Washingtonians

[JennS]

Where in TX are you from?

My husband and I both went to Texas A&M, and lived in College Station for years after graduating. My family is mostly in the Rio Grande Valley, but also in Austin and Fort Worth. My husband's family is in Columbus, Fort Worth and San Antonio. My grandmother lives in the Valley and has always had chickens, and dabbled in turkeys, geese, and guinea fowl. My husband's grandmother is in Columbus and kept bantams. I remember being a kid, staying at Grandma's, and going out to collect eggs and toss grain around the pen. We also helped clip wings and pluck roosters for soup. So I guess getting chickens is a way to reconnect with my childhood. It'll just be a little different, western WA vs. south TX.

Jennifer

 

[VelvettFog]

VF it looks like it's time to sit up all night with a trusty .22!

Seriously tho I'm sorry you are having varment troubles.

.22's are a bit loud. I do have a very effective pellet rifle

I will be paying attention at dawn and dusk. Once the birds are in the coops they are safe.

 

[JennS]

That's quatrotriticale. Please people...what if someone's tribble died because of your mispost?

Awesome!

Jennifer

 

[RaZ]

.22's are a bit loud. I do have a very effective pellet rifle
I will be paying attention at dawn and dusk. Once the birds are in the coops they are safe.

.22 sub-sonic rounds.
Not much range, but quiet and effective at short distance.

 

[itsren]

Oh yeah....will do that after lunch! Oh and one of the gals sharing the nest box didn't lay.

Caunnie or Drama didn't lay yet, either. But they sure know how to make a mess of things! They have rearranged and rearranged the bedding in the coop, squawking all the way. They spend a bunch of time up there, and I can see the bedding flipping out of the pop hole into the run - but, nothing - no eggs. They had the coop so messed up this morning I didn't even bother to scoop the poop. I'm not digging through that bedding - I don't mind scooping 3 neat little piles each morning, but if they're going to flip their poop all over, they can live with it.

They're both squatting now, too. Hopefully they'll get their act together soon.

 

[JennS]

So, this evening. I retired early and was almost asleep when DW hollers up the stairs that there is a ruckus going on up at the coops. I slip on my crocks and walk up to the chicken yard. It is close to dark and the birds are mostly quiet;nothing out of the ordinary. I use a small flashlight to peer through a window to count beaks. Suddenly there is a noise to my right. I look up in time to see a large owl fly away. It had been sitting on the wire surrounding the coops. It was just feet away but the night was dark enough that I did not notice it until it moved.
Not my day for predators.

Wow! Too close for comfort. Sorry you lost a bird. How is the other one doing?

Have you checked for tracks around the pen? Can you smooth the dirt or scatter some sand around it for future tracks? I have a copy of Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens and it has drawings of tracks. It also has a chart for ID'ing predators, but nothing matches your situation. Good luck, I hope you can catch it when it comes back.

Jennifer

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
Soon! Patience young padawan I thought we would surely have had more than our typical 6 eggs today but nope! All those were laid by noon and nothing after that. Martha took a day off. Laya laid a JUMBO egg! It's ridiculous and now I know why she was in the nest box hogging it for a HOUR! Poor thing!

 

[lisaheath1]

Hmm. Kinda sorta resembles a roo to me, but I would want to see pics from other angles, especially focusing on the hackles and tail feathers. Can you get a side pic?

I will try again tomorrow. She (or he) is a quick little bugger and all the pics turn out blurry, lol

 

[itsren]

Bombing wouldn't work on hobos because they live outside the house. The ones that are seen inside are coming in looking for something, and won't become established if you keep baseboards swept, closets clean, clutter picked up, that sort of thing. This is the time of year that everyone sees hobos, because the latest generation has just become adults and the males are on the move, looking for love. In a month or two, they will be gone until next year.

Jennifer, that's good to know. I'm also glad to know that they won't become "established" and probably just walking through. Although, I think they have pretty easy access into the house through the crawl space right now. We recently pulled out our carpets and have old hardwood floors with wide cracks. We don't have baseboard up yet, because we're trying to figure out what to do with the flooring (refinish old hardwood or slap floating flooring over the top). There are so many uneven edges of wood flooring near the wall - the wide gaps probably make it very easy for spiders to come up through the flooring.

I need to tackle the kid's rooms and get rid of quite a few toys. That will be easier now that they are going back to school tomorrow. I think I'm going to make it a habit of sucking the edges of the flooring with a vacuum instead of just sweeping.

 

[lisaheath1]

What breed is it? I'd guess boy just by the redness of the comb/wattles and the ginormous feet!

I do not know what breed. I am so new at this, lol. I got five cute little baby chicks from a nice lady off craigslist. They were so darling and cute. It was a project for the daycare kids, but then I was like...we can just build a cute little coop in the back yard for them and we can watch them grow and they will lay EGGS haha, I guess not, lol

This one does have man-leggs...always has.

Is is true that the hens comb only turns red when she is getting old enough to lay eggs???