Surviving Minnesota!

[Rhetts]

Good luck Klop! I know nothing of coon behavior so I can't say anything on that. I thought Bobcat prints look like cat prints only bigger not like dog. Your print looked more canine like to me but that is only a picture. How do raccoons behave as far as predator like? I thought fox take the food away but I really don't know. All the birds I have lost except one were either eaten on site entirely or taken off property. One time we had a hawk get one of the roosters. DD happened upon the hawk eating it in the yard. Yeah, devastating for her.
For the record I really don't know anything. Just tossing out my 2 cents. Good luck! Hope you get your pest in the trap!

 

[Cluckies]

Sorry Klop about your girl!
Bogtown-what a wonderful time with your daughter!!

makes my heart full you sharing your moment with us!

Ralphie-you are somewhat quiet today. You must be busy.

Cluckies-thanks for all of your help. I am checking out the peat moss stuff at menards today. It shows they have some in stock at my local store. As far as the peepers go, I like the idea but I think I would need to do the majority of the the hens. A bad habit passed on and on but a couple are major pluckers. DH is not as on board as I had hoped. Still trying to work out coop plans for the little polish. they actually picked her through the fencing today and made her bleed. I am about ready to have a camp day with the level of frustrations I feel. We have a few options just trying to weigh them all out and find the best one.

I have been dealing with a broody langshan for ages as well. I have done all kinds of things to break her. I am afraid I might loose her to broodiness. I took her from the main coop yesterday and put her in a small sectioned off area of the main coop. She actually was eating and drinking. I was happy to see that. But she was not happy. Today she is not yelling at all and is just sitting on the roost still momma cluck clucking but I hope this is the road to recovery for her.

We are having a beautiful sunny January day!! Glad folks are out enjoying it!

Oh I hear you about being frustrated, and I wouldn't blame you a bit for a camp day. I don't know that I would ever put up with another feather picker if I get one, it is terrible, and like you said, it can spread if you don't take care of that first plucker pretty quick. it is worse in winter when they are confined and cannot free range.

you could try all the stuff like:
More protein
More room
stuff so they don't get bored (flock blocks, bathing areas, stuff to scratch through
toys
suet cages with greens/veggies (I find these you have to put out in the middle of the day, or they freeze before the girls can get to them)
pinless peepers
Pick no more lotion or hot pick spray
hen saddles on the most picked on girls
you can google it or do a search on here as well.

Good luck!

I found the carcass of my barred rock. I searched the crib this evening at lockup to make sure nobody else stayed out and found her in the back corner behind our camper. Something drug it back there and gnawed on it. looks like most of the guts are eaten (sorry if that grosses anyone out). SO now I am back to thinking cat or coon, maybe a fox, but i dont know that much about fox habits. I am going to go out and set my traps in a little bit. I wanted to get the girls all locked up before i did so i dont catch any chickens

time to eradicate my predator issues!

Good luck on catching whatever took your girl. seems like they were laying in wait

I doubt it was a cat, could be a raccoon. a dude I know at work had a coon kill one of his, he used the carcass to bait his trap, caught the raccoon, had a game cam on it, caught it at 10pm at midnight it turned sideways, pushed against both sides of the cage, popped the pins off of the cage door and walked out. so he walked out to a broken cage in the morning and went and reviewed the photos. terrible. glad you got all the girls locked up!

 

[Rhetts]

@holm25 I found your next breeding project: https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/grd/5362923101.html

LOL!

 

[Cluckies]

See? it is practically mandatory!

 

[Cluckies]

@holm25 I found your next breeding project: https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/grd/5362923101.html

LOL!

I've been waiting for those all black chickens to come down in price, so cool! but not paying it! i'm to cheap.

 

[Rhetts]

I've been waiting for those all black chickens to come down in price, so cool! but not paying it! i'm to cheap.

I am not one to get into expensive birds either. Purely a hobby for food and pleasure for us. No serious investments (HA HA HA yeah right! coops, chicks, feed, bedding, treats, first aid box with all the trimmings etc etc etc it never ends does it)

They do look pretty cool though.

 

[duluthralphie]

Had a great new years up at a lake in WI with friends. It is always great to get out of town.



Sounds like it was great for all of you as well.

I am impressed all your friends look so normal....

 

[duluthralphie]

Here is a Legbar x brown leghorn cockerel . I got my Legbar start from Heidi . This should bump up laying and egg size when bred back to Legbar .

\
That is a nice looking bird.

I have one I will take a picture of tomorrow If I can get close enough. I found a hen that isn't in my Creamettes today. I was shocked to see it. I knew it looked a little different and thought about moving it out because I did not want her eggs to hatch.

He must be the last batch hatched, and I think Ole had his way with the one hen, She got out one day last summer for about 2 hours and I thought I got to her before Ole did, Guess not. It has a half comb with a crest behind it but it is too dark for my CLB's ( I got mine from Heidi also).

Matter of fact I was thinking of seeing if Coffee wanted to come and look at it, she might like it better than the large red one, or better yet take them both!

It does not have a real tail on it, but is getting a few longer feathers but it has a few pointed saddle feathers.

 

[KlopKlop]

Traps are set and I'm full up with spicy chicken wings. Now we wait. We took the dogs down to the state park for a hike today which was fun. We hiked a mile and a half but the dogs probably covered 4-5 miles running here and there. We are all ready to snuggle in on the couch for a movie.

Did you look up the turkey movie ralphie? Free birds it is called

 

[lvie]

Sniffing glue is the saying I recall from my youth.. But I am sure it has changed now...




Here is the text of the Craigslist reply I got it is too long for me to retype so please go to the link to read it..


of course, I thought I was well behaved..


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/966414/a-century-of-turkey-talk-2000-2100/4070#post_16319815

Pretty funny! I got a good chuckle. People and their audacity! Thanks for sharing.