She said/He said Who's right? Who's wrong? No one!

[scflock]

Ok, I have all kinds of chicken stories from the weekend.
I've had chickens for 7 years, and have never lost one to a snake until Saturday.

It was a 7 week old pullet, and at first I couldn't figure out what had happened. She was on the coop floor Saturday morning, and it looked like something had grabbed her from the neck up, but there were no feathers flung about, just wet and sticky from the shoulders up, and dry and fluffy from the shoulders down. That's too much to take in on a Saturday morning, and I was confused at first, and then I went "Ohhhhhhhh"... Obviously a snake had tried to eat her, got to the part that was too big to swallow, and regurgitated. I searched online for snake eating chicken, and after seeing pictures my suspicions were confirmed. I've put Snake Away around the coop and am in the process of filling any gaps, holes, or cracks. I figure it will either be back to try and find a smaller one, or wait until it's big enough to eat a pullet. There were 3 cockerels in that coop, too. If it was going to kill one, why not kill one of them?

Has anyone else noticed that when you search anything related to chickens, 95% of the hits are BYC threads?

 

[RubyNala97]

I've been meaning to buy one of those plug-in power-outage alarms...  something like this... $20   http://www.walmart.com/ip/Reliance-Controls-PowerOut-Power-Failure-Alarm-and-LED/15764587
If you are just sleeping, it should wake you up and you can plug in the generator!  I know that doesn't help if you are away from home, but for overnights, it could help.

Thank you! Didnt even know they existed! Buying one today!!

 

[scflock]

So here's my question of the day!: what kind of watering system does everyone use? Is the nipple system the way to go? Can anyone recommend one for me to buy?

I'm using gravity fed bell waterers and nipples. I started the nipples this year, and the older chickens don't take to then, but when I start the chicks on them they go to them quickly. I like the gravity fed bell waterers. The waterer itself looks just like a regular 3 gallon waterer, but it is connected to a hose that I can run outside of the pen and attach to a 5 gallon bucket mounted 5 feet high. Now I can fill all my waterers with a garden hose outside the pens, instead of carrying waterers in and out. It cut about 45 minutes out of my watering time

.
I still have to clean the waterers thenselves every other day, though. That's where the nipples are nice, they don't get dirty

Awww you are way too kind. 30 seems so long ago!

And its not quite my birthday yet... I'm holding off as long as possible!

Ok, no more references for a few weeks

 

[scflock]

My other big news from the weekend is the flock swap.
My polish haven't been selling, and I have debated advertising the adult breeding flock. A woman called Saturday from my polish chick ad and said that her 13 year old son had one polish hen that he was showing in 4H, and wanted to start breeding some. She wanted to know if I had any adults available. After talking with her and her son, I decided to offer them Damien and 6 hens for $100. That's very cheap for laying hens, but I was ready to move on, and felt good about selling a breeding flock to an interested young man. They said they wanted them. I have been wanting purebred Ameraucanas for a while, but didn't have the pen space. I had not seen any good ones on CL, so I decided to check out the Ameraucana Clubs website to see if there were any breeders reasonably close, and there was on an hour away! I called her, and she said that she had 17 three week old BBS chicks that she had not advertised yet. I offered her $100 for all of them, and she accepted. So after a full afternoon of chicken swapping, I am the proud new owner of a flock of purebred ameraucanas. The chicks were :8 blue, 7 black, and 2 splash

 

[sjturner79]

So I woke up to blinking clocks this morning. My worst fear, the power went out while I was sleeping! I went to bed at 12am up at 7am. Called the power company to ask how long my power was out. The lady says "you want to know how long the power was out while you were sleeping?" So I explained about my eggs and incubator and she was super nice and helpful then. Put me on hold and found out that they didnt do any work to get it back on so it probably was a quick off and on deal. I'll know for sure tonight when I candle. Fingers crossed!! Really thinking about starting a little piggy bank for a generator. But can you set up a generator to automatically go on when your power goes out or do you have to turn it on yourself?

You could also try a "ups" - uninterruptible power supply. They are designed for computers but most incubators would run for a couple of hours on one.

 

[cppeace]

So I woke up to blinking clocks this morning. My worst fear, the power went out while I was sleeping! I went to bed at 12am up at 7am. Called the power company to ask how long my power was out. The lady says "you want to know how long the power was out while you were sleeping?" So I explained about my eggs and incubator and she was super nice and helpful then. Put me on hold and found out that they didnt do any work to get it back on so it probably was a quick off and on deal. I'll know for sure tonight when I candle. Fingers crossed!! Really thinking about starting a little piggy bank for a generator. But can you set up a generator to automatically go on when your power goes out or do you have to turn it on yourself?

Even if it were out for several hours eggs take cool down way better than overheating. I'm betting 90% or more are absolutely fine.

 

[WVduckchick]

Ok, I have all kinds of chicken stories from the weekend.
I've had chickens for 7 years, and have never lost one to a snake until Saturday.

It was a 7 week old pullet, and at first I couldn't figure out what had happened. She was on the coop floor Saturday morning, and it looked like something had grabbed her from the neck up, but there were no feathers flung about, just wet and sticky from the shoulders up, and dry and fluffy from the shoulders down. That's too much to take in on a Saturday morning, and I was confused at first, and then I went "Ohhhhhhhh"... Obviously a snake had tried to eat her, got to the part that was too big to swallow, and regurgitated. I searched online for snake eating chicken, and after seeing pictures my suspicions were confirmed. I've put Snake Away around the coop and am in the process of filling any gaps, holes, or cracks. I figure it will either be back to try and find a smaller one, or wait until it's big enough to eat a pullet. There were 3 cockerels in that coop, too. If it was going to kill one, why not kill one of them?

Has anyone else noticed that when you search anything related to chickens, 95% of the hits are BYC threads?

OMG that's a gross thought. So sorry for your loss. I hope you find the culprit!

My other big news from the weekend is the flock swap.
My polish haven't been selling, and I have debated advertising the adult breeding flock. A woman called Saturday from my polish chick ad and said that her 13 year old son had one polish hen that he was showing in 4H, and wanted to start breeding some. She wanted to know if I had any adults available. After talking with her and her son, I decided to offer them Damien and 6 hens for $100. That's very cheap for laying hens, but I was ready to move on, and felt good about selling a breeding flock to an interested young man. They said they wanted them. I have been wanting purebred Ameraucanas for a while, but didn't have the pen space. I had not seen any good ones on CL, so I decided to check out the Ameraucana Clubs website to see if there were any breeders reasonably close, and there was on an hour away! I called her, and she said that she had 17 three week old BBS chicks that she had not advertised yet. I offered her $100 for all of them, and she accepted. So after a full afternoon of chicken swapping, I am the proud new owner of a flock of purebred ameraucanas. The chicks were :8 blue, 7 black, and 2 splash

Good deal! Where are the pics????? You know you have to share pics....

 

[WVduckchick]

You could also try a "ups" - uninterruptible power supply. They are designed for computers but most incubators would run for a couple of hours on one.

I have one of those on my computer. The incubator pulls pretty good wattage though. I've wondered how long it would run it. I'll have to try it out, now that by incubator is empty.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Really thinking about starting a little piggy bank for a generator. But can you set up a generator to automatically go on when your power goes out or do you have to turn it on yourself?

In 2012, when I built this house, I purchased a 15KVA (Whole Home) generator with an automatic transfer switch. It cost me C$5000, and another $1000 to have it installed. It should be much cheaper in the U.S., and you may not have to pay as much as I did to get it installed since my house was still being wired. Anyway, now I don't even know the power goes off anymore (I have Uninterruptable Power Supplies on all my electronics).

 

[NTBugtraq]

I'm not going back to find the post, but I read the one Friday where you talked some about all of your computer stuff. That's what I love about the internet. In my mind you sound like a chain smoking ornery old man out in the boonies, who falls apart trying to put the rails in a Brinsea.

. The whole time I'm messaging you, I'm thinking "Jeez, it's really not that difficult".

Lolz, but alas, I AM a chain smoking ornery old man out in the boonies...so always go with your gut...!!