Keep reading, that was months ago.That is hilarious!Are you gonna hatch them all even with the other batch on lockdown?
I myself have a pullet (she may not even be laying yet) that went terribly broody, probably the broodiest pullet I have had. (Next to my blue Wyandotte).
We had to give in and give her four eggs to sit on, and out of the four eggs, three should hatch in three days. She has been very dedicated.
36?! Between a Bobcat, Hawk, and Owl? That’s nasty. Sorry about the losses.Well folks, the news isn't good, but it's not what you think.
Only nine were fertile, and she hatched 5. One was (I think) crushed by her a few days later. I snuck an Ameraucana chick from the incubator under her too. She definitely wasn't as good as my white Ameraucana momma, but she did okay. She did run off and leave them often, but maybe that's a Spitzhauben thing, and it prepared them for what was to come.
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Around the first week of November I started losing chickens. I think some teenagers first, then a few of the smaller adults. I had an Owl and a Hawk that had perched less than 20 feet from me a couple of times, so I thought it was them, and I spent a painstaking amount of time rigging up netting in a grove of mesquite trees, beefing up the electric fence, and installing cameras. I think it was maybe the 5th when one of the cameras spotted a Bobcat around 1am. He strolled through and didn't mess with anything, but regardless of who it was, I had a problem.
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He stalked me. He ate more chickens during the days when I was there, outside all day, working on coops and things, than when I was at work all day.
Because she kept running off and leaving them, 5 chicks went down to 2. I'd recently gotten 23 Ameraucana chicks and they were in the outside brooder/broody pen, so the last two were put in there to keep them safe. She didn't like that much, but she didn't want to stay in there with them either. Then my youngest Spitz rooster went missing. Then the middle one (one of the fathers), and finally my oldest rooster. She also went missing shortly after.
View attachment 2951241Punky, Ramone, Billy, and Prince (Ameraucana). R.I.P.
Just before Thanksgiving, I barely saw an attack in time to chase after him into the woods and across the creek. I had no weapon on me but I just took off running anyway. I found what was left of my Silver Spitzhaubens and various other poultry, and under a tree I saw the mangled body of the Chamois (Greenfire chick delivered in August) that he'd run off with. I went to pick her up to bury her, legs astray in the air, neck all sideways and upside down, eyes still wide open. As I was walking back with her in my arms, she BLINKED at me! I got her in the house and looked her over, there was one puncture mark in her armpit. A few days in sick bay and she was good-to-go! Small favors.
(She's the one in the back on my head, below.)
I got off work early the day before Thanksgiving, and I bought an AR15. Somewhat predictably, they are not as easy to hunt as deer are. Luckily, a friend/neighbor/the guy I contacted to help me dial in my AR, is a licensed trapper. (I do kinda wish I'd known that before spending all that money on the gun, but hey, I was eventually going to get around to buying one anyway.) One of the mongrel cockerels had to sit (safely) in a trap as bait. I felt awful for him every morning and evening when I checked his food and water, he knew what he was there for, and he begged to be let out. I think it took maybe 4 or 5 days before the cat was in the bag. My friend came over and took care of him and left the traps out for another week just to be sure, without the chicken as bait this time. A skunk was all that wandered in.
View attachment 2951191He was 28lbs. I'm 5'3". I don't really know for certain how many he got, but the total missing was 36.
During the summer, I had a large batch of Ameraucana and Spitzhauben chicks killed by domestic cats, so I looked up the Spitz seller and asked her to send me some more eggs not long before the bobcat came. She lets them all mingle outside of breeding season, so I ended up with some great color projects to work with. One of the cockerels is pure white, and sadly, one of the Greenfire pullets that the bobcat got was also pure white. But that's okay, white can be done in one generation, so I'm excited about the possibilities with them.
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The Ameraucana chicks and their two Spitzhauben brothers stayed safe in the outside brooder. Yep, they're both boys. I'm up to my eyeballs in roosters right now, and I just purposely hatched some Ketawas and Longcrowers hoping for roosters.
My beautiful, sweet, self blue Ameraucana rooster became the head of the flock and was beginning to become an absolutely awesome roo, when he too passed away last week. I am really devastated over that. But again, I just had 4 chicks hatch from him and white Ameraucana momma, and she just went broody again with a few eggs and some that I'll slip under her from the incubator, so he too will live on. Albeit in black split to lavender and recessive white, which will be a pain to sort out, but I'll happily do it to get another roo like him.
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And hopefully one or both of the Spitz boys turns out like my oldest rooster, Ramone. This is Ramone on a branch about 25 feet in the air. He flew up there. I'm not kidding. I watched him do it more than once. (Chickens can't fly, they said!)
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Well, that's all there is to the story of my 2021 breeder flock. Only 4 breeders and two Easter Eggers survived. The ducks fared a bit better, I lost 2 hens, 4 drakes (which was actually a blessing), and all of the previously mentioned abandoned ducklings, but I hatched 5 more in the incubator and OMG, they're all girls!
I've had the steel delivered to build 20' wide by whatever fits long rotational grazing runs. I still have to build them all by myself, but as long as I can get through winter without another polar vortex and spring without coccidiosis, everything will be okay.
Thanks for hanging in for the whole story, here are a few pics of the next generation!
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Oh my gosh, that is soo sadWell folks, the news isn't good, but it's not what you think.
Only nine were fertile, and she hatched 5. One was (I think) crushed by her a few days later. I snuck an Ameraucana chick from the incubator under her too. She definitely wasn't as good as my white Ameraucana momma, but she did okay. She did run off and leave them often, but maybe that's a Spitzhauben thing, and it prepared them for what was to come.
View attachment 2951235View attachment 2951236View attachment 2951237
Around the first week of November I started losing chickens. I think some teenagers first, then a few of the smaller adults. I had an Owl and a Hawk that had perched less than 20 feet from me a couple of times, so I thought it was them, and I spent a painstaking amount of time rigging up netting in a grove of mesquite trees, beefing up the electric fence, and installing cameras. I think it was maybe the 5th when one of the cameras spotted a Bobcat around 1am. He strolled through and didn't mess with anything, but regardless of who it was, I had a problem.
View attachment 2951199View attachment 2951201
View attachment 2951189
He stalked me. He ate more chickens during the days when I was there, outside all day, working on coops and things, than when I was at work all day.
Because she kept running off and leaving them, 5 chicks went down to 2. I'd recently gotten 23 Ameraucana chicks and they were in the outside brooder/broody pen, so the last two were put in there to keep them safe. She didn't like that much, but she didn't want to stay in there with them either. Then my youngest Spitz rooster went missing. Then the middle one (one of the fathers), and finally my oldest rooster. She also went missing shortly after.
View attachment 2951241Punky, Ramone, Billy, and Prince (Ameraucana). R.I.P.
Just before Thanksgiving, I barely saw an attack in time to chase after him into the woods and across the creek. I had no weapon on me but I just took off running anyway. I found what was left of my Silver Spitzhaubens and various other poultry, and under a tree I saw the mangled body of the Chamois (Greenfire chick delivered in August) that he'd run off with. I went to pick her up to bury her, legs astray in the air, neck all sideways and upside down, eyes still wide open. As I was walking back with her in my arms, she BLINKED at me! I got her in the house and looked her over, there was one puncture mark in her armpit. A few days in sick bay and she was good-to-go! Small favors.
(She's the one in the back on my head, below.)
I got off work early the day before Thanksgiving, and I bought an AR15. Somewhat predictably, they are not as easy to hunt as deer are. Luckily, a friend/neighbor/the guy I contacted to help me dial in my AR, is a licensed trapper. (I do kinda wish I'd known that before spending all that money on the gun, but hey, I was eventually going to get around to buying one anyway.) One of the mongrel cockerels had to sit (safely) in a trap as bait. I felt awful for him every morning and evening when I checked his food and water, he knew what he was there for, and he begged to be let out. I think it took maybe 4 or 5 days before the cat was in the bag. My friend came over and took care of him and left the traps out for another week just to be sure, without the chicken as bait this time. A skunk was all that wandered in.
View attachment 2951191He was 28lbs. I'm 5'3". I don't really know for certain how many he got, but the total missing was 36.
During the summer, I had a large batch of Ameraucana and Spitzhauben chicks killed by domestic cats, so I looked up the Spitz seller and asked her to send me some more eggs not long before the bobcat came. She lets them all mingle outside of breeding season, so I ended up with some great color projects to work with. One of the cockerels is pure white, and sadly, one of the Greenfire pullets that the bobcat got was also pure white. But that's okay, white can be done in one generation, so I'm excited about the possibilities with them.
View attachment 2951258View attachment 2951259
The Ameraucana chicks and their two Spitzhauben brothers stayed safe in the outside brooder. Yep, they're both boys. I'm up to my eyeballs in roosters right now, and I just purposely hatched some Ketawas and Longcrowers hoping for roosters.
My beautiful, sweet, self blue Ameraucana rooster became the head of the flock and was beginning to become an absolutely awesome roo, when he too passed away last week. I am really devastated over that. But again, I just had 4 chicks hatch from him and white Ameraucana momma, and she just went broody again with a few eggs and some that I'll slip under her from the incubator, so he too will live on. Albeit in black split to lavender and recessive white, which will be a pain to sort out, but I'll happily do it to get another roo like him.
View attachment 2951260
And hopefully one or both of the Spitz boys turns out like my oldest rooster, Ramone. This is Ramone on a branch about 25 feet in the air. He flew up there. I'm not kidding. I watched him do it more than once. (Chickens can't fly, they said!)
View attachment 2951277View attachment 2951279
Well, that's all there is to the story of my 2021 breeder flock. Only 4 breeders and two Easter Eggers survived. The ducks fared a bit better, I lost 2 hens, 4 drakes (which was actually a blessing), and all of the previously mentioned abandoned ducklings, but I hatched 5 more in the incubator and OMG, they're all girls!
I've had the steel delivered to build 20' wide by whatever fits long rotational grazing runs. I still have to build them all by myself, but as long as I can get through winter without another polar vortex and spring without coccidiosis, everything will be okay.
Thanks for hanging in for the whole story, here are a few pics of the next generation!
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So many beautiful birds lost :-( your self blue boy was just gorgeous!! I hope you are able to keep them all safe now and no more bobcats find you anytime soon!! I have such a soft spot for my Ameraucana boys, they are the best roosters. 
I hope one of his boys hatched for you!!
I'm sure one was from the hawk, because I found a body, and maybe the ducklings were from the owl. I'm betting that the rest were the bobcat. Like I said, he was stalking me and he'd come by two or three times a day when I was home. Rarely did I ever hear a commotion though. He was also raiding the neighbor's coop, and I don't know how many others before he came to my land, so I'm sure his tally is up there. Knock on wood, I haven't had a single loss to a predator since he was dispatched. And the raptors and owls are still around, there are actually two owls, nearly as big as that cat was. And coyotes, hogs, skunks, snakes, raccoons, opossum, you name it, even mountain lions. My ability to deter predators is not amateur, he never once got into a coop, but cats are by far the hardest to deal with. Apparently they're easy to trap though, at least the males are, like most, they only want two things. I'm lucky he didn't have a mate.
With my luck right now, all 4 of the Ameraucanas are boys and all of the Crowers are female! I'll take it though, genes is genes as long as you know how to coax them out.Oh my gosh, that is soo sad
I know, right? When you need one they're never around, and when you have no use for them, they start falling out of trees!Ahhh you must have the magic touch!Broodies everywhere!
It does make you wonder if the attack on their flock caused them to feel the need to make babies! Some natural trigger. Gotta love how they keep things interesting right??I know, right? When you need one they're never around, and when you have no use for them, they start falling out of trees!
Perhaps it's an innate evolutionary response to predator pressure. Since they know there are only 6 left that are old enough to lay fertilized eggs, the 3 of them laid like 6 eggs and then went broody. They had all already stopped for the winter (or maybe it was stress due to the bobcat), or hadn't started laying yet. Even OG broody momma, she taught the kids how to roost, started laying again, maybe 18 eggs, then went broody. Even my last EE laid an egg the other day, haven't seen another one since, and I've got her last laying in October. Now if my other two rescue Ameraucanas start, I'll know that's it, they haven't laid since I got them back in May, and they're close to 2 years old now.
If Broody Momma's pullets are anything like her, I don't care if they're split for white and lavender, I'll raise them up just to be broodies and save my electric bill from that incubator!
OR........
Maybe they're the ultimate weather forecast and only going broody because we had enough winter in 2020 to last a century, and I don't need to finally get around to packing away my shorts and flip-flops!
Hey Broody, what's the weather going to be like tomorrow?
R-r-r-r-r-r-r-aaaiiin!!!!
