Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Chaneys Ranch]

Sully, I think it's best to wait until the chicks and the older birds are close to being the same size when you put them together. There are recommended ways of introducing newbies to a flock, but that can wait for now. As for getting them to go where you want, my girls coming running from any part of the yard when I call them. They, of course, are expecting treats, which they usually get. Lot of times, I don't even have to call. They see me and come charging up. Good thing I don't have hungry-hen-o-phobia, because it can be a little scary sometimes! After being in the coop for a few days, they will consider that home and return on their own before dark. Let them out an hour before dark for the first time so you can watch how they do. You might even find that they are a little leery of leaving the coop, the big chickens!

jchny, glad to hear from you! Mowing season is over for us already, but sounds like a pretty easy predator deterrent. Hope it works and you don't have any more losses. Yesterday I saw a little gray fox just down the street, coming out of the yard of some neighbors that have chickens. I have to ask if they've lost any. Those fox don't look big enough to carry off a large chicken, but I sure don't want to test it out with my girls.

AL, sounds like there was some stiff competition. It must have been a lot of fun for you. Are you going to compete again next year?

SBM, nice looking eggs! We've been up and down this spring, what with girls going broody and now I have 2 girls laying either thin shells in the nest (that get broken and make a big mess) or completely without a shell that are laid on the roost and bring the ants if I don't get it cleaned up first thing. Trying different things to solve the problem, but no luck yet.

cheeka

No Mylee this week? Rats. But she's coming back.

How much longer is her stay?

MC, what's your total chicken count now? Are you still hatching eggs? Just wondering how bad a case of chicken math you've got!

OK, hope everything's okay! Were we right about the sex of the chicks? Gonna get some time off soon?

Sally, how's it going? Hope your chickens are doing better?

Hi W4W it is an impressive thing to witness but sure makes you feel helpless. I felt mortified knowing I failed to protect them, and angry that the fox was so BRAVE. I found the lil rooster it had taken but it didn't survive the attack. I guess the worst, and most painful was my 2 little brown geese. Hope and Ivy were so sweet and gentle. My birds are not very happy but they get a lot less free range time now. I am changing all the coops to keep them safe. There just won't be as much freedom as they were accustomed to have.

 

[cheeka]

AL, Congratulations! sounds like you had a great time and must have learned lots!

JCH, good to hear from you! glad you've gotten DH to mow... those fox really are brave, sneaky... my tall stuff is way far at the edges of the perimeter, far from where the chickens are allowed to wander. there is more tall stuff near where they hang so they can scoot if a hawk is above... keep that sickle handy... when he sees you carry it out, he'll know to mow...
I need an eggs for sale sign too. I want an egg, and not just an oval cut from plywood... I want to carve a big block. the oddest sign I've seen... I always mean to take a picture... it reads Farm Fresh Eggs For Sale on the top, and the bottom has a reversible sign that reads "Prepare to meet Thy God" on one side and "Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out" on the other. gives me the creeps. the worst are the ones done on cardboard... sloppy Eggs For Sale, all crooked and ill fitting...

SBMom, really nice eggs! you must be quite psyched!

x2 with W4W, Sally... how's it going? it's supposed to be dryer today and through the weekend, hope it helps give you a chance to spend some quality time with the flock...
OK... missing your contributions... hope they aren't working you too hard... boy do I know how that is...

Mylee comes back today! hooray!! I have that 100 mile route to do today, but looking forward to a wonderful evening of cooking and watching Disney movies! 10 Eggs yesterday

 

[showbarnmom]

Love all the colors who gave you the speckled egg?

Haven't the foggiest. That's been what I've been trying to figure out. It's between a RIR or SLW.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Hi W4W it is an impressive thing to witness but sure makes you feel helpless. I felt mortified knowing I failed to protect them, and angry that the fox was so BRAVE. I found the lil rooster it had taken but it didn't survive the attack. I guess the worst, and most painful was my 2 little brown geese. Hope and Ivy were so sweet and gentle. My birds are not very happy but they get a lot less free range time now. I am changing all the coops to keep them safe. There just won't be as much freedom as they were accustomed to have.

Poor little babies. I guess I have been expecting losses all along and have just dodged the bullet so far. Since we live in a neighborhood and our back yard is surrounded by neighbors, anything that gets in has to pass through those yards first and get past the dogs. They're safe from night predators, except when my brain malfunctions and I forget to shut the coop door at night. Derrrp.

Seeing that fox though, and knowing what happened to you and others too, has got me worried about letting them out all day. There is only one fence to get over from the front and no dogs there. The gray fox are expert climbers, 20 ft up a tree is nothing to them. Other than that, I haven't seen any daytime predators to worry about... yet. The only thing comforting about a fox is that it generally kills quickly and cleanly and takes only what it is going to eat. Some of the others gnaw them to death or kill for the heck of it.

 

[Sallysec]

Hi all

We are hanging in here, no more deaths. TY all for your help. I do agree Cheeka we are all learning together and I have learned so much. The girls are looking better every day. No more blood anywhere as far as we have seen. I have kept them cooped since Wednesday because I wanted to make sure they drank the medicated water and not from puddles like they like to do. Also one thing I did and am happy about is that I placed water with medication everywhere. I had one EE that looked awful and she was up in the nest box and I just was waiting for her to die. Every time I went in she would barely do anything. I put one of those plastic shoe boxes next to her filled with water. It was heavy enough that I wasn't worried she would flip it. I dunked her beak a few times. Her butt feathers looked so rough from all the pooping she was doing and she was quite a mess. This all happened in the space of twenty four hours for those of you wondering. The next morning when I came out I found a pile of poop with blood in it but she was down bottom in the coop hanging with the rest of the girls. I had found a pile like that with every other dead bird. I am basically assuming she was going to die but that the medication saved her. I am really worried because tonight I am supposed to drive up to lake sherman ny. I have my normal chicken person (was with me at the wedding last weekend) here to stay with the girls all weekend. I just hate leaving them as they are looking better. I thought about letting them out a little today but I would rather keep with what is working. It is still raining off and on...the back yard is just a big puddle. I really hope the rain stops. I think I have a plan in place to dose the girls with corid now even with no systems. I was talking with a few people and I guess that is commonly done with livestock on farms...esp. for cocci.

Okay so Three things I noticed:
Illness is fast as can be
Look for the little signs, not necessarily something huge like comb color because when that changes your already deep in. I should have noticed that my girls 'scared' staying close to the coop after the first death was more likely to be 'not feeling well' .
Keep some things on hand. I had some meds and syringes and extra stuff but not the corid. Also it might be helpful to at least know where you can get some medications ahead of time. Would have saved me a few hours.
I have some friends on the lower ny board who recommend a first aid kit by doc brown I believe. It apparently has great instructions and everything one needs in an emergency. I will be picking one up from one of the ladies when I get down to long island. I will take pictures when I get it. I remember when I first started with the chicken idea I made a list of 'emergency' supplies and somehow I never got everything but I think I will revisit that topic in a few weeks and get together the must haves. I would love some input from everyone on that.


Best wishes for everyone.
JC- glad things are getting back to normal for you
OK- hope your not working too hard
Cheeka - It sounds like your hard at work building up a second flock, how are the boys holding up with all the rain? Enjoy Mylee
Animal - congrats and welcome back
Sully - beautiful coop
MC - how are the new babies doing? more pictures?
Showbarn - I would bet the speckled came from the SLW
w4w - I would love to hear if that book you have has an emergency list, when i get back I would love to show you what the books I read said to keep on hand...compare notes. I will plan to write an article about cocci when I am done but I just have to find time lol

My son graduated last night from pre-school. I can't believe how time is flying by. I just don't know how to slow the clock down. This weekend I hope everyone has a nice fathers day.

Some of the girls are laying eggs through all this

I am in shock at their abilities to continue laying ...Also any suggestions on my lonely silkie? Will she be okay alone? Right now the cat is sleeping with her....

I think I should wait on the hatching I had planned to do this month.

 

[showbarnmom]

I lost my 6 chicks last night to a coon. Had just put them in the grow pen yesterday. All that was left was one little yellow foot and a tuft of black feathers.

And my favorite Amercauna, Cherry, is sick again. Same symptoms as last time. I've decided to have her put down, since I can't do it myself, I am taking her in tomorrow.

Right now is not my time

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I lost my 6 chicks last night to a coon. Had just put them in the grow pen yesterday. All that was left was one little yellow foot and a tuft of black feathers.

And my favorite Amercauna, Cherry, is sick again. Same symptoms as last time. I've decided to have her put down, since I can't do it myself, I am taking her in tomorrow.

Right now is not my time

Oh no. How terrible.

Raccoons are nasty. I have the entire bottom of the run lined with half inch hardware cloth, about a foot and a half up (and buried down as well). It was expensive, but around here I figured raccoons are my biggest threat. The neighbors leave bowls of cat food out and that draws in soooo many raccoons.

 

[animallover505]

I have learned a lot. I can't wait for next year. I just hope there's some kind of tick repellant safe for skin by next year. I was covered in seed ticks. Blech! I have 3 more years I can do it, and I can't wait.

 

[kian]

Hi everyone! I've been MIA for a bit (double ear infection, followed by my 7yr old getting Scarlet Fever--strep throat with a rash-- and then me getting a severe case of strep myself! Loads of fun!). I wanted to share this though thought you'd all find it a bit funny:



I just this afternoon found this egg in the middle of my bedroom floor. Notice the teeth marks? Apparently Leah's (my daughter) little dog (terrier/chihuahua mix) went into the run, up the ramp to the coop, into the coop and nabbed this from the nest box, then carried it all the way back into the house and into our room. This is definitely a first.

 

[cheeka]

wow! sad news SBMom! I hate raccoon. just plain hate them. when i was a kid the coons on Long Island were enormous, they are much smaller upstate... but they would take chunks out of my cats. everything I have is wrapped in half inch hardware cloth along the bottom two feet and skirted out along the ground to prevent digging... set traps. they'll be back.

Sally, I am so happy to hear that things are clearing up with no more losses! it's still raining like crazy up here too... I have kept the gang in too, they're getting stir crazy...

kian, funny pup... good eggshell to make it all the way without breaking!

we've had huge storms over the last month... so much rain. today we had a severe and sudden storm move in... and we're flooded. downtown Middleburgh is under 3' of water and I had to detour about 30 miles around just to get home. town after town with flooded main streets, closed bridges (the water was running fast over one little bridge... it was crazy!) and I was annoyed at myself for forgetting to charge my camera battery overnight and left it at home. not that I had tons of time to take pics... I needed to keep moving and find a way home before they all got closed off. everything was great at home, squishy earth under my feet, but the runs are dry in both the dome and the boys pad, next to Peachy... oh no... the roof collopased! it's nothing more than a pole holding up chicken wire and vinyl tarp... the pole fell down. but .... YUCK... all the rain water spilled in and turned all the straw and ground to mush! it was all muddy and quite gross. so I got out the furniture mover pallets that I use and hauled it outta there! moved the whole pen to a nice new spot... they're very happy, but my little pen sure does look like a circus tent!
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15 Eggs today