too big to have been from my chickens, and was fresh. So.... I concluded Guinneas ~1 Hawks ~0

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Very sad to say a predator (I think an opossum) killed my polish chicken Fromkin today. I was outside right after it happened, and saw the predator. It was so ugly -- I assume a mangey opossum. I have never seen an opossum up close -- i thought at first it looked like a hyaena. How do I kill it? I still have Fromkin's body (since I interrupted things.). Unfortunately I don't have a big enough trap for it. So sad...

Feliciadawn, sorry to hear about your Polish. I had been looking for some Polish since late spring. I found some on line at Ideal Poultry in Texas. All Polish and Guinneas arrived happy and healthy in late August. Although....I suspect that I may have all males in the Polish category

 

[fisherlady]

Glad the guinea did their (watchdog) job. Good idea to have a protection animal/bird with polish and silkies since their topknot often causes difficulty with vision, especially range of vision above them.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

@fisherlady I agree! The Polish are especially vulnerable, but from what I understand, the Guinneas will eventually stop coming to the coop for protection and will roost in nearby trees and be vulnerable to predators. We shall see.

 

[dheltzel]

@fisherlady I agree! The Polish are especially vulnerable, but from what I understand, the Guinneas will eventually stop coming to the coop for protection and will roost in nearby trees and be vulnerable to predators. We shall see.

Our guineas roost in the very top rafters of a tall shed, but years ago a group decided a large spruce tree in the yard was adequate. That lasted until "the blizzard" with like 3 ft of blowing snow. They were in the tall shed the next evening and never even fly up into the spruce anymore.
They aren't the brightest bulb in the box, but they are capable of learning from their mistakes.