The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Kassaundra]

 

[aaggjg]

Miss Gray

RIP Miss Gray ... She was a beauty!! Sorry for your loss LM

 

[Sally8]

Just lost my first bird to a predator. Hawk.


1.5 years without a predator loss. Until today.


Sorry I was too late.

Miss Gray

I'm so sorry for your loss. For the last several years I've never had any troubles raising my chickens. Now I also have a hawk circling the sky.

 

[delisha]

I was wondering about the paleness of my Barred Rick's comb. I know she's young yet (only 12wks) but her face and waddles are reddening up nicely. It's just the tips of her comb that are pale...like skin tone. I've checked her for mites. I was wondering if maybe she was lacking something in her diet. She's still in starter feed. She gets plenty of greens, and she has grit that has oyster in it if she wants it. Plus she gets treats of freeze dried meal works and assorted seeds to scratch for every day...could it just be her age? I guess I was just expecting it to be redder by now

no..she is very young. Hatchery birds are about 16 weeks. Heritage are 6-9 months.

Just lost my first bird to a predator. Hawk.

I've been going out quite frequently because the littles are out there and I wanted to keep a "surprise presence" at various times to change things up a bit.

Finally heard some peeping and saw her up against the side of the pole building laying low and tight in a little trench. She must have finally relaxed enough to peep (good thing I have good hearing). I was able to get her into the house with the others so at least Miss Gray's baby is okay.

She protected the baby's..gave them time to hide. what brave momma..the hawk will be back..you need to change your flags height and put out streamers.
My yard looks like a trash hole now and i simply do not care. I have christmas lights, tables, chairs, all kinds of things.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
my doc recommended waiting for me based on several factors.

But there are rumors that the uninsured population is going to be forced to decrease in our USA. Not sure it will help our health care prices or not.
rumors my butt... and no, it'll raise the prices of everything. including the insurance I am paying for. 4 years ago, before the obummercare thing came about, my insurance (copay style) was costing me $100 a month for myself and hubby. then obummercare came along and my rates doubled within months. last year they increased again by 30%. this year they're going up even more. I'm paying twice what I was at that time, now on the high deductible plan with a 5k deductible and everything under 5k is straight out of my own pocket. so i'm not getting ANY benefit of even having insurance, unless i'm critically injured or need surgery basically. the same plan I was on 4 years ago at $100 a month is now costing about 350 for myself and hubby both. half a mind to go ahead and pay for the higher plan, and get all my ailments fixed asap. (back and neck issues) because in another couple years I probably won't be able to afford even the basic insurance that i'll be required to keep.

 

[ki4got]

LM, sorry to hear about ms grey... when my girl finally starts laying I can let you know, if you want eggs from a similar (or same lines) girl...

 

[aoxa]

Just lost my first bird to a predator. Hawk.

I've been going out quite frequently because the littles are out there and I wanted to keep a "surprise presence" at various times to change things up a bit.

Went out and a bunch of the girls were standing by the dog house looking and acting strange and I heard a strange calling from inside the hen house over on the other side. I knew something was wrong and sprinted over to the house. It was the rooster carrying on loudly and there was one girl in there with him on one side and another hiding quietly under the nest boxes. Went back out and only saw 2 babies and the gray sfh was nowhere to be seen so I assumed she was gone.

Convinced the others to come over with me to the hen house and they all piled in and haven't come out yet. Then I started counting. Found Miss black hunkered down inside the dog house and had to tip it up to get her to slide out then herded her back to the house.

On the way through I found Miss Gray (the bio-mom of the baby sfh) dead on the ground.

Still no site of the gray baby and I knew that she was small enough to be picked up and carried away, but I also know those kiddos are good at getting into small places and being very still. I walked around for about 10 min. calling what I usually call when I go out and listening for peeps. I was afraid that if she was hiding she'd probably die of cold as she's only 6 wks and hasn't been without momma on the floor at night. If it were a missing older one I would have assumed it would fare okay if it was only the night.

Finally heard some peeping and saw her up against the side of the pole building laying low and tight in a little trench. She must have finally relaxed enough to peep (good thing I have good hearing). I was able to get her into the house with the others so at least Miss Gray's baby is okay.

Hawk tried to come back to feed on the body while I was in the hen house giving them a bit of food! All hell broke loose in there and I knew something must be wrong. Looked out and sure enough, there was the hawk eating. Tried to pick her up and fly away but dropped her.

1.5 years without a predator loss. Until today.


Sorry I was too late.

Miss Gray

LM so sorry Weren't we just talking about how the rooster didn't prefer her, or was that another? The crest definitely doesn't help he know when danger from above is coming.

I am really sorry to hear this. Hawks have been crazy this year... They have moved on and are headed south.

 

[Leahs Mom]

She protected the baby's..gave them time to hide. what brave momma..the hawk will be back..you need to change your flags height and put out streamers.
My yard looks like a trash hole now and i simply do not care. I have christmas lights, tables, chairs, all kinds of things.

Miss Gray (Who died) wasn't the broody mamma; just the bio mom of the little gray girl. Miss Gray was the bottom of the pecking order and was the one that was most often away from the rest of the flock. I asked them if they felt ashamed of how they treated her now that this happened.

Here's her bio baby that I found by the pole barn.






I have been keeping them in the covered run till I get home from work because of the babies so I've been pretty vigilent and going out about every half hour while the littles were out ranging.

No one will come out of the house at all at this point. I guess I'll have to rethink what I have out there for overhead and make some adjustments.

Do you think your Christmas lights have helped? That's one I hadn't thought of.

LM, sorry to hear about ms grey... when my girl finally starts laying I can let you know, if you want eggs from a similar (or same lines) girl...

I'm going to have to figure out who is between you guys and me for a driving chain. I'd like some eggs from Leigh's chocolate girl too.

 

[Leahs Mom]

LM so sorry Weren't we just talking about how the rooster didn't prefer her, or was that another? The crest definitely doesn't help he know when danger from above is coming.

I am really sorry to hear this. Hawks have been crazy this year... They have moved on and are headed south.

Yes. She is the one that we were talking about that had started sleeping in the nest box since they were hard on her getting on the roost.

She was always at the edges of everything. Was more of a runner (and fast) than a fighter. Hawk probably had her staked out. Not to mention that she was the only light colored bird in the flock and even thought SOME people say that the color doesn't matter, I still think the darker birds blend in better and have more camo than lighter colors do. I always thought it was a good thing to have the dark, mottled, or otherwise less obvious colors for aerial predation help.

Was AMAZING that baby wasn't nabbed right up.

 

[delisha]

The hawk has been around but not landed since I put them up. All my chicken friends call me the trailer trash lady now.