What did you do with your flock today?

[kurby22]

Good morning gang,, happy Aloha Sunday! Loving the good stories, fabulous and fun photos ♡ from high tech to high fashion to fuzzy and snow flake beauty.
I've been waiting for Miaki updates ♡♡♡ love the hood, love the cam. I def want one, just don't want another thechy item or headache. How was instal and learning curve?
Snow is beautiful and very classic picturesq. I had no idea that guinea were so dumb.

My first year losses were coccidia. I knew nothing about it and then started fining my second batch of babies all puffed up a few days after a rain. After my learng curve and loss of one or more I could not find any corid on island and shipping was weeks away. I had the sweetest babies dying in my hands and could not do anything about it. It was sad and overwhelming and I felt like a horribly stupid human and failure. I did finally get my corrid and my losses stopped but that was not my last big lesson.
My little dog started to pick my chicks off and I did not figure out it was him till he killed my favorite chick 10' from my husband.
My biggest knowledge gain was from a BR pullet. Beautiful but sick. A number of symptoms that started compounding. I had the great luck to have the most wonderful and supportive gal on byc take me under her wing. She helped me stock up and throw the kitchen sink at this bird. It was hard as everything I had to order online. Our feed stores had squat. I lost the bird, culling her after about 2 months of intense trying and the whole while fearing she may infect my flock but I kept the lessons and that has helped me have more wins than losses now. Thank goodness.

Thanks so much for sharing your stories and experience, it really helps a lot with the guilt to know I’m not alone and maybe not entirely the worst chicken owner So sorry you had to have those experiences though. :-(

 

[629864]

I know that snow creates a lot of issues when you have outdoor animals, but it sure is beautiful!! I miss snow so much but might feel differently now that I have to worry about my babies! Such a good chicken mom giving them paths to walk around! Nice too that it warmed up and melted pretty quickly! Can’t say I blame Hawk though You have lots of super cute chickens Wish I had all that space you have to let the chickens roam! The reds must love it

Thank you. We feel very blessed to live here. I know country life would seem unbearably boring to some, but we love our little slice of heaven on earth. Hawk is always the last out of the coop each morning. I think she's a human teenager in bird's clothing LOL And yes, the reds rule this place. I wonder if they feel like we do about this property after having been battery hens before.

 

[kurby22]

Thank you. We feel very blessed to live here. I know country life would seem unbearably boring to some, but we love our little slice of heaven on earth. Hawk is always the last out of the coop each morning. I think she's a human teenager in bird's clothing LOL And yes, the reds rule this place. I wonder if they feel like we do about this property after having been battery hens before.

I bet they feel like they found the best owners in the world and landed in chicken bliss I hope to have a nice quiet and somewhat boring bit of country heaven someday…

 

[629864]

I bet they feel like they found the best owners in the world and landed in chicken bliss I hope to have a nice quiet and somewhat boring bit of country heaven someday…

@kurby22 LOL not sure they've felt that way the last several nights when I've insisted they go into their coop, no arguments allowed. They probably think I'm being mean, but it's for their protection.

 

[629864]

I almost included a bunch of text yesterday about WHY locking up the chickens was for their protection. Then thought it was extraneous. Well....not!

Backstory-
We have two LGDs who guard our sheep and goats. Those pens surround our chicken area. This breed has been bred for over 6K years to do one job: guard livestock. They are sweet as can be with their people but will kill anything that enters their territory without permission (coyotes, meth heads, rabid butterflies...doesn't matter...if it's not supposed to be there, they will eliminate it).

Fast forward to last night-
We hear the dogs going apesh*t about an hour after dark. DH and I both go out, but I stay near the house while he goes deep into the woods to see what it was. He hears a pack of coyotes really close and they take off when he shines his head lamp in their direction. He follows and then hears the low growl of a cat (bobcat or mountain lion). He pursues. All goes quiet and all predators have backed away, so after about 45 minutes in the frigid rocky terrain, DH comes inside. Dogs start up again about an hour later, but then quiet down fairly quickly so we don't feel a need to go out (barking then quieting is the normal routine throughout the night every night). Then this morning at 7am I go out to feed all the critters. Dogs are GONE! We have 4 foot fencing on most areas, some other areas wrapped another 18 inches higher with barbed wire and a row of hotwire. The only thing that would have caused those dogs to jump that fence and leave their animals is something they felt was so imminently threatening that they felt compelled to pursue. Although I couldnt see them, I called them and they immediately started breaking brush and I then saw them trying to come down the steep slope to me but got stymied by the old barbed wire fencing higher up the slope. When they tried to make their way around, they got lost, split up, and it took us nearly 3 hours to find them both.

DH was beyond ticked at them. I think they were just doing their job. We really should have three dogs: 1 that would stay with the flock and 2 that would pursue a predator. And that was our plan for the summer, to get a third dog.

But in the immediate future, like THIS WEEKEND, we'll be adding 3 rows of hotwire to the top of the fencing that is currently only 4ft high. They've never tried to jump the other areas that are higher. And I applaud their bravery to try to eliminate what was clearly a threat. But I dont want to have another incident where DH and I have to traipse over 36 acres of very rough terrain to find these two again! Until the new wire is up, Poppy (the older instigator) has been penned in the area that already has the higher fencing so she doesnt go rogue again and take Finn (the 1 year old impressionable doofus) with her.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Sounds like you had predators many last night.
Do you think the dogs went after the wolves or the cat ?
As they where not hurt must have run both off.

 

[629864]

No wolves in this area thank goodness. But coyotes out the wazoo. The coyotes are always around. Poppy is a confirmed coyote killer and it takes her just seconds to kill one before going on the to next. She doesnt see them as such a threat when they're outside the fence and would only kill them if they crossed the fence. The dogs have never pursued past the fence line before and we have coyotes lurking every night. I think it was either the big cat or a bear. Or perhaps Sasquatch

 

[pennyJo1960]

Sasquatch is know to take dogs out so your had a cat there I am not sure how I have been so lucky here never lost a bird to predators since we have been here

 

[629864]

Dogs got out again last night. But this time they came back without much trouble. Both got injured....from pursuing whatever it was until they were just exhausted. Limping badly....likely from leaping the fence again when they were already exhausted from the night before. Vet said nothing's torn or broken... they just overextended themselves. So he has them on cephalexin for pain. Vet said he's had a ton of people in this past week complaining about the sudden onslaught of coyotes...but that there have also been several reports of mountain lions and panthers (whoda thunk it). I thought he was joking about the panthers, but he said this area definitely has them. I bet that or a mountain lion is what the dogs went after. We got the hotwire up and running where it had been before...just in need of serious clearing of brush and fixing some of the insulators. We'll install the remaining wire over the weekend. But at least we've got one area where the dogs and livestock can sleep and the predators will get 2000V if they try to come over the fence. DH is spending the night out there tonight to see if he can shoot whatever it is. @pennyJo1960 if he gets Sasquatch, I'll let you know.

On the chicken front, both Orps are acting like they've lived here forever. One spends her time hanging out between two of the roosters. This has earned her a nickname that I cant post here.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Went shopping at Costco today.. Ya you get Sasquatch
I want photos ......