Texas

[Ms Jellybean]

Sounds like a person may be the thief. Do you keep a lock on your coop?

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Wow! I decided to look up hatcheries in New Mexico to see if there was anything on them since that is where the feed store I live near gets their chicks from. They did not tell me the name so I don't know which hatchery they use, and there is more than one. Look at what I found though.

I am thinking I should order my chicks from a more reliable place. What do you think?

 

[kschickens]

Wow! I decided to look up hatcheries in New Mexico to see if there was anything on them since that is where the feed store I live near gets their chicks from. They did not tell me the name so I don't know which hatchery they use, and there is more than one. Look at what I found though.

I am thinking I should order my chicks from a more reliable place. What do you think?

Ideal Poultry is close to where I'm at and that's where most of the chicks around here come from.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Ideal Poultry is close to where I'm at and that's where most of the chicks around here come from.

I asked the store when I was in last week and they told me they order from a hatchery in New Mexico. I was a bit surprised they ordered from another state.

 

[hotrodflash]

Wow! I decided to look up hatcheries in New Mexico to see if there was anything on them since that is where the feed store I live near gets their chicks from. They did not tell me the name so I don't know which hatchery they use, and there is more than one. Look at what I found though.

I am thinking I should order my chicks from a more reliable place. What do you think?

It also came out after this that people were not washing their hands and not making their children wash their hands after handling live poultry. Any poultry can have or carry salmonella, get in the habit of washing your hands before you handle young chicks or ducks and after handling them. Washing your hands is the best way to prevent the transmission of disease.

 

[showbarnmom]

Anyone near Austin have Silkie, Frizzle or Sizzle hens/pullets for sale or trade?  I have a white leghorn hen that I'd like to find a new home for and would be willing to trade her for a different (and more tame) hen or pullet.  She's pretty wild but lays a perfect egg every day.  Hatched in Feb.  Would be great for a free-range situation. 

I just hatched 5 frizzled EE chicks, I'm in New Braunfels. I haven't sexed them though. But I would give you 1 if you wanted to drive down here. I could also give you some hatching eggs.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

It also came out after this that people were not washing their hands and not making their children wash their hands after handling live poultry. Any poultry can have or carry salmonella, get in the habit of washing your hands before you handle young chicks or ducks and after handling them. Washing your hands is the best way to prevent the transmission of disease.

I've had retiles and they carry the same risk. I get the hand washing thing.

So the salmonella can't be passed through into the eggs then? That is my concern. I have kids that like to eat cookie dough. I know that there is a risk even with store bought eggs, but in my 40+ years of eating cookie dough (and I have had a lot!) I have never gotten sick from it. We also like our yolks runny when we fry eggs....

 

[hotrodflash]

I've had retiles and they carry the same risk. I get the hand washing thing.

So the salmonella can't be passed through into the eggs then? That is my concern. I have kids that like to eat cookie dough. I know that there is a risk even with store bought eggs, but in my 40+ years of eating cookie dough (and I have had a lot!) I have never gotten sick from it. We also like our yolks runny when we fry eggs....

As long as you keep their coop reasonably clean you should not have problems with salmonella, E coli or any other bacteria. It is rare for a bird to carry bacteria within their egg production system and pass it through to the egg. Well fed, well taken care of backyard birds would be less likely to carry disease.

 

[Nomibear]

I was going to suggest raccoon. They like to stick their little hands in coops.

I've wondered about Raccoons, but haven't been able to prove it. I'm also getting less eggs then I would expect, and have wondered about snakes.

Sounds like a person may be the thief.  Do you keep a lock on your coop?

No lock. We live way out in the country. The property's to each side of us only get used on holidays, and are mostly overgrown. The property's to the front and back of us belong to family members... Since some of the chickens choose to sleep in the tree and I don't get home some nights until 11pm, i leave the coop door open as the whole thing sits inside their chicken fenced part of the yard. We also have a couple large dogs that usually put up a fuss if a person shows up.

Wow!  I decided to look up hatcheries in New Mexico to see if there was anything on them since that is where the feed store I live near gets their chicks from.  They did not tell me the name so I don't know which hatchery they use, and there is more than one.  

I am thinking I should order my chicks from a more reliable place.  What do you think?

I really like Ideal. My last two orders have been with them.

 

[jockeyeba]

I am furious right now!

I seem to have a predator I can't even identify. About 3-4 weeks ago i lost all 3 of the 5 week old EE chicks I had picked up from the local feed store. The wire cage they were in had only a 1 1/2 in gap at the top of the door, but all three were just gone when I went to feed them in the morning. Oh yeah, the door was still closed...
Last week I woke up to find 3 of my chickens missing. The new Polish Rooster, Along with Big Baby and Freckles, 2 of my EE chickens. They were just gone, with no trace of a fight or anything. No piles of feather, or pieces anywhere. The next day Freckles was back

I don't know how, but I'm glad. The other two have not made it back.
Well it gets worse. This morning I went to feed everyone, and my GCMARAN chicks wire cage, that is inside the coop had 1 missing little Roo, and the other Roo and pullet are dead!

No bite marks, or missing feathers, to indicate what killed them.
They had reached a good sz. I thought they were safe. It was a warm night. But something got a 6-7 week old Roo through a wire cage where the biggest gap was at the top of the door. Maybe 1 1/2 in.
I just don't get it....

A raccoon can easily pull a 6-7 week old chick through that size space we've lost several until we put nothing but hardware cloth on chick pens.