Silkie thread!

[lflynn5324]

Anywhere in Canada as well.

I just think that's crappy. I mean can't they have some kind of law that if they are killing your animals you can defend them? Maybe I should just get a dog for the yard. And if the DOG kills one its not my fault!! Hahaha

 

[newbie32]

I just think that's crappy. I mean can't they have some kind of law that if they are killing your animals you can defend them? Maybe I should just get a dog for the yard. And if the DOG kills one its not my fault!! Hahaha

Just make sure the dog doesn't kill the chickens!!! My cocker spaniel-they are breed to hunt birds-wants to EAT my chickens!!!!!!!

 

[ChickNmamma]

Quote: I think both your "Buffs" are Smutty Buff. They look very young to me, I wouldn't have guessed they were girls from the pictures. Time will tell. The Buffs have no fluff - were they molting? I would check them over for lice and mites.

Whites should always be White - boys and girls.

Quote: Ducks hatched and brooded by chickens will go swimming - and momma hen will panic! That behavior is instinctual - just like clearing their nares is (nose under water) and doesn't need to be taught.

I think that is the duck momma - check out the big webbed feet.

 

[Mrsfoote]

Well see here is the thing. I have a pitbull, and she is the sweetest dog ever. She isn't fond of cats she doesn't know, but the chickens sadly she doesn't eat them she plays with them until they are no longer living. :/ so we have to keep her away. The hawks were frustrating my original sikie rooster and the only rooster whose ever reacted to a hawk died saving his girls from the hawk...hawk got at him but my mom said there were tons of feathers she found the rooster in the yard but his injuries were too bad. My showgirl got taken and dropped my a hawk my sister saw the whole thing but the hawk dropped her and two days later we found her...she was fine a little scraped up. She sadly died a few months later of unkown causes. Then I had a beautiful little blue wheaten ameracauna ( sp?) and a migrating hawk got her and left her ripped apart all over the yard...didn't even eat her. And this was in california in the suburbs. I live in montana now on 5 acres and I've seen nearly no hawks. We have a racoon that I know of that comes into the barn to eat cat food but hasn't gotten into the coop which is a horse stall converted into a coop.

 

[aoxa]

I just think that's crappy. I mean can't they have some kind of law that if they are killing your animals you can defend them? Maybe I should just get a dog for the yard. And if the DOG kills one its not my fault!! Hahaha

They have to eat as well.. The thing about hawks is they only kill to eat. They won't just kill for no reason like weasels, minks, racoons, foxes, dogs, etc who kill more than they will eat...

Migratory birds are very important, and I don't believe in killing them. No matter how sad it makes me when they take a chicken... I try to keep my vulnerable birds locked up when they are migrating - which is the only time they are an issue for me here. August and September and beginning of October are the worst time for them here. Silkies aren't allowed free ranging during that time frame. I lost five or six birds this year in those two months... Only two were passed 8 weeks. I lost two males that were around 10 weeks (none of these were silkies by the way). The rest were just little chicks. One of my barred rock hens lost 4 chicks to a hawk. She kept letting them wander and didn't have them stick close...

But my silkie x BR hen took on a hawk and won. She had it by the tail and it was screeching. She was defending her young. The hawk that was an issue was a small male cooper hawk, so really the small birds are what are most at risk. It couldn't even carry off a 2 pound juvenile it was that small.

So my point is... if hawks are an issue in your area, provide a safe run - or free range knowing that losses are likely. A big rooster will definitely help... those who don't listen to the rooster are easy targets.. Most of my birds are smart - they take cover appropriately.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Then I had a beautiful little blue wheaten ameracauna ( sp?) and a migrating hawk got her and left her ripped apart all over the yard...didn't even eat her.

Hawks don't leave things ripped apart all over the yard. They kill and either carry it off or eat it on the spot. There may be feathers scattered, but not body parts. I would think it was another predator, maybe a dog. Dogs will kill and rip animals apart like that.

 

[Mrsfoote]

Oh no it was a hawk. She or it intended to eat her on the ground I walked out and she flew off...no dogs. HUGE hawk at that...was a bit disturbing. I don't mean all over it was over by a bush but she was shredded up.

 

[aoxa]

Hawks don't leave things ripped apart all over the yard. They kill and either carry it off or eat it on the spot. There may be feathers scattered, but not body parts. I would think it was another predator, maybe a dog. Dogs will kill and rip animals apart like that.

They will if they are interrupted.

 

[Serenity30]

I think both your "Buffs" are Smutty Buff. They look very young to me, I wouldn't have guessed they were girls from the pictures. Time will tell. The Buffs have no fluff - were they molting? I would check them over for lice and mites.

Whites should always be White - boys and girls.

Ducks hatched and brooded by chickens will go swimming - and momma hen will panic! That behavior is instinctual - just like clearing their nares is (nose under water) and doesn't need to be taught.

I think that is the duck momma - check out the big webbed feet.

So considering both are smutty buff silkies. Is it best to not hatch any of their eggs? We got them to hatch out silkie babies.
The man said he had them in a holding cage the night before. all crammed in a dog kennel. I felt sorry for them. When I took them out of it, they was wet and sticky. I might have to wash them, which I am scared to do. But the stickiness is making all their fluff look like permanent flat feathers. No lice and mites that I can see.

 

[InCal Chick]

Hi there...
We have Hawks, Kites, Crows & Vultures to contend with. One of my hen's had her tail feathers pulled out, last year, by a Hawk. She's/we are lucky, the Hawk gave up when the feather's came out. Something to mention, here: I see at all the Vineyard's (N. Cal., Wine Country) in the area. Tie shiny red ribbon's, to each plant. The same metallic type used during the Holiday's. Probably available at most big chain stores, by now. Tied to tree's & fences. Keeps the birds away, it's meant to blow in the wind. Caution - Really scares Horses & no effect on rabbit's... whatsoever.