South Carolina

[phoneman]

i lost 10 eggs tues. last fri. my mf cochin came off the nest. so i put the 9 fertile eggs in the bator just in case they may hatch but no luck. so i trashed them today. but since i already had the bator working i had 14 mf cochin eggs and 3 buff o. eggs so i put them in last fri. maybe chicks for christmas eve hatch.

 

[snick]

Hi phoneman...I am from Dalzell!

Whew Nadine glad to hear you were playing with yours last night...don't think I have been in the laundry room so often and not been doing the wash!

 

[Moonchild]

OH Suzanne I'm also very sorry to hear that!
I have a Aust Shep mix and she is great with my chickens and family memebers,Very Loyal! Strangers and Real tall men not so much! This might be a breed to look into. They are all about protection of property and family and would never hurt them. Even when the chickens get alittle to close, she gives a hard stare and peace is restored. Although I will say it was a learning curve in training her. But after a few sharp No's and letting her see and smell the chicks they became part of the family and now...Not a stray cat/dog/human comes near them...Once again Suzanne I am very sorry about the bad news on your farm. And I too also love reading your blog.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Thanks, y'all! I appreciate it. Yesterday was horrible. I know losing animals is a part of farming, but we are new to farming in general and the senseless way they died.... just broke my heart. I'm very happy I didn't lose my chickens! I might have shot those dogs! The dog we had had for several years had already killed several of my chickens this spring and summer, including 10 of my best silkies! I'm glad they're gone. I wish the goats were here.

Anyway.... it's still freezing! Monday it said high of 32! BRRRR! We had such a cold, nasty winter last year. I thought it might be better this one.

Do any of you have mniature horses or donkeys? I thought that would be a great Christmas gift for the kids!

 

[snick]

No minis here...I do have a small mule named Belle. All my horses are full size, well except for charlie the pony. Now I may be partial but I think horses and donkeys and kids are wonderful together. In fact I got my first horse many many years ago for christmas.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! So glad the Frizz children are settling in well.
I am so annoyed by folks that let their pets (dogs and cats) run loose and with the thought that "'Fido/Fluffy' doesn't leave our space unless they are with me".
I understand the birds are an 'attractive nuisance' (and tempting, at the least), BUT your critters should stay in your space and not be here invading MY space. Children from up the road came looking for their lost cat --- teary-eyed and hoping we'd seen him because 'he likes to visit you, so maybe you've seen him?'. Yes, I've seen him. Every day he stalks my youngsters and generally keeps my birds upset (the dogs are upset because of the strange cat and because the birds are upset). I can't count the times I've caught it in the live-traps (in my yard/runs) and the ump-teenth time I've been generous and just turned it loose.
One of the husbands 'buddy's' came over WITH dog and said dog has decided to travel a halfmile to come back to visit while buddy is not home. Talk about a 'soft-mouth'. It dug into a pen and caught a Delaware rooster, took it back home to 'play with'. The next day, the dog came back took an Ameraucana boy, all the way back to HIS house --- and other than missing some feathers, the roosters were just fine. I fixed the places a predator can dig under, but that doesn't stop the freakish barking, running around and around, and upsetting the birds in the night.
I've run out of patience and generosity for the situation
I'm starting over and giving everyone a clean-slate.
ANYTHING that comes in our space in the night is assumed to be a predator. I don't care if it *looks like* the folks down-the-road cat or dog --- it is a predator and will be dealt with.
and if it goes in one of the traps, it could end up anywhere (from Animal Control to dead-outright --- depending on my tolerance level on any given day).
Lisa

 

[FarmerJohn3285]

Dipsy Doo, I'm backing you 100, 000%

I feel the same way. My lab is very protective of our house, yard, and family members (chickens). He chased away a couple nuisance dogs that came by the first couple days we got our chickens about 4 months ago. Needless to say, they haven't been back since.

I came home one afternoon, did my daily egg check, and saw a stray who appeared to be harmless walking down the road....I wasn't going to take any chances, so I ran and got the 12ga. shotgun. I only loaded it with bird shot, shot in the dogs direction but well over it, just to scare it, my intention wasn't to really kill it, unless it was to come into the yard. The dog then ran away very hastily and has not returned!

 

[HardLuckHill]

I think I'm gonna have to run to TSC to get some de-icers or something today. The chicken water is freezing darn near solid. My marans is still sitting on her eggs like a good mommy. My 5 serama babies came to work with me yesterday. I work in a doctor's office and have my own office and luckily I didn't have any patients yesterday, so they were able to hang out. I'm very lucky, even the boss-man came in and cooed over them, lol. I think I figured out how to keep the temp right, so they had to stay at home today.

I've got a busy weekend in store, I can't wait! Our office Christmas party is tomorrow night, I gotta move the adult seramas out to my place from Mom's garage (which necessitates a little bit of fencing work), then help Mom move some household items, then going to Honey's parents' place for supper, and general tidying of the critters. Whew!
I'm not going to say anything about not having critter problems because I don't want to jink myself. I guess it helps having three yard dogs. My EEs and my BLRW hen like to hop out of the run during the day, and my dogs don't seem to mind them being out. Now there are three more dogs down the road a little, but I have yet to see them up as far as our property. I'm sure Honey wouldn't mind getting out one of the guns and making sure they don't come back...
My girls have definitely slowed down laying, I'm only picking up a few a day now, as opposed to almost a dozen a day.

Is it spring yet??

 

[HenThymes]

Quote:
Hi, don't know if this will help

but there is a thread for inexpensive do it yourself water heaters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=107951

 

[HenThymes]

Sorry double post.