San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[CoastalChick]

Hey Cari-
I would be happy to attend & help pluck & whatnot on Sat. the 25th - let me know details.
Thanks,
Meredith

 

[All-American-Chick]

Works good for me



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[HatchingFever]

Hey the 25th is the day of the meet guys in norco

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

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Oops didn't know that, I'm not going so it doesn't affect me, but if it does anyone else we can switch days...?

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

The 25th works for me. What time were you thinking Cari?

If you do a potluck I can bring some tortilla roll ups. I'll bring my own drinks.

 

[perchie.girl]

I'm not going to Norco. So any day on a weekend is fine. I will bring something if its a potluck.

 

[dfdesigns]

I could do the 25th, too.

If we're processing chickens, shouldn't we be BBQing?

I can bring something edible.

Dana

 

[dfdesigns]

More predator saga:

I had some "paid professional" (as in my husband didn't do it) reno done to my coop and attached run lately... I've had the adults in the barn and the babies in the coop since the coyote attack. My husband thought that enough time had passed that hopefully the coyote wouldn't be lurking in the daylight, so in a moment of sympathy I let everybody out. Things were great, everybody was thrilled and taking long, luxurious dirt baths. Bliss.

At 5pm, we had to run over to my parent's house. We were back home by 6:30. One baby is walking aimlessly in the driveway, and the adults are hyper in the barn. A quick headcount confirms the worst: two babies are gone. (One cockerel but very pretty EE mutt, and one Ameraucana.). I am SO mad at myself, and figure that we have a very persistent coyote.

Fast forward to yesterday. After a very emotional/wonderful weekend of having my eldest son home for high school graduation, we had a nice chance for outdoor time. My husband agreed to stand outside with me (with a gun) so we could let the adults out for awhile. (I kept the babies on lockdown.) Not a half-hour into this experiment, a hawk comes from out of nowhere and almost grabs my gold laced Polish. Ahhhhh! It's not alone; they are obviously nesting in my neighbor's huge (oak?) tree. Ugh. They are persistent even with two of us standing there. I bribe the chickens with some watermelon, and get them back in the barn. I now know exactly what happened to my two babies... yes, it's better than a coyote in the yard, but not even a livestock protection dog could have stopped a hawk attack.

This morning I turned the horses out, and was greeted with the two hunting hawks and a turkey vulture. WTH? I've never had a problem with birds before. We do have a owl family that lives here (in their owl box), but they don't hunt until well past the chickens' bedtime. I'm sure they are hunting for their chicks now.

WANTED: clean-faced Ameraucanas! I know some of you are breeding to the APA standards... I am not breeding, and am in this strictly for the eggs. If you end up with clean-faced Ameraucana hens of any color and don't want them, please consider letting me know. I actually prefer the looks of the clean-faced birds.

I'm written a book - sorry!

Dana

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

Wow, Dana, that's really bad luck. I made a really inexpensive run out of PVC and plastic chicken wire with shade cloth cover for my babies to run in. It won't stop a coyote, but keeps the hawks out. Its lightweight and easy to move around the yard too.

 

[craftychicken]

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Oh man, that is terrible! At least you know what you are dealing with now and what to look out for.

We made a play pen just like what Sunny described when we first brought our babies outside. It worked great. Now we use it to protect our budding veggie garden from the curious chickens.

hang in there

ps. here's a photo. we covered it with netting, secured with zip ties. its about 3x5 feet