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Post by lisaann on Mar 18, 2018 14:27:29 GMT -5
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 18, 2018 14:40:06 GMT -5
"I am so glam I sweat glitter." These are stunning photos! Thanks lisaann ,
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Post by binnylou on Mar 18, 2018 15:37:05 GMT -5
The first one...he's a handsome dude, and he knows it.
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Post by deckman22 on Mar 18, 2018 17:24:12 GMT -5
Those are some pretty birds, make mine look plain jane.
Something came inside the fenced area & killed two in one day last week so I'm down to 3 chickens now and they aren't even a year old. No more free ranging all over the place, I closed off the gate and have been adding onto the 4' fence so they can't fly over it. Picked up 8 chicks the other day and probably will get some pullets too. I don't really need more than three chickens to supply my wife and I with eggs but my daughter lives close by and has 4 kids at home and they all love eggs.
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Post by ahntjudy on Mar 19, 2018 7:46:53 GMT -5
Nice lisaann...Had no idea there were so many beautiful varieties of chickens...
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Post by gardendmpls on Mar 21, 2018 14:34:40 GMT -5
Like to get the pretty ones, so I've had some of these. Wyandotte is the first one- comes in silver or gold laced and also blue laced red. Hatched a bunch of those last summer, but raccoons got them all, because I put them out in an old, A-frame coop with a hidden loose board under the door. Before the next hatching spree, I'll build a mini-coop inside my secure coop pen to house the adolescents.
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Post by Latitude33 on Apr 1, 2018 19:56:11 GMT -5
Been rearing six RIR/White Leghorn chicks the past couple weeks. Little buggers are eating machines! Three of the chicks are actually for a friend that retired her hens. The chicks were a life science project at a local school and needed to be re-homed after hatching. The teacher has agreed to take back any Roos. It's been a thrill, haven't dealt with chicks since I was a kid at my grandparents farm. A lot of great memories have come rushing back. Integrating the newbies in with Lucy and Ethel could be interesting. Gee, all this in the heart of Suburbia.
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Post by gardendmpls on Apr 2, 2018 1:26:37 GMT -5
They should be about the same size when integrating or feathers will fly. I have a small coop inside my large coop pen for this. The older hens spend a lot of time checking out the young ones through the wire. My last hatch was 5 silkie roosters and two hens. There was also one eyed Survivor, the only one left of a group of French copper marans that were assaulted by raccoons after I placed them outside in a not as sturdy as I thought coop. They were all fighting at school, so five of the roosters went over the fence Friday to my neighbor. The kids were upset at first, but then volunteered to round them up. That was hysterical- lots of jumping and screaming. After the roosters were boxed up, they wrote the name of a favorite chicken dish on each box. Gallows humor from teenagers.
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Post by deckman22 on Apr 11, 2018 19:31:03 GMT -5
I finished off fencing an outside area for my chicks and gave them a taste of the outdoors today. Hesitant at first then they were roaming all over looking for bugs. The three big hens were much more interested in them than they were of the big birds. I thought I was done with chicks but, they are fun to watch their antics.
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Post by binnylou on Apr 11, 2018 21:36:47 GMT -5
I thought I was done with chicks Okay, deckman22, what kind did you buy? anything fancy? Chicks are so stinkin cute. The farm store has chicks for sale right now...they are in a big watering tank with cedar shavings and a heat lamp and the store manager finally got smart and put a screen over them for protection. It's such a temptation to think about having chickens...maybe I'll just watch the eagle cam.
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Post by deckman22 on Apr 12, 2018 0:23:30 GMT -5
I got 3 Barred Rocks and 5 Americanas. My grandkids wanted green eggs.
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Post by countrykitty on Aug 13, 2018 16:57:42 GMT -5
Predators are a serious pain--and I think I have all of them right here in SW KY. Raccoons, possums, weasels, mink, feral cats, loose dogs, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, owls and hawks. I've had losses from everything---and it's hard to say which is the worst.
Most of the nocturnal ones can be foiled with a tight coop shut up at night. But not always. A groundhog was slipping in to help himself to chicken feed--I went to shut up the coop one night and found it sitting in the bin. Apparently I'd accidentally shut it in one night, because after loosing several birds to raccoons getting in, I found a hole chewed in a hidden corner of the coop. Possums and rats help themselves to eggs, and a weasel or mink used a rathole to get in and wipe out all but one of my Rhode Island Red pullets this spring.
This last year we could hear what sounded like a cat in heat brrrrbling in the brush near the creek. Checked videos online later and learned that's the sound baby bobcats make. Momcat sat 40 feet from the back porch where DH and I were standing, eyeballing my rabbit hutch. She took 4 birds in 3 days, more than a single cat could need but just what a mom and kits would, then came back after a pekin duck. DH followed her through the woods firing off a big hog leg of a pistol. Said he didn't hit her, just 'put the fear of God in her'; DD saw a cat run across the road from one cornfield to another near dawn last week and it could be her.
Friend gave me a handsome brahma mix rooster, DH bought me a german shepherd pup, and the coop is patched, so the handful of hens I have now are happy and aren't being bothered by anything just now...so I picked up a bunch of Salmon Faverolle and cubalaya chicks at TSC. Hopefully, Witta the pup and his big bark will keep the predators on their toes and away from my coop.
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Post by tom π on Aug 13, 2018 17:25:10 GMT -5
Raccoons, possums, weasels, mink, feral cats, loose dogs, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, owls and hawks. Bears are the worst. No ordinary means will protect the chickens.
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Post by countrykitty on Aug 13, 2018 20:03:40 GMT -5
You're absolutely right, there. Black bears have been caught on trail cams in the counties just north and east of me recently. A coworker just north of the county line put pics of 2 mountain lions in her back yard on facebook recently.
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Post by deckman22 on Oct 15, 2018 15:58:26 GMT -5
My chicks are all grown up and laying eggs. Everyone seems to like the blue eggs the Americana's lay, taste the same to me tho. The Americana seem to be better flyers tho and one kept flying up on the old goat pen which is now their turf. She would then jump off into freedom looking for bugs/whatnot. It seems it's always greener on the other side of the fence even for chickens. For about a week straight every day I was chasing that chicken around to put back inside the fenced area, I wasn't amused to say the least. Next thing you know there's 4 of the Americana chickens up on the goat pen roof. Something had to be done about the escape artist.
The folks next door after having mine come over for daily visits back when I let them roam decided they wanted chickens too. Someone gave them 3 birds cause they tired of them just as they were coming to egg laying age, good score, ha. The lady got quite taken by her chickens giving each names and letting them jump in her lap. Whatever was killing chickens got one of hers. She was heart broken and talked about getting some more, Americana chickens being on the wish list due to the blue/green eggs.
Well there was the answer for my escape artist and neighbor's desire for a blue egg layer. Neighbors are happy with their new bird and none of mine picked up her bad habit, tho one did fly straight up 8' onto the barn roof one day. They closed off the roof of their coop after the one was killed so no chance of escape anymore.
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