Utah!

[sundancenbare]

good morning all

Have any of you in Magna had night time early morning preditor problems? The girls have been outside since April with no issues,. However just in the last 5 days I have found the something has been diging into the run.I have fixed the first spot with pavers and it just moved. I have dug down and put in a wood and wirecloth and it still dug down tothe wireeven trying to pull it up. What ever it is it can move dirt. iIt seem to only need about3" to clear under the bottom rail of the run. Looks like I will be moving some dirt myself to addsome more depth for the rails.

Other wise weare now getting avarge of 5 eggs a day 2blue/green and 3brown. That leaves 1 we are stl leaves 1 of the sexlinks we are not sure of. It is so great to go out and see what they have left. I do have a cam in the coop so wecan see if the nest are busy and we have seen most the girls in the boxes . Also nice to see them ok at night. tThe timing of the lays are fun 1 or 2 by 8am and again by 11am with last by3pm, so all day thing, so we have just started collecting about2-3pm.

My son had a mountain lion that kept coming in his yard. It was collared so DWR knew it was him. He did no damage but my son would not let his kids go out after dark. The cat tangled with the lab one night and the vet verified it was a mtn lion. After it tangled with th dog it quit coming around. They lived in Magna very close to the mtns.

 

[sundancenbare]

Who was it that wanted the black cochin hen? Does anyone else need some egg layers. I have a silver lace wyandot that will be laying in about a month,

 

[kidasoto]

My chicken that just started laying hasnt laid anything for 2 days. Is this normal? She laid for 6 days in a row then nothing the last 2.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

My chicken that just started laying hasnt laid anything for 2 days. Is this normal? She laid for 6 days in a row then nothing the last 2.

Pretty normal, the beginning can be like that. Then as they get older, still take a day or two off here and there depending on the breed. But if they take a week or so off, then you start to wonder if they are broody, molting, or if something else is stressing them out. Or the cold/less daylight makes them stop sometimes for awhile.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Who was it that wanted the black cochin hen?  Does anyone else need some egg layers.  I have a silver lace wyandot that will be laying in about a month,

 

Was it Daloorashens?

 

[Cynthia12]

Do you know if it is a raccoon or skunk?
We had skunks digging in to the coop last year and I kept putting cement blocks around and filling holes. Nothing worked. So I had all the nephews and men folk come over and pee all over the fences and around the base of the coop....Never had any more problems after that.

Oh man, I can just see my DH and son's face if I asked them to do this. I wonder if I could get them to do it.

In themeantime, I have a big dog out there that has probably marked his place in several areas. Plus, I let my two little dogs out with me when I do chicken work...so, they are smelling dog everywhere! Good idea actually, men, going potty around the coop. Wild things don't like the smell of man as it is, I would imagine this would scare them half to death, and off they go.

 

[Cynthia12]

My neighbor called last night to tell me there were chickens in my front yard. I let them out in the evening because its cooler on the north side of the house. Well, she says I need to put them up because her dogs got loose. I said, No its ok. I sit out with them with a pellet gun in case dogs enter the yard. Later I found out her dogs had killed chickens across town. That may be a strained relationship in the future.

If you can't find anyone to take him, I've got some younger chicks he might fit in with - they are pretty mellow. No promises to keep him forever, because if they can't get along, they get camped. We're in Lindon. I've got lots of room... Filled with lots of birds. PM if interested.
Thanks for the reminder! Do you need to borrow an incubator? Or three?

You go girl, with that BB gun..I can see myself doing this if I was out somewhere with dogs running the neighborhood. I've already caught a Ferrel cat.

 

[kidasoto]

Well i went out to check and see if my chicken was just being late laying her egg. I found my RIR sitting in the nest box looking like she wanted to lay and egg. I guess ill have to go back and check in awhile to see if she succeeded.

 

[Cynthia12]

My son had a mountain lion that kept coming in his yard. It was collared so DWR knew it was him. He did no damage but my son would not let his kids go out after dark. The cat tangled with the lab one night and the vet verified it was a mtn lion. After it tangled with th dog it quit coming around. They lived in Magna very close to the mtns.

Oh man Diana, I would be so scared to let my kids out too. Glad that thing disappeared! It's got to be tough living around that kind of wild area. And to think, that's how man used to live. Now we have taken up all the room that the deer and lions, and bear used to live in. When we lived in Mapleton, a small town next to us, it is closer to the foothills of the mountain range. We would see red fox, and once there was actually a black bear in a corn field one year. Skunks of course, love the corn fields. The mountain lion would come down into the foot hills, where there were a lot of homes built. Dogs, cat, small animals, were disappearing.

 

[Cynthia12]

I have to agree, having a dog house/kennel closer to a fence has to be more smelly than having a few chickens in their coop overnight.
http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/C2/20120810/NEWS05/308100019/