Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[LittleMissPurdy]

I will be picking the new girls up one by one, except for next week when I am away.

They wI'll have to make it when I am not there, hubby won't want to touchy tem lol.

they may get the hint of where to be after you put them in there...fingers are crossed for you

 

[My peeps]

I did make it. Thank you everyone! My son kept telling people she was molting when they commented on her feather loss. Lol.

 

[barbiegirl]

Ok everyone, I need help. Last night I lost my only Polish. Found her body on top of the coop half eaten. I couldn't reach her to examine her body and when hubby came home he took care of her. He said something ate her beak off. What predator would eat a chicken's beak off the face? I am so upset. I found a little hole in the netting over the run and we fixed the hole. The creature got into the run and out of the run while holding my Einstein.

Then when hubby came home he asked where Mojo was. I thought I saw her this morning but could be wrong. I guess the creature got Einstein and Mojo. Mojo was my pitbull in the back yard. She was my guinea hen. There is no evidence of feathers or a body that we saw of Mojo. I am beyond upset. Now I am left with 3 male guineas that are afraid of their own shadows.

We set up a have a heart trap by the run. I didn't see any foot prints around the runs. No holes tunnelled under the fences.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Ok everyone, I need help. Last night I lost my only Polish. Found her body on top of the coop half eaten. I couldn't reach her to examine her body and when hubby came home he took care of her. He said something ate her beak off. What predator would eat a chicken's beak off the face? I am so upset. I found a little hole in the netting over the run and we fixed the hole. The creature got into the run and out of the run while holding my Einstein.

Then when hubby came home he asked where Mojo was. I thought I saw her this morning but could be wrong. I guess the creature got Einstein and Mojo. Mojo was my pitbull in the back yard. She was my guinea hen. There is no evidence of feathers or a body that we saw of Mojo. I am beyond upset. Now I am left with 3 male guineas that are afraid of their own shadows.

We set up a have a heart trap by the run. I didn't see any foot prints around the runs. No holes tunnelled under the fences.

i am so sorry Barbie..that is awful! ..do you think maybe a rat or weasel..maybe a fisher or something along that line?

They don't need much room to move around..and they are powerful little things.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

barbiegirl-I'm so sorry for your losses it's such a hard thing to go through.

My peeps-that is the most adorable costume ever!

 

[barbiegirl]

What ever it was, it had to climb up and over the fence, go into the coop, climb out and climb up and over the fence and carry the chicken out with it. I'm still so upset. I hope the trap catches the little %$^$#^$&!!!! I miss her, she had so much personality. She was the smallest (banty) in with the large fowl and she ruled the roost. She was the boss and everyone knew it!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Baby update. Over the past week when I've had time to supervise, I've been letting Cloud take her babies out to free range while the rest of the flock is out. I've always been right there with her following then around. The youngest of them just turned 3 weeks old today well today, I decided to let them out, unsupervised. I was outside just not hovering or watching closely. She kept her babies semi-close and didn't stay too fast from the coop. Some of the adults came over and mingled with them with only a couple little pecks. Cloud did chase 2 of the girls away but I think that was only because they're lower flock members. I have pictures but not enough signal to post them. She even tried to take them into the main run but only about 4 of them made it in with her so she didn't keep them there (there's about a 1ft high lip under the door.) I'm very excited and thinking that she may integrate them into the main coop within a week or so. Maybe I'm being a bit ambitious but I feel better knowing that I don't need to stand there constantly watching anymore. Babies are growing fast and there are at least 2 obvious boys now.

In the coop, my BCM hen is broody. She's been sitting tight on her nest for 4 days so far. I gave her 4 eggs on Wednesday. I think we're going to risk letting her try to raise them right there in the coop. I'm afraid that they'll freeze if we seperate them into the other coop since it's not well put together and not insulated. What are your opinions on that?

 

[fisherlady]

Baby update. Over the past week when I've had time to supervise, I've been letting Cloud take her babies out to free range while the rest of the flock is out. I've always been right there with her following then around. The youngest of them just turned 3 weeks old today

well today, I decided to let them out, unsupervised. I was outside just not hovering or watching closely. She kept her babies semi-close and didn't stay too fast from the coop. Some of the adults came over and mingled with them with only a couple little pecks. Cloud did chase 2 of the girls away but I think that was only because they're lower flock members. I have pictures but not enough signal to post them. She even tried to take them into the main run but only about 4 of them made it in with her so she didn't keep them there (there's about a 1ft high lip under the door.) I'm very excited and thinking that she may integrate them into the main coop within a week or so. Maybe I'm being a bit ambitious but I feel better knowing that I don't need to stand there constantly watching anymore. Babies are growing fast and there are at least 2 obvious boys now.

In the coop, my BCM hen is broody. She's been sitting tight on her nest for 4 days so far. I gave her 4 eggs on Wednesday. I think we're going to risk letting her try to raise them right there in the coop. I'm afraid that they'll freeze if we seperate them into the other coop since it's not well put together and not insulated. What are your opinions on that?

We have most of ours in the main coop with the flock... but for the first few days we do give them a wire divider or similar barrier around their nest to allow the broody a short bit of peace while she teaches the little ones to follow her orders. We simply block off a corner of the coop floor so we can move the broody after she hatches. The broody likes being at floor level and it means we don't have to worry about the little ones falling out of the nest box and not being able to get back in.
If you feed them at a particular time you will want to set up an extra feeder to reduce the 'mad dash' chaos of the birds jockeying for position at the feeder.... the chicks are very vulnerable to accidental trampling the first couple of weeks.
Every flock and coop is different and we found trial and error is the only way to really figure out what works best, and some hens need different treatments.... I have some hens who are great on their own after day 2 and a couple of others who do better with a week...smaller and lower pecking order hens often need a bit more time so their chicks are more mobile, while an aggressive hen will make sure the flock moves around her and her chicks, not the other way around.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Ok everyone, I need help. Last night I lost my only Polish. Found her body on top of the coop half eaten. I couldn't reach her to examine her body and when hubby came home he took care of her. He said something ate her beak off. What predator would eat a chicken's beak off the face? I am so upset. I found a little hole in the netting over the run and we fixed the hole. The creature got into the run and out of the run while holding my Einstein.

Then when hubby came home he asked where Mojo was. I thought I saw her this morning but could be wrong.  I guess the creature got Einstein and Mojo. Mojo was my pitbull in the back yard. She was my guinea hen. There is no evidence of feathers or a body that we saw of Mojo. I am beyond upset. Now I am left with 3 male guineas that are afraid of their own shadows. We set up a have a heart trap by the run. I didn't see any foot prints around the runs. No holes tunnelled under the fences.

Baby update. Over the past week when I've had time to supervise, I've been letting Cloud take her babies out to free range while the rest of the flock is out. I've always been right there with her following then around. The youngest of them just turned 3 weeks old today well today, I decided to let them out, unsupervised. I was outside just not hovering or watching closely. She kept her babies semi-close and didn't stay too fast from the coop. Some of the adults came over and mingled with them with only a couple little pecks. Cloud did chase 2 of the girls away but I think that was only because they're lower flock members. I have pictures but not enough signal to post them. She even tried to take them into the main run but only about 4 of them made it in with her so she didn't keep them there (there's about a 1ft high lip under the door.) I'm very excited and thinking that she may integrate them into the main coop within a week or so. Maybe I'm being a bit ambitious but I feel better knowing that I don't need to stand there constantly watching anymore. Babies are growing fast and there are at least 2 obvious boys now.

In the coop, my BCM hen is broody. She's been sitting tight on her nest for 4 days so far. I gave her 4 eggs on Wednesday. I think we're going to risk letting her try to raise them right there in the coop. I'm afraid that they'll freeze if we seperate them into the other coop since it's not well put together and not insulated. What are your opinions on that?

I have no idea about th BCM, but I'm glad it is all going well!

We have most of ours in the main coop with the flock... but for the first few days we do give them a wire divider or similar barrier around their nest to allow the broody a short bit of peace while she teaches the little ones to follow her orders.  We simply block off a corner of the coop floor so we can move the broody after she hatches.  The broody likes being at floor level and it means we don't have to worry about the little ones falling out of the nest box and not being able to get back in.
If you feed them at a particular time you will want to set up an extra feeder to reduce the 'mad dash' chaos of the birds jockeying for position at the feeder.... the chicks are very vulnerable to accidental trampling the first couple of weeks. 
Every flock and coop is different and we found trial and error is the only way to really figure out what works best, and some hens need different treatments.... I have some hens who are great on their own after day 2 and a couple of others who do better with a week...smaller and lower pecking order hens often need a bit more time so their chicks are more mobile, while an aggressive hen will make sure the flock moves around her and her chicks, not the other way around.

Thanks for all the advice, I am storing it away for later. It's so wonderful to have help from seasoned chicken keepers.

 

[fisherlady]

Ok everyone, I need help. Last night I lost my only Polish. Found her body on top of the coop half eaten. I couldn't reach her to examine her body and when hubby came home he took care of her. He said something ate her beak off. What predator would eat a chicken's beak off the face? I am so upset. I found a little hole in the netting over the run and we fixed the hole. The creature got into the run and out of the run while holding my Einstein.

Then when hubby came home he asked where Mojo was. I thought I saw her this morning but could be wrong. I guess the creature got Einstein and Mojo. Mojo was my pitbull in the back yard. She was my guinea hen. There is no evidence of feathers or a body that we saw of Mojo. I am beyond upset. Now I am left with 3 male guineas that are afraid of their own shadows.

We set up a have a heart trap by the run. I didn't see any foot prints around the runs. No holes tunnelled under the fences.

There isn't much I can do to help... but I am so sorry this happened!

I do hope the trap works and you catch the culprit.