Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[Blarneyeggs]

I manually close my doors each night. And collect the water containers so they don't freeze, and put the food away so we don't get rats.

So my son broke his arm playing hockey. We are having the oddest year medically, I really don't believe in 'bad luck' or bad ju ju. But I could use a break from all this negative stuff. My son seems fine, smiling away as they wrapped him up, no tears. He's quite a trooper.

Wish I was here:

 

[fisherlady]

I manually close my doors each night. And collect the water containers so they don't freeze, and put the food away so we don't get rats.

So my son broke his arm playing hockey. We are having the oddest year medically, I really don't believe in 'bad luck' or bad ju ju. But I could use a break from all this negative stuff. My son seems fine, smiling away as they wrapped him up, no tears. He's quite a trooper.

Wish I was here:

Wow... that does suck, but glad he is being a trooper through it! I'm sure you will be very, very ready to see the New Year this time around!
and yep, the fun in the sun and sand is a nice thought.

 

[troyer]

I haven't tried these, but for $45, if you can spare it, seems like a good deal. It's rowdy out there. My neighbor texted me to let me know her hubby saw the fox creeping last night. She also said her friend about 20 minutes away had her flock wiped out (10+ chickens) the night before. My mailman said today his friend in the next town over put out a trap and caught 6 foxes (in pretty developed suburbia). Glad my girls are locked up until I let them out.

Do you guys manually close your doors every night?

We open and close our coops manually every day.

 

[wingstone]

Has anyone tried the Night-gard predator lights?  They are normally about $20 each, but Jeffers has a 4 pack for sale Wednesday for $45. Don't want to get them if they are a waste of money though.

I haven't tried these, but for $45, if you can spare it, seems like a good deal. It's rowdy out there. My neighbor texted me to let me know her hubby saw the fox creeping last night. She also said her friend about 20 minutes away had her flock wiped out (10+ chickens) the night before. My mailman said today his friend in the next town over put out a trap and caught 6 foxes (in pretty developed suburbia). Glad my girls are locked up until I let them out.

Do you guys manually close your doors every night?

Actually suburbia is a perfect place for a fox t hang out, all kinds of easy food for them and less natural predators for them, dogs are often fenced in and guns can not be used.... I would say you got a smart fox

 

[dheltzel]

hello all-----i have a few questions for this group

1. pumpkins...........lets say you have a pumpkin that is a bit tough in its flesh................I have found the gals dont peck at the pumpkin flesh much then............they eat the seeds and all

here is the question...........have you ever cooked or steamed the pumpkin for your chickens? would that help make it more edible/ appetizing?

2. Christmas presents for chickens? Do you all give your chickens anything special over the holidays? I am thinking a few more raisin treats etc................or other goodies -----within reason---but to supplement their everyday pellets.............

curious what you all might do, if anything?

I let the pumpkins freeze and thaw, then they are soft and the birds eat them. This is as unintentional as it sounds and I really am that lazy

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Wow that's scary! I manually open and close my pop doors every morning and evening which really stinks right now wit the cold (i don't handle cold well AT ALL) but I feel better about doing it that way. I saw a hawk fly into our yard a coyote weeks ago worth everyone out (babies were only 4 weeks old).I was SO thankful that my roo was on guard. He signed the alarm and everyone hid until it left. We've seen numerous foxes up and down the road from us and a neighbor said he saw a coyote run through his yard but never in our yard......yet (fingers crossed).

Sounds like you have a good roo! That is spooky, to see a coyote near by, particularly with small children and dogs too.

I manually close my doors each night. And collect the water containers so they don't freeze, and put the food away so we don't get rats.

So my son broke his arm playing hockey. We are having the oddest year medically, I really don't believe in 'bad luck' or bad ju ju. But I could use a break from all this negative stuff. My son seems fine, smiling away as they wrapped him up, no tears. He's quite a trooper.

Wish I was here:


]

I'm glad he wasn't seriously injured. I know this may sound terrible, but i think it's a good thing for a boy to break a bone by the time they're an adult. That means they are active, having fun, and being a male.

   We open and close our coops manually every day.

Actually suburbia is a perfect place for a fox t hang out, all kinds of easy food for them and less natural predators for them, dogs are often fenced in and guns can not be used.... I would say you got a smart fox

Ugh, well at least I can keep a close eye on my girls in the morning.

Glad I'm not the only one tied to my home for the task of putting the chickens "to bed". On that note, I still have to take my Silkie from snuggling up against the back door and put her (him?) in the coop every night.

 

[hendricks115]

UGH, having coyote problems. Twice in the past 2 weeks they have tried breaking into the coop. The coop suffered some damage but everyone inside is ok. We've put a second layer of fencing around and over the run. Of course, the days we have to do repairs it has been raining and freezing. Hubby is putting his game camera outside to try and see how many are showing up. I just order some leg traps on Amazon. We hear them every night and I've seen them during the day in our lower field. I've started carrying a pistol when I go out to feed and water during the day. I'm at a loss for what else to do, any ideas?
.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Argh. Midnight is NOT a good mother. I'll be breaking her anytime she goes broody again. Her babies are 3 weeks old today and I've been watching her close for the past week or so. I though maybe she wasn't taking them to scratch and dig because of it being cold out which was understandable but today, it's fairly nice, the sun is shining and they're staying out from under her and she's not really teaching them anything. I decided to give her a chance at getting them out for a while and opened her run for the first time. She just looked and didn't come out (at least she didn't abandon them!). Well, one of my 9 week old adventurers went in to "explore" the food dish. Midnight walked over, only because one of her curious babies walked over. She started to eat a little bit and just looked at this intruder wierd and after a few minutes pecked her about as hard as a gentle tasso on the shoulder. Being used to the other hens, my 9 week old ran out anyway. 5 minutes later, Cloud goes in with 5 of the 9 week Olds with her and started eating the food. Midnight looked at Cloud and Cloud chased her away..... twice! Midnight just ran, practically stepping on her babies. She didn't even really try to defend them, just stood near them. I even saw my lowest pecking order hen picking on her through the door earlier. I ended up Chasing Cloud and her crew out and shutting the door back up.i wanted to move Midnight and her babies to the main coop next week but if she's so unmotherly, I won't be able to do that. I even went so far as to see if Cloud would accept her babies (I know that was a stretch). Nope, she had no ingest in them at all and still trends to get own. Some of which are add big as her already. At least in learning for the future who makes a good mom.

 

[fisherlady]

Argh. Midnight is NOT a good mother. I'll be breaking her anytime she goes broody again. Her babies are 3 weeks old today and I've been watching her close for the past week or so. I though maybe she wasn't taking them to scratch and dig because of it being cold out which was understandable but today, it's fairly nice, the sun is shining and they're staying out from under her and she's not really teaching them anything. I decided to give her a chance at getting them out for a while and opened her run for the first time. She just looked and didn't come out (at least she didn't abandon them!). Well, one of my 9 week old adventurers went in to "explore" the food dish. Midnight walked over, only because one of her curious babies walked over. She started to eat a little bit and just looked at this intruder wierd and after a few minutes pecked her about as hard as a gentle tasso on the shoulder. Being used to the other hens, my 9 week old ran out anyway. 5 minutes later, Cloud goes in with 5 of the 9 week Olds with her and started eating the food. Midnight looked at Cloud and Cloud chased her away..... twice! Midnight just ran, practically stepping on her babies. She didn't even really try to defend them, just stood near them. I even saw my lowest pecking order hen picking on her through the door earlier. I ended up Chasing Cloud and her crew out and shutting the door back up.i wanted to move Midnight and her babies to the main coop next week but if she's so unmotherly, I won't be able to do that. I even went so far as to see if Cloud would accept her babies (I know that was a stretch). Nope, she had no ingest in them at all and still trends to get own. Some of which are add big as her already. At least in learning for the future who makes a good mom.

It is sad but true that all hens don't make good broodies.... I have found that lower pecking order birds still tend to be easier to intimidate if you have a flock with stronger personality hens. We have 3 hens similar to this now. 2 of them are still good broodies, though they tend to avoid many of the bigger hens they will sometimes surprise us and turn into little lionesses and they did well with teaching their little ones, the 3rd (her name is Jo) tends to not do as well and eventually she allowed another hen to do more mothering of her chicks than she did herself. Jo is now broody again, but I won't let her set on eggs until I know at least one or two other hens are broody at the same time.. this will give me a chance to let her try again but I know if she fails to be the mother I want her to be I will have the other broody to pick up the slack. Thankfully it looks like I have 2 more Silver Pencil Rocks and one other barnyard mix who are in the mood to set now also, so I may have to gather eggs soon. I guess if the weather sucks the hens figure setting on eggs seems like a good way to pass the time!?!? They need to check the calendar!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

It is sad but true that all hens don't make good broodies....  I have found that lower pecking order birds still tend to be easier to intimidate if you have a flock with stronger personality hens. We have 3 hens similar to this now.  2 of them are still good broodies, though they tend to avoid many of the bigger hens they will sometimes surprise us and turn into little lionesses and they did well with teaching their little ones, the 3rd (her name is Jo) tends to not do as well and eventually she allowed another hen to do more mothering of her chicks than she did herself.  Jo is now broody again, but I won't let her set on eggs until I know at least one or two other hens are broody at the same time.. this will give me a chance to let her try again but I know if she fails to be the mother I want her to be I will have the other broody to pick up the slack. Thankfully it looks like I have 2 more Silver Pencil Rocks and one other barnyard mix who are in the mood to set now also, so I may have to gather eggs soon.  I guess if the weather sucks the hens figure setting on eggs seems like a good way to pass the time!?!?  They need to check the calendar! 

the sad thing is, before Midnight went broody, she was one of the higher ranking hens and was quite the raging ball of hormones (to the other chickens) while she was sitting on the eggs. Now she's a wimpy push over. When Cloud went broody, she was a lower ranking girl, but now everyone respects her and gives her room lol