Texas

[jajeanpierre]

Spring is here, and with it comes fire ants. Is there anything ya'll use to get rid of them that won't hurt the chickens? I usually use Amdro, but I'm sure it's not good to use around the chickens. So far there are none in the pen, but I have noticed one starting around the base.

I wish I had an anteater. *sigh*

Boiling water.

 

[A1momof3]

She is pretty! I love the feathering on her head. She looks kind of hawkish.

Hope you get some good rest Harley. I don't think you need to worry about big foot too much. that report says he was seen in 1972. I'm sure he is long gone by now. Probably moved to Louisiana.

OSB is basically plywood. Hope your hubby feels better soon. Your chicken coop is going to be very nice when it is finished.

That is a nice set up Lisa. I hope to have some land someday out in the country.


Sasha woke me up last night around 2am. She was very adamant about getting outside. I opened the backdoor but didn't see anything in the yard so I let her out. She flew out the door, making a quick stop to pick up her blue ball (her obsession) and was down the steps and to the fence in a flash. At this point I knew something was out there and figured it was a cat. Then I saw what she was chasing around the yard. It was an armadillo! It was a young one, maybe a year old. When I saw it I knew it was an armadillo but my mind kept thinking, what if that is a giant rat? It was kind of dark out there.... Sasha kept chasing it around the yard until it must have finally remembered where it got in and it made its way over to the front gate and left. It was pretty funny. Sasha had fun.
Do armadillos bother chickens? I'd think not. They sure do like to dig up the yard looking for grubs though. :/

I hope so, I cant wait to get it finished. You have to be careful with armadillos sometimes the females are out looking for a good place to make her den to have babies. We had one come up in our yard in Deer Park (out side Houston). Now that shocked us big time. LOL

HUNG, HOW IS YOUR HEARING??? Unfortunately we don't have any cows....er beef yet. I am still working on Ken to say 'yes'. Our neighbor just had 3 baby calves born this week.. sigh....

Lisa

LOL Lisa we are a lot alike..... beef is the next thing on my list as well. DH is all for it but nothing ever happens.... but as soon as this project is done, I am going to be looking for cows. His family use to have so many and his dad sold them about 5 years ago..... I hate we weren't where we could have just bought them.

I found a new place for recipes today.

Look out!!!

I want to try this one first. I just need to get the capers and a lemon....

That looks great. Got to check it out more. I love new sites with recipes!

Sonic Screwdrivers are cool too!

I have good news! Well sort of good news. My friend came over and looked at my dishwasher. It isn't leaking from where the screws were, it's the seal. I can still use the dishwasher! He recommended that I get a regular front instead of the cabinet front. The cabinet front is keeping the door from closing tightly, allowing it to leak. It still leaks, just not as bad.

I may need to get a new seal, or even a new door though - previous owners put a dent in it. Neither of those are a priority fix since I can still use the dishwasher. I'll deal with this next month.

You know Ms Jellybean, God must believe you are a very strong because he doesn't give us more than we can handle and trials and troubles are suppose to bring us closer to him. I know its hard to handle some times but you always seem to have a positive attitude.

Dear enablers,

My mother in law saw this thread open and noticed I wanted some GLW.... She just brought me seven GLW chicks, and seven assorted pullets. Looks like two leghorns, some more Aussies, and Lyle has some new ladies. There's barred rock pullets in there!

Enablers. All of you...

But, I like my early easter presents.

Sooo we see... MIL is the Biggest enabler of all! LOL Why to go MIL!

I'm the vocalist for two different projects... One is a five piece band called Fenix Theory, a variety cover band playing diverse genres (rock/r&b/blues/pop/country etc) from the 1950's to current. My other project is an acoustic duo called Eric & Thomas Unplugged (I'm Eric). It's also variety covers but a little more laid back than the full band. The acoustic act is currently working on some original material. We mostly play in Central Texas (Waco, Gatesville, Temple, Killeen, Mexia, Marlin etc) but play on 6th Street in Austin pretty frequently and sometimes travel farther as well. Later in the month we'll be playing a big two day golf tournament in Brownwood. Between the two projects, I gig between 2-5 nights a week. If you guys are Facebookers, both projects have a page. Go give us a look and a like!

Hey did you send me a friend request on FB. I got one the other day from a Eric but I didn't know who he was so I didn't do anything with it. LOL I love music, all kinds of music. My son and I really love the oldies.... like Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Doris Day....... I can listen to that all day!

My son is graduating next month from UNT. M

agna cum laude! Yes, I am one proud mama. ​

I'll post his announcement in a bit.

WAY TO GO!! How wonderful it that. Congrats!

The birds don't try to jump out? Problem I've run into with anything shy of 6ft is escape artists. Walking outside and finding loose chickens all over the place! My old neighbor once called the cops cause my chickens tore up his flower beds... A year of free eggs, a replaced garden, and a loose livestock ticket later he is now a good friend of ours... As long as none of my critters end up in his yard ( which is a feat, his yard is across the street and down the road! )

If your area isn't covered, do you clip their wings?

Does anyone else thing this could be a Crele Old English Game Bantam? Its super tiny. I'm hoping its a pullet, the comb is getting pretty red though...its hatch date was 2-24 from Privett

Its cute that's what it is!!

It's not really that they can't do it it is that they choose not to risk getting in a situation where they can't escape easily or is likely to be unsuccessful. My Scarlet macaw panicked or some real or imagined threat the other day and flew up between two lengths of that plastic deer netting that someone posted a link to recently. I had the netting over an area where I kept my Silkies last year. The lengths of netting were held together by light bungee cords. She just powered through it. She wouldn't have chosen to go there, but felt there was no alternative. Ditto with the hawks. You just want to make it too expensive for them to bother. With any animals of prey, it is always a cost/benefit analysis--is it worth the risk or expended energy. If they have to maneuver through fishing line, the chickens have an extra bit of warning time to duck under somewhere. Any attack has an energy cost, and energy for a predator is usually a scarce resource. All bets are off with young Coopers, though, especially if late in the summer or early fall when many of them have dispersed from their parents and are starving. Starvation after dispersal is the leading cause of raptor death. Starving animals are desperate animals, so they might go somewhere common sense tells them not to go. I think the trick to avoiding hawk predation is partly just to make it a little more difficult.

Here's a YouTube video of a Northern Goshawk navigating small holes shot in slow motion. A Norther Goshawk is a bird specialist and is basically just a bigger version of a Coopers.

Here's a bad copy of a bit of BBC footage showing how adept the Goshawk is at maneuvering at speed. Coopers are equal to a Goshawk in maneuvering in the forest.

Once again you have some great info. With all the trees around my place I need to make sure I have everything covered. BTW my friend was grateful for the info I sent him on the Polish breed. Not sure what he will decide but now he is well informed!


Well, it has taken me 2 hours to get to where I could type all of this.... DH calls out to me to come to him if he can't hear me.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Once again you have some great info. With all the trees around my place I need to make sure I have everything covered. BTW my friend was grateful for the info I sent him on the Polish breed. Not sure what he will decide but now he is well informed!

My place is covered in trees, too. I think sometimes it is just luck as to what pair of hawks set up housekeeping in your area. Not all know a chicken is prey. Sometimes it is the way you have your yard set up and how much activity is going on in the area. I'm out a lot and have lots of dogs out a lot, so my property just might be a bit too risky for a hawk to invest in hunting here. Maybe I've just been lucky. Once a hawk kills a chicken, it has to basically eat it on the spot. It doesn't want to go to all the trouble of hunting and killing prey to give it up to something bigger, like me or my dog. If you just make it more difficult--places for the chickens to run under, that sort of thing--you can do a lot to discourage predation. The chickens themselves play a role in this. I have one flock protected by an Ameraucana rooster. He's a superb flock guardian, always on the alert and paying attention to the alarm calls of my parrots and my next door neighbor's peacocks. If all is not well, he hustles those girls to a fence line fast. My back yard flock of mostly Silkies has a Silkie and a Cochin rooster to watch. They are not nearly the watchful birds that the Ameraucana is. The flock themselves are a bit ditzy. When there is an alarm, they are not very fast to get under cover. One Polish will stand in the middle of the yard looking around for the danger. There is a huge difference between the way the Ameraucana's flock responds and the way the other flock responds. I expect I might lose some of the back yard flock. Their survival instincts have been bred out of them.

 

[RustedOak]

Hey did you send me a friend request on FB. I got one the other day from a Eric but I didn't know who he was so I didn't do anything with it. LOL I love music, all kinds of music. My son and I really love the oldies.... like Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Doris Day....... I can listen to that all day!

Yeah, that was me. lol I attached a message saying I was from BYC Tx thread. We do ALL KINDS of music but along the lines of what you are talking about, we do some James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding etc. We have a great time with it. My 17yr old daughter is a HUGE Sinatra (and the rest of the Rat Pack) fan.

 

[orumpoultry]

I don't clip wings. We have a lot of ground predators around here and I'd prefer my girls can fly up and get away...

We have two packs of coyote that come through, a pair of grey fox and their kits, raccoons out the wazoo, opossum, mink, wild cats, Bob cats, stray dogs, and hawks... Don't forget snakes!!! So no, I don't clip wings. I'd rather put covering on my pens and try to prevent them from getting in rather than clip wings to risk being eaten.

My game hens ( clarets ) can get straight up into a 30 ft branch if spooked. They're in an aviary style pen in Houston with the rest if our games.

 

[A1momof3]

My place is covered in trees, too. I think sometimes it is just luck as to what pair of hawks set up housekeeping in your area. Not all know a chicken is prey. Sometimes it is the way you have your yard set up and how much activity is going on in the area. I'm out a lot and have lots of dogs out a lot, so my property just might be a bit too risky for a hawk to invest in hunting here. Maybe I've just been lucky. Once a hawk kills a chicken, it has to basically eat it on the spot. It doesn't want to go to all the trouble of hunting and killing prey to give it up to something bigger, like me or my dog. If you just make it more difficult--places for the chickens to run under, that sort of thing--you can do a lot to discourage predation. The chickens themselves play a role in this. I have one flock protected by an Ameraucana rooster. He's a superb flock guardian, always on the alert and paying attention to the alarm calls of my parrots and my next door neighbor's peacocks. If all is not well, he hustles those girls to a fence line fast. My back yard flock of mostly Silkies has a Silkie and a Cochin rooster to watch. They are not nearly the watchful birds that the Ameraucana is. The flock themselves are a bit ditzy. When there is an alarm, they are not very fast to get under cover. One Polish will stand in the middle of the yard looking around for the danger. There is a huge difference between the way the Ameraucana's flock responds and the way the other flock responds. I expect I might lose some of the back yard flock. Their survival instincts have been bred out of them.

Oh my goodness, I am sitting here and I can just see your Polish out there looking around the best she can say.. what... Whats going on! Poor thing!

Yeah, that was me. lol I attached a message saying I was from BYC Tx thread. We do ALL KINDS of music but along the lines of what you are talking about, we do some James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding etc. We have a great time with it. My 17yr old daughter is a HUGE Sinatra (and the rest of the Rat Pack) fan.

OH ok, I will have to go back and confirm.... I didn't see a message. My son is 18 and he loves all the older stuff. It blew me away one day when he was playing it on his phone. He is so cool! LOL

I personally don't like feeding the organic stuff. My chickens start to snub their beaks at me when I pull up in my black smokin Diesel truck and go goo-goo over the neighbors Prius. One even tried to put a Hilary 2016 sticker on the chicken door. Can't have that!

I would say, dinner time for that bird but I'm afraid the meat would be hard to swallow. LOL

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Wow, good job on raising that boy. You must be a proud mama!

I honestly didn't think you were old enough to have a kid that age.

Congratulations...it's something to be proud of.  You know you've done things right when your children do well.

oh my goodness! You should be!

Thank you.

I personally don't like feeding the organic stuff. My chickens start to snub their beaks at me when I pull up in my black smokin Diesel truck and go goo-goo over the neighbors Prius. One even tried to put a Hilary 2016 sticker on the chicken door. Can't have that!

That's funny! (Is there a place to access the smileys when you are on your phone?)

Spring is here, and with it comes fire ants. Is there anything ya'll use to get rid of them that won't hurt the chickens? I usually use Amdro, but I'm sure it's not good to use around the chickens. So far there are none in the pen, but I have noticed one starting around the base. 

I wish I had an anteater. *sigh*

I don't know if this is chicken safe or not but the Bayer fire ant killer works way better than Amdro. It costs less too. It is a powder so I don't think the chickens will eat it.

Henless (with chicks), I read on here somewhere that the chickens will eat the ants!

David

I read on another site they won't. I wonder which is right.

I hope so, I cant wait to get it finished.  You have to be careful with armadillos females are out looking for a good place to make her den to have babies.  We had one come up in our yard in Deer Park (out side Houston).  Now that shocked us big time.  LOL

LOL Lisa we are a lot alike..... beef is the next thing on my list as well.  DH is all for it but nothing ever happens.... but as soon as this project is done, I am going to be looking for cows.  His family use to have so many and his dad sold them about 5 years ago..... I hate we weren't where we could have just bought them.

That looks great.  Got to check it out more. I love new sites with recipes!



You know Ms Jellybean, God must believe you are a very strong because he doesn't give us more than we can handle and trials and troubles are suppose to bring us closer to him.  I know its hard to handle some times but you always seem to have a positive attitude.

Sooo we see... MIL is the Biggest enabler of all!  LOL Why to go MIL!

Hey did you send me a friend request on FB.  I got one the other day from a Eric but I didn't know who he was so I didn't do anything with it.  LOL  I love music, all kinds of music.  My son and I really love the oldies.... like Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Doris Day....... I can listen to that all day!

WAY TO GO!!  How wonderful it that.  Congrats! 

If your area isn't covered, do you clip their wings?

Its cute that's what it is!!

Once again you have some great info.  With all the trees around my place I need to make sure I have everything covered.  BTW my friend was grateful for the info I sent him on the Polish breed.  Not sure what he will decide but now he is well informed!


Well, it has taken me 2 hours to get to where I could type all of this.... DH calls out to me to come to him if he can't hear me. 

I hope Sasha scared the armadillo enough it doesn't come back.

You need to get those mini longhorns.

I like the quote of Mother Teresa "I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."

And thank you.
I think I got everything I meant to comment on. It's hard to tell on my phone. Lol!

 

[jajeanpierre]

Oh my goodness, I am sitting here and I can just see your Polish out there looking around the best she can say.. what... Whats going on! Poor thing!

The really ditzy one is the one in my avatar. If I don't tape her top knot up she is really handicapped--she can't even see to eat. She'll flick her top knot to the side out of her eyes for a quick look. It is really pathetic. Even with her top knot tied up she is really dumb about danger. I put the other two Polish out the front with the hyper vigilant Ameraucana rooster and he has those too ditzy birds whipped into line. If he growls, they fly for cover.

 

[SlipsWife]

The really ditzy one is the one in my avatar. If I don't tape her top knot up she is really handicapped--she can't even see to eat. She'll flick her top knot to the side out of her eyes for a quick look. It is really pathetic. Even with her top knot tied up she is really dumb about danger. I put the other two Polish out the front with the hyper vigilant Ameraucana rooster and he has those too ditzy birds whipped into line. If he growls, they fly for cover.

After reading posts about your Polish, I'm starting to think our Polish from last year must have had uncommon breed traits...maybe because they were from the hatchery?

We had a Polish cockerel that was EVIL...the other cockerel was pretty calm but we figured it was pecking order. The cockerel also bred all of the older hens as often as he could...constantly...I'm surprised he didn't kill himself! He had his favorites but luckily was pretty gentle with them. Our Polish were extremely skittish, scared of everything. There was one out of the group we could actually catch because she couldn't see, even when we tried keeping her trimmed.

I feel bad 'judging the breed' by our experience because when I read about your group they sound like they would be fun and nice to have a couple to add diversity to the group. We have a few this year from assortments, I might hang onto them. Two are bantams, one with a horrible cross beak. It seems to be able to eat and is thriving so we decided not to cull, we obviously won't breed him/her and I don't feel right selling it to someone and I don't want to just give it to someone not knowing what they would do with it.

 

[jajeanpierre]

After reading posts about your Polish, I'm starting to think our Polish from last year must have had uncommon breed traits...maybe because they were from the hatchery?

We had a Polish cockerel that was EVIL...the other cockerel was pretty calm but we figured it was pecking order. The cockerel also bred all of the older hens as often as he could...constantly...I'm surprised he didn't kill himself! He had his favorites but luckily was pretty gentle with them. Our Polish were extremely skittish, scared of everything. There was one out of the group we could actually catch because she couldn't see, even when we tried keeping her trimmed.

I feel bad 'judging the breed' by our experience because when I read about your group they sound like they would be fun and nice to have a couple to add diversity to the group. We have a few this year from assortments, I might hang onto them. Two are bantams, one with a horrible cross beak. It seems to be able to eat and is thriving so we decided not to cull, we obviously won't breed him/her and I don't feel right selling it to someone and I don't want to just give it to someone not knowing what they would do with it.

I quite like the Polish, I just don't like their top knot and all the problems that go along with that. I think their vision problems make them a bit spooky. If I keep them trimmed or taped up, they are pretty normal and quite sweet natured. I find them very entertaining, comical birds. They were the ones that played the longest--maybe they still play at a year old. One likes to get as high in a tree as possible, just to look around.

My Polish are mass produced hatchery chicks. Nothing special about them.