Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[sharron]

Rough night. Can't get my act together. Something caused chaos in my main run. I have a cockerel with it's head ripped off, but body is still breathing. I want to put it out of it's misery, but can't figure out how. Any ideas? I don't want the grandsons to happen upon the massacre. I'm pretty upset.

just read this, sure hope you can figure out a way altho i don't think its in misery, no brain but so sorry for your troubles, hope you catch and kill whatever it was.

 

[chippysmom327]

Love this picture but Dang it! Someone has gone broody! And she has been an excellent layer. At least my other girls are starting to lay......

Penelope surely agrees with the hen in that picture.

Changing my avatar to this in a second:

 

[Blarneyeggs]

Rough night. Can't get my act together. Something caused chaos in my main run. I have a cockerel with it's head ripped off, but body is still breathing. I want to put it out of it's misery, but can't figure out how. Any ideas? I don't want the grandsons to happen upon the massacre. I'm pretty upset.

Large shears from the shed, the kind used on tree limbs, or a hatchet.
A large rock if need be, remember he has been traumatized, so make this as quick as possible.
Afterwards, go inside and have a drink, you earned it, unfortunately these things will happen and we need to do our part in not letting them suffer.


I would come over and do this for you if it wasn't so dang far away

Thanks, I know you'd help if you could. Without getting into details, he has been dispatched, it was quick. I keep finding injuries on the other birds, a blue Wyandotte, she's blue coted now and I think ok, a BLRW seems to be in shock, she's been scrubbed, antibiotic ointment applied and quarantined.

There were kids camping in our woods last night, my poor Bella was busy barking her head off at them all night (and keeping me up), I'm sure at some point, Bella was barking at the fuss in the coop and I didn't pay attention as I thought she was barking at the trespassers.I should have called the state police last night. Such an unfortunate coincidence. We will be flushing the predators tonight. I've never shot anything before, but am willing to try! Wish us luck.

Welcome California Transplant to Oxford! I'm not far from you at all, but am not familiar with the ordinances there.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Thinking of changing my fermented feed to all grains and top dressing that with a little dry 16% grower pellets..

One of the reasons that I can sell. My products at a lower cost is I use what I can to keep cost down...

I have corn (in the process of getting a hammer mill for this)
I have wheat
I have barley
Trying to figure a way to use the soybeans without the cost of somebody roasting them.
I have feeders of oyster shell hanging in all pens
All have dirt available, I believe they get some needed minerals from the dirt..even my quail gets pans of dirt and sand for this purpose.

I have these things at a small cost (no middleman to pay)..
How doable does this sound, without adding lots of other supplements..

I credit the soybeans for keeping my birds laying all winter long last year, but roasting pans of beans in my oven was a pain....it was the only thing I did differently last winter and I never got the winter time drop in eggs.

Is the roasting to prevent sprouting and spoilage in storage? You need to find an artist with a kiln!

 

[dheltzel]

Is the roasting to prevent sprouting and spoilage in storage? You need to find an artist with a kiln!

Roasting soybeans denatures some enzymes that can cause some nutritional deficiencies. I'm sure you can find more details if you are interested, but basically they do this for cows and I assume it is needed for chickens also.

 

[dheltzel]

That's a good idea! And I don't think it would be a fire hazard if you used something meant to be near animals. Like maybe a reptile tank heater (The kind you lay under it), or maybe a seed starter warming pad??. Something along those lines. I had wondered about maybe hanging a light above each nest, but, I wonder if that would be "annoying" to the hen trying to lay there *shrugs*

Please read the "fine print" on the warning labels. They are tested for certain uses and I'd hate to suggest something that causes as fire. There was at least one heater induced fire last winter that made the news, and all the birds were killed. Better to toss a few cracked eggs than have a fire. And you really only need it on the coldest days when you will not be able to check for eggs frequently.

 

[MamaFreeRange]

Please read the "fine print" on the warning labels. They are tested for certain uses and I'd hate to suggest something that causes as fire. There was at least one heater induced fire last winter that made the news, and all the birds were killed. Better to toss a few cracked eggs than have a fire. And you really only need it on the coldest days when you will not be able to check for eggs frequently.

I would totally read the fine print, if I owned any. I don't. Only curious. If all the vets on the forum say to keep chickens in -20F...then so be it. If I can keep 3 human children alive for years ...I'm pretty sure I can manage to keep a few chickens reasonably safe. I won't be applying hay (essentially; dry grass) next to or on top of any heat sources. I'll deal with frozen eggs and do the frying myself.

 

[dheltzel]

I would totally read the fine print, if I owned any. I don't. Only curious. If all the vets on the forum say to keep chickens in -20F...then so be it. If I can keep 3 human children alive for years ...I'm pretty sure I can manage to keep a few chickens reasonably safe. I won't be applying hay (essentially; dry grass) next to or on top of any heat sources. I'll deal with frozen eggs and do the frying myself.

It would be "niche" product, but I bet "nest warmers" would be a popular item. Maybe something like the "hot rocks" they use for lizards -- in fact, those might work a lot better than a pad. Just thinking out loud.

 

[stake]

I know there are multiple threads on BYC but I would like to get opinions from fellow Pennsylvanians. Should we insulate the new coop ? I would hate to waste the valuable inside coop space if it is not ncessary.

Not if your birds are winter hardy.....my two cents,,,(I did use some of the spray foam insulation in certain spots to cut the drafts....)

 

[stake]

Rough night. Can't get my act together. Something caused chaos in my main run. I have a cockerel with it's head ripped off, but body is still breathing. I want to put it out of it's misery, but can't figure out how. Any ideas? I don't want the grandsons to happen upon the massacre. I'm pretty upset.

B:

Sorry to hear....that awful....Hope is wasn't your Eng orp....use your .22...and I am assuming if it was a free range attack Bella would've kicked a bit of canine tucas...might try to figure out how the critter got in and got out of the pen(s).....my two cents....