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[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi everyone

Hope you are all well?
How did your weather proofing go @chickens galore? Hope that fox has stayed away? Ah the Dreaded side tracked!! I know just what you mean!
Went out foxing again last night with the other half but non were shot. One did show its face but it was lamp shy and was too far away for a good clean shot. Would not come to the calling, it was very nervy. Have been hearing them again though on a morning and evening

 

[chickens galore]

Hi yes all weather proofed, I have seen fox scat but everyone is lo locked up till fully light and this will go on all winter, hope everyone one else learned a lesson through my misfortune
CG

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Oh that's good to hear you got it weather proofed and that your birds are all locked up on a night. I too learnt the hard way when I lost all mine. The bleep bleep bleep thing got through the perimeter garden fence the run enclosure and through the pop hole that was not fully secured with a bolt. Was an awful experience that scarred me. Now I'm predator crazy with extra bolts and the likes and everything double checked on an evening.

 

[Rudies Roost]

Hello all...gosh, all this fox talk does make me nervous! Well, here we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of 2 Swedish Flower Hens next weekend, new breed for us and ridiculously excited. We are deep into many moults, lots of scraggy hens and a very grumpy rooster parading around. With the clocks going back on Sunday morning, i'm just adjusting the light timer in the coop to hopefully keep some laying at a good pace. We did it last year and we had a decent supply. This summer's chicks have matured nicely, even the silkies seem to have put in a good growth spurt, hopefully they'll be laying in the Spring (assuming they are both pullets, slow to feather up but looking promising and no crowing...yet!). Love reading about everyone's seasonal adaptions. Cold weather and rain due from tomorrow, much to my ducks delight.... so time to hibernate with a glass of gin & tonic for me. Good luck with Winter everyone x

 

[GGBEAR]

Yes I to learnt the hard ay with the Fox I lost all my hens in May to Fox attack was totally devastated so now I set up shop again in August after my hubby made a new coop totally OTT predator proof and 4x the size of my old one but the stupid thing is it actually cost less to make that I paid for my pathetic small coop!!!!!

On a happier note my wombat of a black rock has finally come to her senses and decided to snap out of being broody much to my daisybells delight as they were BFF LOL all order is now restored in the coop ha ha
Many many thanks to everyone for their help especially Yorkshirecoop and chickensgalore.
Needless to say the next time I get a Broody I am going to go down chicks hatching route I'm excited I was already gonna do it in spring with my duck eggs under a broody hen but I'm gonna go for both so chickensgalore as soon as the time comes I shall be placing a order xx

 

[chickens galore]

Glad she got back herself, I've got loads of additive birds that will be laying in the spring, always a good price for BYC members, have you looked at serama's, my new crush chicken, good luck this winter to all and get ready to close the coops early, Yorkshire coop could do with you coming to visit with a gun, we now have rats

 

[GGBEAR]

Yeah I had big problems with rats last year my hubby went mad as coop was on end of the garage and they went in and tore up his fishing clothes and bait the chickens were going ballistic chasing them! So fr touch wood we have managed to keep them away my husband lined all the garage with wire and trapped I also purchased a magic feeder but think I'm gonna swap to a treadle
As for closing coop early ive been out between 5 and 6 depending on weather and light levels I'm not loosing another bird

 

[rebrascora]

I caught some monster rats last year. I set traps in the feed room where the chickens and horses aren't allowed. I have an old jar of peanut butter that I use to bait the traps along with a chunk of carrot. The traps will work for a while and then they get wise and I resort to wax poison blocks for a month and then go back to setting traps again. So far all is quiet on the rat front but there are a couple of feral cats hanging about the yard, so I'm wondering if they are dealing with the problem for now.

@Yorkshire coop

Kim, I've managed to find a couple of photos of me and two of my beasties.

This is a 2 shot sequence of me asking for a kiss from Rascal and his side kick little sister MeMe and enjoying the result.




Excuse the rather desperate "hat hair" and me looking like my eyelids have been glued shut!

I haven't had a fox incident since 2.5 months ago and now that the horses are in the yard with the hens for the winter it's a bit more of a deterrent for the fox, but I'm being pretty conscientious about locking them up as soon as they have gone to roost. Of course my last fox visit was in the morning whilst I was there so I can't eliminate the risk when they free range. I am tending to let them out a little later than usual which they are not happy about but rather unhappy than dead and eaten.
I've been treating them to elderberries the past few weeks which they have been loving. I have several elderberry bushes around the paddock and they are so simple to harvest and the flock now follow me every time I walk into the paddock in the hope of berries. They are almost all moulting at the moment and what a sorry state they look. Egg production hit rock bottom on Sun. I had been averaging 2 a day for the past week but I hit a big fat zilch on Sun. My two wonderful broodies, Tasha and Frances, had taken the day off together. I really can't begrudge them a rest though as they have raised chicks all summer and now they are the only ones regularly laying whilst the others moult. All I'm getting at the moment are little pink eggs with the odd blue one when one of Tasha's daughters decides to chip in.

I decided now might be a good time to give them the Verm-X natural worm treatment that I bought months ago. I've got some flubenvet in stock but it's complicated to administer when I've got such a large mixed age/sex/size flock and of course I keep planning to do away with cockerels and I'm not sure about withdrawal period, so I went with the Verm-X for now. Does anyone else ever use it? This is actually the first time I have used anything and whilst I saw the odd worm in droppings when I fist got my chickens a year and a half ago, I don't see any now. I'm not naive enough to think they don't have any worms.... I think a low level of parasites is a natural state of affairs.... and I've done post mortems on chickens that have died and checked for worm burdon in that process and found the odd one but not problem numbers. I'm a bit sceptical about how much of a problem worms really are and how much is Pharmaceutical advertising/propaganda..... I should say that I get faecal worm counts done on my horses and as a result I usually just worm once a year with a combined wormer like moxidectin. I guess I could get faecal counts done on the chickens but there are so many of them that the logistics don't make sense.
I know there are many people that deride DE and ACV but I use these products regularly on my chickens. I don't know how efficacious they are, but as I say, that's all I have used with my flock so far (until last weekend with Verm-X) and they all free range, so are potentially heavily exposed and I'm not seeing a worm burden problem and I do regularly check poops. Just wondering what other people's views are?

I have 5 young pullets that I'm desperately hoping will come into lay before the end of the year, so that's quite exciting. They are farmyard mutts and it's fun trying to figure out who the parents are. I have two blue ones that definitely came from Marans eggs and since they are not barred then my legbar cock is not the sire which means Dad has to be Henry.... who looks like a cross between a brown leghorn and a welsummer.... he's very handsome! Two of the others look like welsummer pullets so may be from my welsummer hen and Henry also and the fifth one has the welsummer feathers on her body but her head is black with a crest and beard/moustache..... bit of a comical look! I'm guessing she is also by Henry out of one of Tasha's daughter's eggs as Tasha has moustche/beard and her daughters have a crest from their legbar dad. The really exciting thing will be to see what egg colours I get from them.

Anyway, that's all my news for now. Must crack on whilst there is still a bit of daylight as I have japanese onions to plant.

Hope all is well with everyone and Harry's dentistry has been successful.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Shooting the rats is a good idea!! Gets rid of them quick and they don't lay around rotting if you can't find them after you have poisoned them with bait
We had some new decking out down and when the old came up there were dead ones underneath, not a pleasant smell when they got disturbed. The other half has shot quite a few out in the garden last year. But because the gun is loud we decided on bait after that. Got some proper bait boxes for it though so the chicken, dogs and cats could not get into it. For now the problem seems to be under control. Although the other night just before bed I let the dogs out amd they were going mad sniffing about. Got the torch and there was a rat in the chicken run!! It had got in but could not get out. Opened the door and let the dog in and one nip on the Bach of it and the dog had got it
She was very pleased with herself, she's old too and has a dicky ticker so all the excitement was a bit much for her!! But never the less a good kill for her.
Glad to hear everyone is getting their birds licked up early. Always better to be safe rather than sorry.

@rebrascora

What fabulous pics of Rascal and Me Me and you of course!!
They look great and have very kind faces. Ah the dreaded hat hair I too often have this, in fact I'm not sure what hair done is!! Clean and brushed only when I get out of the shower then it's off to bed so just as messy when I get up again.
That's very true about it being much better them staying in longer rather than being dead. Those foxes are out at all hours, I've heard them here early morning when it's braking daylight. Hope they stay away from you
I use the Verm-X on my birds and I've not seen any worms in the poop. I'm as possessed with worms as i am with mites!! Lord knows what the neighbours think with me rooting through run and coop. Probably think I'm crazy with my antics. I believe it works. I use DE a lot too in the coop and some in the feed.

My egg production has droped also. Out of 10 layers I'm getting about 2 eggs per day right now. Always one from either the warren or Amber. I've got a pullet that has just started laying too. 3 eggs so far from her. She is a frizzle polish x Amber and is quite a character to boot. Was super excited when i found her first egg, you would think I had never seen an egg before!! Still got pullets for sale, just can't seem to get shut of them. Most birds are moulting now so looking ver scruffy right now and I have enough feathers to stuff a duvet. One of my WCB hens looks very sorry for herself. No tail feathers left at all and bald patches all over. Some of the others though just look like they have thinned out no actual bald patches so not as bad.

Got through Harrys dental work ok, had the vet do it as our regular dentist is a million miles away and costs a fortune to just come out for one. The vet reckoned he could not see the dodgy tooth the dentist said he had last time. He did have a very large step at the back that food was building up in. So my thought is that the last time the dentist came he couldn't be bothered to spend the time hand rasping the big step so wanted to do it with electric rasp but couldn't because they need sedating for that and the dentist can't sedate. The vet did it by hand and he didn't need to sedate so that has saved me a bit of money. All done and he is eating better. Legs still puffy on a morning though with being stabled, not sure what to do next for that really. Got his front end clipped out so looking better but he is one greasy beast!! The more I brush the more there is. I might just bite the bullet and take it all off and give him a good bath!! His winter coat is just horrible, always been the same at this time of year. I hate winter coats!!

I'm going to be good now and clean my tack. Brought it home to do it in the warm. I've been naughty though and not done it in ages!!

Fingers crossed on those pullets and laying.

See you later Barbara

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

I hope everyone is well?

Happy Halloween!

Hope your all set for the trick or treaters!!