Starting Out With a Weird Situation

[KrisRenee]

Thank you Mother Goddess! It is made of old weathered cedar pickets so I am guessing I will be good.

So, here is the plan:
- Let chicks hatch and, when they are all hatched out, remove them to the brooder box. (We have been over 100 degrees for almost a month now so only night time should be an issue as far as heat and I have a lamp.)

- After the two guineas hatch, move them, mama and chicks to large enclosure inside coop until chicks start to feather.

- Let everyone have at the coop & run and have one big happy chicken family.

Unless I end up with more than one rooster ... any extras will go back to my friend. I HOPE they are all little girls!

I am hoping mama can be tamed or at least tolerate the coop & me. She is a wild bird. She does seem to like the tomato bits I give her, though.

 

[wegotchickens]

She's not really 'wild', but has gone feral. She will probably adapt to 'captivity' since it comes with good meals and safety. You might not want to let her out to free range until she seems pretty tame and content though.

 

[KrisRenee]

Here is a pic of mama before she had the enclosure built around her. This is one of the feral chickens that I am surrounded by. They get a little lighter as they grow up - she is just a pullet still and on the small side. I tried a total of 14 eggs and one kept falling off the ledge where she built the nest she is in now ... it finally broke (was the only pink egg I had).

 

[KrisRenee]

I HATE SNAKES! I thought we were good to go here as Friday would have been day 21. Well, last night, my Catahoula Cur started going crazy near this girl's nest and he would not be called off. There was a 4 1/2' rat snake in there with her and lurking not too far away was a stupid Copperhead.

It was kind of difficult to build around her choice of nests (multiple levels, against a lattice fence & such) but I thought we had done a good job. Not sure where the snake got in yet.

I am going to try this again but I am also going to try to pursuade Miss Chicken Lady to set on her eggs in a pre-made enclosure to do this. This was try number two ... %^&$#@ snakes!

We are pretty depressed.

 

[wegotchickens]

What a bummer!
The snakes got all the eggs?

Yes, I'd move Mama hen into a coop & run now, and let her get used to it. Then get some fertile eggs after she settles in.

 

[KrisRenee]

The two of them must have been tag-teaming her? Maybe there were others that I did not see? Or maybe they have been snatching them & I did not notice some were missing before now? Every single one of the 13 eggs is gone.

That poor thing was trying to hide under a big ground aloe plant and just looking at me like DO SOMETHING! To give her credit, she kept trying to peck the snake to get it out of there.

The coop is now finished. I just need to finish the run this weekend with hardware cloth around the bottom to keep out the many snakes near us. That should also give her time to chill before moving her.

Sheesh!

 

[wegotchickens]

I know you're both disappointed, but at least you've had some bonding with Mama hen as you've tried to keep her comfortable and safe. I'll bet she's happy to have a safe place to set next and there's plenty of summer left for her to incubate another set of eggs.

Yup, gotta get the coop snake proof!

 

[needmorechickens!]

So sorry for your loss...
Hey don't you give up! You just need to overdo the security of the coop. I still have places in my run and coop that need tightening up too. I have lost one chick due to a dog.

~Rebecca

 

[KrisRenee]

I hate to say this but there does seem to be a positive to the nightmare of last night ... my girl seems to trust me a lot more. She seemed to know that we were protecting her last night - me and the dog. For the first time, she took some strawberry tops and pieces of Roma tomatoes from me. This was early this evening. She also let Chelly go nose to beak with her without freaking out on us.

 

[wegotchickens]

That's awesome progress!
And you have other feral chickens running around, too?
When they see Mama getting cool treats you may find chickens are greedy beggers!!