Utah!

[sillycmoy]

You guys have me all nervous about leaving my 2 babies outside tonight. It's their first time all night outside in the coop, but I feel they are ready, one is actually been ready for a week or more, but didn't want her outside by herself. So I have a 7-8 week old and an almost 6 week old, both BR outside LOCKED inside the coop. They are also inside the fully enclosed run with hardware cloth apron, but all this talk about falcons, makes me nervous to leave them out, even though there is no way they will break inside the actual coop. But I live up really close to AF Canyon, and we get large birds all the time, and we have an Owl who I swear lives in one of our Pine Tree's. That's why we have the coop under the deck, fully enclosed so nothing can hopefully get inside the run at night. Plus we have Doves, tons and tons of Doves, and I never thought about them killing the chicks. I was planning on keeping them all locked up in the run till they are all pretty big to free range during the day, cause I'm worried about the Magpies, they dive bomb my dogs all the time.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

You guys have me all nervous about leaving my 2 babies outside tonight.  It's their first time all night outside in the coop, but I feel they are ready, one is actually been ready for a week or more, but didn't want her outside by herself.  So I have a 7-8 week old and an almost 6 week old, both BR outside LOCKED inside the coop.  They are also inside the fully enclosed run with hardware cloth apron, but all this talk about falcons, makes me nervous to leave them out, even though there is no way they will break inside the actual coop.  But I live up really close to AF Canyon, and we get large birds all the time, and we have an Owl who I swear lives in one of our Pine Tree's.  That's why we have the coop under the deck, fully enclosed so nothing can hopefully get inside the run at night.  Plus we have Doves, tons and tons of Doves, and I never thought about them killing the chicks.  I was planning on keeping them all locked up in the run till they are all pretty big to free range during the day, cause I'm worried about the Magpies, they dive bomb my dogs all the time. 

I have a little pen I put my teenagers in during the day, it was just open on top but I j had to start putting a sheet of plywood over the top because I had a magpie jump in there and peck one of their eyeballs out. Ewwww it made me mad, and sad, that one of my babies got hurt like that. Now I am pretty paranoid about the little ones being unprotected in the yard until they are much bigger. I had not idea prior to that , that magpies were vicious like that. It caught me off guard!

 

[PancakeShiners]

I live in Millcreek. I live in an area owned by the county, not an actual city.

My IFA chicks are 5 weeks. My Brahmas are about 13 months old. Not sure how old my RIR is, got her from Sundance.

I actually saw a hawk today... Scared me to death. But, my babies were hiding in the tall grass so they survived. This time anyway... Previously for me it's just been raccoons and cats... Those pesky cats will pull a head off through the wire. One of my babies a few years back died from a dangerously deep cut in her abdomen, really slow and gruesome. o.o A lot of the problem I had was a coop my babies could easily escape.

 

[cyndiloowho]

HELP!
My son rescued this teeny baby from being smooshed in his cow pasture. The bitty thing isn't using the one leg that's curled up under it.
Here is the thing, I have NO knowledge of duckies. We gave it water and scrambled egg which it scarffed down. It is in a little brooder. What now? Chick starter?

 

[Desert Springs]

Does anyone breed Light Sussex chickens?

Neighbor has started doing Speckled but not Light, sorry.

 

[Desert Springs]

Hello All. I'm new to BYC and chickens but really enjoying this new adventure and loving this post. I live in Riverton and have 6 chicks. Four are 5 weeks and two are 2 weeks old. I got them all from IFA where they say the hen rate is about 90% so well find out soon. Looking forward to eggs in about 4 months :-/

Hi abw67!!

Most hatcheries that sell pullets claim a 90% accuracy rate...lol...hopefully all are girls!!!

Which breeds did you buy??

 

[sillycmoy]

I have a little pen I put my teenagers in during the day, it was just open on top but I j had to start putting a sheet of plywood over the top because I had a magpie jump in there and peck one of their eyeballs out. Ewwww it made me mad, and sad, that one of my babies got hurt like that. Now I am pretty paranoid about the little ones being unprotected in the yard until they are much bigger. I had not idea prior to that , that magpies were vicious like that. It caught me off guard!

Well I thought about it, and brought them back inside, they are in a x large dog crate with no lights or anything, I will put them all out at the end of the week, when I think the other 4 can go out with them. Then there will be 6 outside in the coop to keep warm with.

Magpies are horrid. They like to get the Robin's nests out of our pine trees, we have a few very large pine trees, and the Magpies just raid them. Last summer my terrier mix got it so bad from one that he needed stitches. And he is a 23 lb dog. Not sure if he caught the bird and that's how he got hurt, because he came inside with a mouth full of black and white feathers, and I had about 5 Magpies circling the yard, screaming their heads off. But they are awful. I told my husband that once the girls are out free ranging, I'm going to sit all day long with his airsoft gun, and shoot any that flys over head. So I'm sure my girls will be locked up in their run till they are huge, and I think one is a bantam, so I'm not sure if I will ever let her out. LOL

 

[Eveyander]

I live right off the I-15 exit for 1200. We do have a hawk nest out in our pasture but the coop is closed off on all sides including the top so we don't think it was them. The Hubby laid out some traps tonight and we will be keeping them in our garage untill it's safe.

 

[Desert Springs]

I had one kill one of my Silkies when it was young. I have a large flock of wild doves every summer. Last year i counted at least 20 doves on the tele wire above the coop. The falcons move in and chase the doves all around the neighbor hood and this draws the attention of larger birds like hawks. I lost our buff Silkie roo last year to a small hawk. Luckly we have a pair of crows that have made our neighbor hood their home in the spring, but once their chicks have left they nest the move on and the stupid birds of prey move in. I have 2 telephone polls in the back yard and was thinking of buying a couple of those fake owls and paying a city worker to put them on top of the poles. I dont know if this works but its worth a chance.

I've had those fake owls.... they're nice to look at but the hawks and falcons know they're fake!!

I had to hang something that had shiny eyes.... you can get them in catalogs.

Good luck!

 

[PancakeShiners]

I once found a sparrow. She was pecked to death by a bunch of crows. It was horrible. I'm sure that magpies are just as bad. But I don't trust anything like that around my babies. *glares*