The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

She is a Splash Barnveldner, a cross from a Barnveldner and an EE. She was supposed to lay Olive eggs but did not get the blue egg shell gene. I do not care because she is a great Mom!

I hope the make it!

She is very pretty! I love my splash birds.
Thanks.

 

[Latestarter]

Good luck with the broody on turkey eggs Chickadoodles!

 

[chickadoodles]

Good luck with the broody on turkey eggs Chickadoodles!

Thank you.

 

[chickisoup]

OZ???? IS THAT YOU????

 

[Bunnylady]

 

[ronott1]

Who else is having a problem with their hens slowing down on laying? out of 18 hens I am only getting abt. 7 eggs a day.

It's the Broody fever!

I felt that I should revisit this subject. It is normal at this point in the laying cycle for some hens to take a break. They should pick back up again soon. If not, Parasites can lower egg production.

Just something to check. I changed out the mite strips last week and added some more. It is nearly time to think about worming the chickens too.

 

[Cynthia12]

OZ???? IS THAT YOU????

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know some people do it on a schedule and perhaps a good idea for those in a warm moist climate. But for my part, I've only wormed one rooster and no hens in my entire life. I always have a fecal sample read before I think about worming.

I'm still dealing with huge raccoon issues. It's my fault. Last year the problems came in May. With the extreme winter, I should have expected them to be a month later and be better prepared.
I've put padlocks on all doors and nest boxes that have hasps. For those that don't have hasps, I've temporarily screwed boards across all doors till I can install hasps for padlocks. I've consolidated all the birds into 3 secure buildings until I can make adjustments to the others. I'm reinforcing the edges of doors and door surrounds as well as windows.

This is the worst predator losses I've ever had. I've been in a real funk. I had no idea what to do with so many carcasses so over the last 3 days I've kept a fire going in the fire pit and burned them all. Flies have been a problem and burning has helped. I considered harvesting some breast meat but wasn't sure bacteria from the raccoons hadn't moved into the meat. I probably should have.
I did harvest 3 eggs from some of the hens.

To have never lost a chicken in the 4 buildings that the 3 days' losses came in, is an eye opener - even for someone well aware of raccoons capabilities. Always be diligent and allow no more than a 1 inch opening at night.

Plans are for automatic doors and baby monitors on all buildings.
Does anyone have a source for good quality, weatherproof, baby monitors at wholesale prices? I need at least 6 of them.

The night before last I caught a 20 pound boar coon in a hav-a-hart trap. He was extremely vicious and kept trying to get at me as I lowered the trap into the water.
I almost lost a hen last night. She didn't put herself away at dusk(probably because the building gives her nightmares) and I couldn't catch her. I checked on her at midnight and at 4 AM and she was fine but this morning there was a pile of feathers. I found her without her tail feathers but I can't find any wounds. Then I found a raccoon with his leg in the dog proof trap I had baited with mackerel. He wasn't in there an hour before dawn. He may have been the one that pulled the feathers out of the hen. He was 15 pounds.

Now to get them skinned and grilled before I'm overwhelmed with flies again.

In all I lost 15 mature hens, 3 POL pullets and 7 breeding age cockerels and roosters.
I thought I only had 2 roosters left but I heard one crowing in a nearby grove of trees this morning but he won't come home or let me close to him. I'll have to try to catch him at dusk.

 

[ronott1]

I know some people do it on a schedule and perhaps a good idea for those in a warm moist climate. But for my part, I've only wormed one rooster and no hens in my entire life. I always have a fecal sample read before I think about worming.

I'm still dealing with huge raccoon issues. It's my fault. Last year the problems came in May. With the extreme winter, I should have expected them to be a month later and be better prepared.
I've put padlocks on all doors and nest boxes that have hasps. For those that don't have hasps, I've temporarily screwed boards across all doors till I can install hasps for padlocks. I've consolidated all the birds into 3 secure buildings until I can make adjustments to the others. I'm reinforcing the edges of doors and door surrounds as well as windows.

This is the worst predator losses I've ever had. I've been in a real funk. I had no idea what to do with so many carcasses so over the last 3 days I've kept a fire going in the fire pit and burned them all. Flies have been a problem.

To have never lost a chicken in the 4 buildings that the 3 days' losses came in, is an eye opener - even for someone well aware of raccoons capabilities. Always be diligent and allow no more than a 1 inch opening at night.

Plans are for automatic doors and baby monitors on all buildings.
Does anyone have a source for good quality, weatherproof, baby monitors at wholesale prices? I need at least 6 of them.

The night before last I caught a 20 pound boar coon in a hav-a-hart trap. He was extremely vicious.
I almost lost a hen last night. She didn't put herself away at dusk(probably because the building gives her nightmares) and I couldn't catch her. I checked on her at midnight and at 4 AM and she was fine but this morning there was a pile of feathers. I found her without her tail feathers but I can't find any wounds. Then I found a raccoon with his leg in the dog proof trap I had baited with mackerel. He wasn't in there an hour before dawn. He may have been the one that pulled the feathers out of the hen. He was 15 pounds.

Now to get them skinned and grilled before I'm overwhelmed with flies again.

In all I lost 15 mature hens, 3 POL pullets and 7 breeding age cockerels and roosters.
I thought I only had 2 roosters left but I heard one crowing in a nearby grove of trees this morning but he won't come home or let me close to him. I'll have to try to catch him at dusk.

I hope you catch the missing Rooster!

It sounds like you are making progress with getting the coons under control.

 

[chickadoodles]

I know some people do it on a schedule and perhaps a good idea for those in a warm moist climate. But for my part, I've only wormed one rooster and no hens in my entire life. I always have a fecal sample read before I think about worming.

I'm still dealing with huge raccoon issues. It's my fault. Last year the problems came in May. With the extreme winter, I should have expected them to be a month later and be better prepared.
I've put padlocks on all doors and nest boxes that have hasps. For those that don't have hasps, I've temporarily screwed boards across all doors till I can install hasps for padlocks. I've consolidated all the birds into 3 secure buildings until I can make adjustments to the others. I'm reinforcing the edges of doors and door surrounds as well as windows.

This is the worst predator losses I've ever had. I've been in a real funk. I had no idea what to do with so many carcasses so over the last 3 days I've kept a fire going in the fire pit and burned them all. Flies have been a problem and burning has helped. I considered harvesting some breast meat but wasn't sure bacteria from the raccoons hadn't moved into the meat. I probably should have.
I did harvest 3 eggs from some of the hens.

To have never lost a chicken in the 4 buildings that the 3 days' losses came in, is an eye opener - even for someone well aware of raccoons capabilities. Always be diligent and allow no more than a 1 inch opening at night.

Plans are for automatic doors and baby monitors on all buildings.
Does anyone have a source for good quality, weatherproof, baby monitors at wholesale prices? I need at least 6 of them.

The night before last I caught a 20 pound boar coon in a hav-a-hart trap. He was extremely vicious and kept trying to get at me as I lowered the trap into the water.
I almost lost a hen last night. She didn't put herself away at dusk(probably because the building gives her nightmares) and I couldn't catch her. I checked on her at midnight and at 4 AM and she was fine but this morning there was a pile of feathers. I found her without her tail feathers but I can't find any wounds. Then I found a raccoon with his leg in the dog proof trap I had baited with mackerel. He wasn't in there an hour before dawn. He may have been the one that pulled the feathers out of the hen. He was 15 pounds.

Now to get them skinned and grilled before I'm overwhelmed with flies again.

In all I lost 15 mature hens, 3 POL pullets and 7 breeding age cockerels and roosters.
I thought I only had 2 roosters left but I heard one crowing in a nearby grove of trees this morning but he won't come home or let me close to him. I'll have to try to catch him at dusk.

I hope you get all of those critters. And I also hope you get your rooster back.
What about wireless driveway alarms? I saw some on amazon.com for 30.00. Or maybe ebay will have some used baby monitors. My SIL uses the driveway alarms to let him know when critters are creeping around the house. So sorry you are still having problems with those coons.