San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[Knock Kneed Hen]

What a night.

I wake up @ 0300 this morning to chickens screaming and running into my chain link gate that leads from the back yard to front yard. My son forgot to close up the coop last night. So i go out start picking up all the girls , bring them back to the coop 2 at a time. I get back there to see an Opossum staring at my from their roost... S.O.B. 

Got rid of the critter and a 2 hour chicken hunt started... let me tell ya lots of fun looking in all the hiding spots on the property. Found all but one. Wake up this morning to let them out and there was the missing one walking around the yard looking for her sisters.

TRAVESTY AVERTED !!!
Thank goodness, my daughter would have been devastated.

Wow, that was a close one!! Glad for a happy outcome.

 

[oddbirdranch]

I recently had a predator incident too. Heard my dog freaking out at 3 am and went out back to see what the commotion was. I came face to face with a raccoon on top of the corner of my fence. It just sat there and looked at me and my dog barking without any sign of fear (my dog is a chihuahua). I was caught off guard and sleepy, so I grabbed a nearby 2x4 without thinking, swung it like a bat and conked it on the head! I knocked it off the fence after a loud "doink" to it's head and it made a horribly angry growling noise, I thought for sure it was going to jump back up and go for my face...LOL
It didn't so I climbed to look over the fence to see if I scared it off and saw it's bright shiny eyes in the tree along with 6 more pairs!! I went and woke my daughter and we threw rocks until they all left. That was a long night - I really need to get a gun or something.

 

[cracking up]

We saw our first possum last week. All the girls were locked up except one that is setting under our bedroom window. None of the eggs were good and we've been thinking of taking them away from her. I heard her cluck and run at 3:00am, shined the light and thought my cat was eating her eggs. She was in the middle of the walk and I had to get my husband up to help me catch her. I went back to get a better look to figure out why my cat suddenly turned into a chicken egg eater and saw the teeth and snout and ratty tail of the possum. At least now the chicken goes into the coop at night and I sleep better.

 

[RyeRanch]

Anyone interested in a 15 week old cream legbar cockerel? He free ranges in my yard and has been fed on organic feed since hatch. PM me.

 

[4beatgaits]

Do any of you guys in San Diego or environs caponize your cockerels? I would love to learn how.
Bonnie

 

[Phage]

I have always wondered... why in general do people caponize chickens?

I had a friend who did because her pet roo was crowing and she would have to give him up if he crowed due to neighbors.

 

[desertdarlene]

Wow, out of control. You should set up a hidden camera and see who does this. I bet all the pekins lately probably came from the same place.

I think the city would have to do that. I didn't go over to that spot today, but I could see them from across the lake. I think the black and white one in the back might be gone now. I am doing an "official" bird count there next week or the week after, so I should see, exactly, how many domestics are there. Last time, I think I counted 31, including resident flying domestics. There should be at least 40 or 50 now.

I know at Chollas Lake, which has nearly all domestic ducks, I counted about 50 or 60 with about 30 domestic geese there about six months ago. But, Chollas is more of a park and not a reservoir, so the staff looks out for the animals there and have worked out a way to provide some food for them.

 

[perchie.girl]

Do any of you guys in San Diego or environs caponize your cockerels? I would love to learn how.
Bonnie

I have always wondered... why in general do people caponize chickens?

I had a friend who did because her pet roo was crowing and she would have to give him up if he crowed due to neighbors.

Caponizing is done to make the rooster grow bigger heavier. But with the development of Meaties I suspect that it isnt done as much any more. Its also supposed to make them less aggressive.

deb

 

[aaajjss1]

I have a book that talks about caponizing its called the small scale chicken flock, it doesn't have really detailed instructions but you could at least learn more about it. I know that you have to cut into their abdomen, unfortunately they don't have hanging testicles that you could just whack off. I am sure if you google it you could probably find instructions somewhere. Good luck let us know how it works out

 

[mrsbrcant]

I got curious and googled it. There is a backyard chickens post on it complete with pictures showing being done.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/210041/how-to-caponize-a-rooster-warning-graphic-pics