Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[cheeka]

lucky girls Scrambles! sorry for the injuries seen and unseen as of yet... but super glad that all are accounted for and alive! scary! now that they've been ranging there for a while, the predators are aware of them, and have come a'callin'...

mine are never out unsupervised because of those kinds of sneak attacks, which can still happen even if I'm present.

Zira was all up in the camera like "look at me, I'm all red faced now..." She finally looks ready to lay her first egg!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I swiped this from the random pictures thread.

Originally Posted by sgtmom52

 

[Wishing4Wings]

lucky girls Scrambles! sorry for the injuries seen and unseen as of yet... but super glad that all are accounted for and alive! scary! now that they've been ranging there for a while, the predators are aware of them, and have come a'callin'...

mine are never out unsupervised because of those kinds of sneak attacks, which can still happen even if I'm present.

Zira was all up in the camera like "look at me, I'm all red faced now..." She finally looks ready to lay her first egg!

Zira looks so formidable. What a good glare she's got. Is she a large fowl Cochin?

 

[mortie]

Cheeka, didn't you have an attack a while back while you were on the phone in broad daylight? I am terrified of predators. Dogs shouldn't be a problem (except my own dog). Can cats get grown hens? We also have raccoon, opossum, and foxes but I've never seen a fox around my house. The rest, I have. We live pretty near a nature area. Oh also hawks. Great.

Scramble- glad everyone is accounted for. I hope you get some good shots on your game cam!

 

[cheeka]

yes she is, unless there is an extra Jumbo Cochin... she is huge, and the low brow gives her that extra good stink eye look, love her!

 

[cheeka]

Cheeka, didn't you have an attack a while back while you were on the phone in broad daylight? I am terrified of predators. Dogs shouldn't be a problem (except my own dog). Can cats get grown hens? We also have raccoon, opossum, and foxes but I've never seen a fox around my house. The rest, I have. We live pretty near a nature area. Oh also hawks. Great.

Scramble- glad everyone is accounted for. I hope you get some good shots on your game cam!

I did, on July 31, lost my RIR Violet, bright sunny day. I'm pretty sure it was a coyote. I've had feral cats around too, but now I have so many chickens I'm fairly certain they'd take care of any cat... when I had fewer and they were smaller, one huge feral cat in particular made me nervous, but the rest of my pets would station themselves around to protect the teenage chicks.

 

[Scrambles55]

Whatever it was that attacked was not alone. There are 3 separate plies of feathers. There is a fence around the entire property. It happened in the one hour that I ran errands and took my dog with me. He is usually in the back with the chickens and would never harm a feather on them. It was a daylight attack, so I figure it came from the sky. The neighbor's cats can get in the yard, but the chickens are bigger than the cats. It is 2:30 in the afternoon and 3 girls are in the coop hiding

and Penny is outside on alert. No red feathers found, so we think that she fled to the toy hauler.
Game cam is up.... fake owl is up.... I need a .22.

Do not mess with my chickens!!!!!

 

[Scrambles55]

Cheeka.... Zira a very beautiful!!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

yes she is, unless there is an extra Jumbo Cochin... she is huge, and the low brow gives her that extra good stink eye look, love her!

If you ever get a chance to go to a serious poultry show, you should go. Some of the birds are enormous and very unlike the same breeds from most of the hatcheries. The bantam Wyandottes are as big as my lf wyandotte, and are the better shape too. The only thing the big shows lack are the color varieties, which I really enjoy. No project colors and most birds are solid rather than patterned. Fewer faults to find on a solid colored bird, so better chance of winning. Some day, when we have room in the coop, I will get hubby some of the giant light Brahmas he likes. And maybe some English Orps. Ooo, and a real good Welsummer and beautiful New Hamp.

Maybe Zira is from good lines!

 

[cheeka]

all 4 of the Cochins I got come from private stock and def good lines, they were the cast offs for random disqualifying factors like the odd rust colored feathers on Josephine's neck... Zelda has them too, Zira has bits of white. Delilah, the blue Cochin has nothing wrong with her that I can see, not sure why she was lumped in with the others, it may have been that she ran with those girls and wouldn't fit in the flock without them... I've been to a few poultry exhibits at fairs, some better than others, one year at one fair, only 1 guy came with his birds, they were all bantams, and gorgeous, but it was disappointing to not have more participants. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes around this year!