The Middle Tennessee Thread

[Peach2u]

Thank you. My poor little roo just passed. I think it was for the best he wasn't able to even eat or drink by himself. I had gotten him dried out and brought him in to recuperate but I think it was just too much for him.

Sorry for your loss. What kind of snake was it? Besides dead. I have hardware cloth on the window and corner of my coop. The only way a snake or mouse could get in is through the hatch during the day. And that is 3 feet off the ground.

 

[Happy Henhouse]

We aren't positive but it had the triangular head of a viper and it was a large heavy bodied snake. My coop is a converted garden shed so they're locked up at night ( hardware cloth over windows for ventilation) but there are two doors. One in the main coop area and a small one in the chick/mom area. They are not very far off the ground because I have some silkies who cannot fly. The snake came in during the day. He was not there at 5:30 when I opened the coop in the morning. I think the flooding brought him in.

 

[Happy Henhouse]

I feel like a little kid I got über excited when I saw a little beak from under her feathers lol. I will run up to TSC and get the electrolyte stuff. Only thing is the chicks can't get out of the nesting box should I put a dif one in there?

Either move them to another place or if the areas big enough it's probably best for now just to leave them and put a little food and water in there with them. They'll want more room soon but there's no rush as long as they have food. Mom can eat and drink the same you give the chicks. She can use the electrolytes and the extra protein in chick starter because she's probably lost some weight while setting. I love watching my momma hen with her chicks. My avatar is one of her chicks hitching a ride on her back! They're so cute!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Maydaymel, she is such a cutie! Love her with that big ol' hen.

I haven't been on for about 30 pages worth of comments- WOW! A lot to catch up on! I wanted to tell everyone thank you so much for your kind words about my daughter. Shortly after I posted she became very ill and was transported to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, where she was diagnosed with an extremely rare neurological disorder. We started a medicine trial and she is once again doing well. She's happiest when in our backyard chasing chickens and getting dirty from head to toe.

 

[heirloomorps]

A snake got in our coop yesterday. My husband killed it but it got one of our sebright chicks. Momma silkie was able to hide the rest by standing like a statue outside in the pouring rain with 4 little chicks under her. It was amazing. I couldn't see any chicks until she saw me & relaxed and all of a sudden these little heads started poking out of her soaked feathers. It also caused a young rooster to get hurt. Not sure how that happened. Maybe he was bitten or maybe just trampled or something but he can barely move now. Can't get up to eat or drink.

So sorry for your loss. It is always hard when something gets into a coop.

We have had something in our quail pen recently... three days ago we had a quail with an injury and just thought it had been fighting. Yesterday we found a bunch of feathers outside the pen and a dead quail in the pen. So today we added more hardware cloth and we will see what happens.

 

[Tncowgirl1903]

can you put a few days old chicks with week old chicks??

 

[Peach2u]

We aren't positive but it had the triangular head of a viper and it was a large heavy bodied snake. My coop is a converted garden shed so they're locked up at night ( hardware cloth over windows for ventilation) but there are two doors. One in the main coop area and a small one in the chick/mom area. They are not very far off the ground because I have some silkies who cannot fly. The snake came in during the day. He was not there at 5:30 when I opened the coop in the morning. I think the flooding brought him in.

Here in Tennessee we have 5 poisonous snakes. Depends on what part of the state you are in.
Timber rattlers "all over"
Eastern diamond back rattlers "Mostly in the eastern part"
pygmy rattler "mostly western part, but very rare it's on the threatened species list"
copperheads "all over"
cottonmouths "all over they live near water"

 

[Peach2u]

can you put a few days old chicks with week old chicks??

I have put 7-9 day old chicks with 2-3 day old chick. As long as you have a large enough feeding station for them to share. The bigger ones will push the lil ones out of the way for food. Also have to watch for pecking. If one starts pecking at a chick then they all peck at it. I have EE's and they are docile. i have never had a problem with EE's One year I put RIR and EE's toether and the RIR picked on the EE's.

 

[Happy Henhouse]

can you put a few days old chicks with week old chicks??

I have put 7-9 day old chicks with 2-3 day old chick. As long as you have a large enough feeding station for them to share. The bigger ones will push the lil ones out of the way for food. Also have to watch for pecking. If one starts pecking at a chick then they all peck at it. I have EE's and they are docile. i have never had a problem with EE's  One year I put RIR and EE's toether and the RIR picked on the EE's.

I agree with Peach. You can but you have to have docile breeds and watch them to make sure no one's getting pecked or trampled. The closer they are in size the better. That's really more important than age I think.

 

[New2chicksinTN]

All of our feather babies are now in the big coop. The one in my pic is for sale. $250. PM me if interested!