Texas

[Brookshire11]

New pup tomorrow!

I decided I'll probably put him in the run, and let the chickens continue free ranging lol
Archer is fine outside with the girls, but..a pup's a pup.

 

[lovingmyhens]

New pup tomorrow!

I decided I'll probably put him in the run, and let the chickens continue free ranging lol
Archer is fine outside with the girls, but..a pup's a pup.

e

 

[chickieluver26]

New pup tomorrow!

I decided I'll probably put him in the run, and let the chickens continue free ranging lol
Archer is fine outside with the girls, but..a pup's a pup.

Awww I love pups!! what breed? Make sure to post a picture!

 

[Brookshire11]

Awww I love pups!! what breed? Make sure to post a picture!

A pit/lab mix. Accidental littler from someone I work with :/ Lol
Poor guy has 5 puppies to find homes for AFTER keeping 3, and me taking one. I don't envy him, he's about as big of a stickler with keeping animals as I am. Both parents are his dogs.

 

[winteree]

A pit/lab mix. Accidental littler from someone I work with :/ Lol
Poor guy has 5 puppies to find homes for AFTER keeping 3, and me taking one. I don't envy him, he's about as big of a stickler with keeping animals as I am. Both parents are his dogs.

you are soo nice

i yell at people who dump animals on me

 

[winteree]

Since ya'll were talking about turkeys, I have been thinking.. haven't researched anything yet so only thoughts. If you only have a couple, can you keep them with chicks or do they need special food or other needs? We have to place an order with Ideal soon for only a few chicks and it sure would lower the number we would have to get! Any insight would be great as we would only want like 2.

I think for orders like that you have to call them in to place them as the on line order won't let you because of the heritage turkey limit. But idk about the feeding thing i know they have to be started on game starter and most layer chicks do ok on that but after like 3-6 weeks i would start them on flock raiser so there are no growth issues

 

[winteree]

The only insight I can give you is to order asap.
Ideal stops Turkey in mid July, until the following February.

Before I got the idea to split an order, I looked at maybe adding a duck or two, which also raises that total pretty fast.

true if it is still giving you problems i can order something else.

 

[LBejaran]

Is anyone else having a problem with ants?

It rained here yesterday and this afternoon, I found one of my rabbits and two of my ducklings dead, covered in ants. The two ducklings were very heavy and healthy, plenty of weight on them. The rabbit was significantly bigger and he was also very healthy. I looked all over for potential causes of death but I can't think of anything else that could of killed them. They were fine this morning but this afternoon I found the rabbit dead. When I went to burn him, I was gone an hour. Came back to the grow out coop and found the two ducklings.

I just about cried. I hurried up and grabbed all the animals that were in there (another rabbit, a nearly full-grown mallard hen and the remaining muscovy duckling, two chicks,three quail, and a broody hen with her gosling) and put them in the larger pen.

I'm not entirely sure how to take care of this issue. I was thinking of just getting boiling water and scalding the ground of the coop. Then maybe laying out some poison for the ants, but in a manner that won't allow the chickens to get to it. I hadn't planned for this, but I guess that's how all of these problems arise.

 

[Dragonfly75]

Is anyone else having a problem with ants? 

It rained here yesterday and this afternoon, I found one of my rabbits and two of my ducklings dead, covered in ants.  The two ducklings were very heavy and healthy, plenty of weight on them.  The rabbit was significantly bigger and he was also very healthy.  I looked all over for potential causes of death but I can't think of anything else that could of killed them.  They were fine this morning but this afternoon I found the rabbit dead.  When I went to burn him, I was gone an hour.  Came back to the grow out coop and found the two ducklings.

I just about cried.  I hurried up and grabbed all the animals that were in there (another rabbit, a nearly full-grown mallard hen and the remaining muscovy duckling, two chicks,three quail, and a broody hen with her gosling) and put them in the larger pen. 

I'm not entirely sure how to take care of this issue.  I was thinking of just getting boiling water and scalding the ground of the coop.  Then maybe laying out some poison for the ants, but in a manner that won't allow the chickens to get to it.  I hadn't planned for this, but I guess that's how all of these problems arise. 

I wouldn't put poison down. I would be afraid the chicks and others may get into it. I use DE (diatomaceous earth). It will kill almost any insects. My cousin rented a house and ended up getting bed bugs. I gave her some DE and it killed them. She hasn't had any more problems with bed bugs. My mom gives it to her dogs in their food every day and she has no problems with fleas or ticks on them. I have heard that it will also kill prarsites when ingested in animals and humans. I also put it on my garden to keep the pests from eating my plants. I can buy it here in Amarillo pretty cheap. I got a 50 pound bag for like $25. Anywho that's my 2 cents!

 

[LBejaran]

I wouldn't put poison down. I would be afraid the chicks and others may get into it. I use DE (diatomaceous earth). It will kill almost any insects. My cousin rented a house and ended up getting bed bugs. I gave her some DE and it killed them. She hasn't had any more problems with bed bugs. My mom gives it to her dogs in their food every day and she has no problems with fleas or ticks on them. I have heard that it will also kill prarsites when ingested in animals and humans. I also put it on my garden to keep the pests from eating my plants. I can buy it here in Amarillo pretty cheap. I got a 50 pound bag for like $25. Anywho that's my 2 cents!

I've never used DE before, but heck, I'd be willing to try anything once so long as this doesn't happen again. Finding three otherwise healthy animals dead was a shock and I don't really feel like going through that again. The poor things must have really suffered. Ant bites are painful. I got a couple just trying to dispose of them and my finger is swollen and itchy.

Thanks for the advice!