Texas

[needlessjunk]

My birds finally started laying!  I have pics, just not able to upload them right now because of batteries running out.  We expanded the run.  It's now 14' x 56' approximately.  The top of it includes some of the smaller trees including a whole cedar tree.  My birds love it!  But I think I need more because now it looks kind of empty.  Lol.

Congrats on the birds that are hatching out!  Can't wait to do the same.

We are having a bit of a problem with our neighbor behind us.  Less than a week after he started complaining about my goat, my goat died.  I left and my goat was fine and an hour and a half later my sister found him dead in his pen.  I'm worried that he is going to try to poison my chickens.  We suspect he fed my goat poison but couldn't prove because we buried him before we thought to have him tested.  We were all heartbroke and weren't thinking clearly. It wasn't until he said that he was happy to see us burying the goat that we thought he might have poisoned him.  The fool thinks he moved into an hoa.  But he didn't.  I checked before I bought the property.  We are rural and are in an unincorporated area.  He's tried calling the cops on us before for burning trash and got told he couldn't do anything about it.

I'm a little sad about this but don't know what to do.  My husband and I are going to clear the woods and then run an electric wire so he can't walk up on the fence we have the birds in.

Wow... Some people are nuts! I'm sorry you are have to deal with that guy. I don't really have any advice though. What a pain, since it will delete what I want to say.

 

[orumpoultry]

My birds finally started laying!  I have pics, just not able to upload them right now because of batteries running out.  We expanded the run.  It's now 14' x 56' approximately.  The top of it includes some of the smaller trees including a whole cedar tree.  My birds love it!  But I think I need more because now it looks kind of empty.  Lol.

Congrats on the birds that are hatching out!  Can't wait to do the same.

We are having a bit of a problem with our neighbor behind us.  Less than a week after he started complaining about my goat, my goat died.  I left and my goat was fine and an hour and a half later my sister found him dead in his pen.  I'm worried that he is going to try to poison my chickens.  We suspect he fed my goat poison but couldn't prove because we buried him before we thought to have him tested.  We were all heartbroke and weren't thinking clearly. It wasn't until he said that he was happy to see us burying the goat that we thought he might have poisoned him.  The fool thinks he moved into an hoa.  But he didn't.  I checked before I bought the property.  We are rural and are in an unincorporated area.  He's tried calling the cops on us before for burning trash and got told he couldn't do anything about it.

I'm a little sad about this but don't know what to do.  My husband and I are going to clear the woods and then run an electric wire so he can't walk up on the fence we have the birds in.

Stelle,

Congratulations on a terrible neighbor. Our elderly next door couple who liked calling the cops on us a LOT finally moved out. Their house is on the market for 100k more than we bought ours for. They have less land, but its all cleared and pristine from having owners love it for 40 years. I'm hoping my soon to come neighbors do not cause problems. We finally got the Gs on out side when they decided to move due to the Mrs cancer spreading and them being in their 80s.

I have been fighting them since we bought the place about the drainage of their sewage. Since they never fixed it, I went above their heads. I called waste management and the guy in charge of health code violations. They have ten days to move their sewer line out of my horse pasture. If the house sells in that time its up to the new owners. This has gone on over a year. I finally went out there with a shovel and turned the drainage around. They put it back. I'm not ten. I'm not playing that game. I'm an adult. I called the proper authorities. They'll be fined. Tada.

Tomorrow my nephews and I are going to the butterfly museum to watch them release newly hatched butterflies. I'm beyond excited.

 

[Eliza1313]

StelleKitten - Good to hear about the new layers. Sorry to hear about the nasty neighbor. Harbor Freight has some sunscreen tarps that you could put up inside the wire of run and coop to prevent anything from being slipped in, along with locks. Electric fence and game cameras or security cameras are a good idea. There are several motion sensor alarms on the market, Harbor Freight has some decently priced ones. Put a few up and leave one of the alarm speakers outside, he'll know he's being monitored then.

 

[tjo804]

One of our Muscovy hens led 11 little ducklings out of the nest box this morning. There are a few eggs left in the nest so I will leave them a couple of days just in case.

Turned the egg turner on the Incuview off this morning and we are on final approach to hatch.

Congrats on the Babies and hope your incuview is a big success!

StelleKitten - Good to hear about the new layers. Sorry to hear about the nasty neighbor. Harbor Freight has some sunscreen tarps that you could put up inside the wire of run and coop to prevent anything from being slipped in, along with locks. Electric fence and game cameras or security cameras are a good idea. There are several motion sensor alarms on the market, Harbor Freight has some decently priced ones. Put a few up and leave one of the alarm speakers outside, he'll know he's being monitored then.

I would surprise him in court with the footage.

 

[Eliza1313]

Completed 3rd coop yesterday, ducks and the 3 May pullets went in it last night. Finished the run this evening. Let most of the birds mingle. Since only minor scuffles and posturing occurred we decided to do the pen swaps. Turkey poults are spending their first night outside with the cockerels and male guineas (may have 1 or 2 female guineas in there). All the pullets are in with the ducks. Have a female guinea in with them and one in with the hens. So far no casualties. Will post pics when I get the chance.

Only birds not out in the coop complex are the 4 youngest pullets, the one in sickbay for an injury, and the newest birds in quarantine.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

Completed 3rd coop yesterday, ducks and the 3 May pullets went in it last night. Finished the run this evening. Let most of the birds mingle. Since only minor scuffles and posturing occurred we decided to do the pen swaps. Turkey poults are spending their first night outside with the cockerels and male guineas (may have 1 or 2 female guineas in there). All the pullets are in with the ducks. Have a female guinea in with them and one in with the hens. So far no casualties. Will post pics when I get the chance.

Only birds not out in the coop complex are the 4 youngest pullets, the one in sickbay for an injury, and the newest birds in quarantine.

It feels good to have a project finally completed. Though, I am curious about mixing Turkey's and chickens. Are you concerned about black head?

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

Sounds like a plan. I am going to be attempting to breed to the standard or breed sex-links. Attitude is definitely important. If it comes down to picking between an aggressive rooster and a more docile one with a flaw I can easily breed out in a couple of generations, then I am picking the more docile one. Any I have that don't make good breeding stock for breeding to standard will go into other projects.

My favorite roo so far is one of my Cubalayas, but I think he has too many flaws for the breed. He was also one of the slowest to feather and develop, thought he was possibly a hen for the longest time.

The good news is that at least half of the offspring of a slow feathering male will be slow feathering. Then you just pick a slow feathering female and a rapid feathering male to breed to get the feather sexing chicks. It may take two generations to produce a rapid feathering male though if the roo you pick has two copies of the delayed feathering.

Sorry, if that was information overload. Have been doing a lot of research into chicken genetics, ever since I found out I have birds that I can use to create black sex-links.


Happy Independence Day everyone.

We will be doing more work on chicken coops and runs, and maybe barbecuing.

I noticed that both roosters are now starting to feather. The funny thing is that these two roosters are larger than the Black Copper Maran Roosters, but they get pecked at by the Marans. We have been taking the Roosters and "dominating" them. Snatch them up, get them under control, hover above them while having them squat, and rubbing the back of their necks until they fall asleep and then let them revive and go on their way.

I got the idea from some research I did on a site where a lady did this with their Tom Turkeys to get them to be used to being handled and not being aggressive toward humans. We'll see how that comes out in the wash.

 

[RoosterCogburn7]

Have a Great 4th fellow Texans. rg's

LOL that sounds like something my daughter would come up with. My son and I do the labor, she likes to hug them and tote them around.

 

[bnjrob]

It feels good to have a project finally completed. Though, I am curious about mixing Turkey's and chickens. Are you concerned about black head?

I know people that keep turkeys with chickens without any problem by deworming the poultry to get rid of the cecal worms that carry the parasite.

 

[StelleKitten]

I used to keep chickens and turkeys together without a problem. Just be careful since turkeys are trainable. If you pull treats out of your pocket they will assume that everyone's pockets have treats. I learned that lesson the hard way. Had to eat my big boy because he had turned into an attack turkey.