Raising Chickens: Baby Chicks to ½ Grown

[dlgoff]

Don't give her a banning gun!

Only you can do that.

 

[Evo]

Does Roger have an air conditioned coop? I don't want my baby keeling over from the heat, what with all of those feathers she's wearing. Maybe let her sleep with you at night.

 

[dlgoff]

Does Roger have an air conditioned coop? I don't want my baby keeling over from the heat, what with all of those feathers she's wearing. Maybe let her sleep with you at night.

I'm really careful about that. There are two screened windows on the coup and if I ever think that they are getting too hot, I will put a fan in one to circulate the air. So far, on the hot parts of the day, I let them out. But the coop so far hasn't gotten hot enough to cause any problems.

My uncle use to raise chickens in Arkansas where it gets really hot and humid. He had 7 houses with ~50K chickens in each. He had large fans and misters that worked well.

Don't worry Evo. I look after them like they are my children.

Edit: There's a nice elm tree for shade next to the coop also.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I look after them like they are my children.

Edit: There's a nice elm tree for shade next to the coop also.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

dlgoff's place was on the other side!

 

[dlgoff]

Why did the chicken cross the road?

dlgoff's place was on the other side!

At last. An answer to the eternal question. I'm the chicken god I guess.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm the chicken god I guess.

I'm just a lowly fryer.

 

[dlgoff]

I'm just a lowly fryer.

You are here by now my road crossing flyer. Spread the word.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You are here by now my road crossing flyer. Spread the word.

No, not flyer, fryer!

You know, like friar. Now you've completely ruined my witty pun.

 

[dlgoff]

Not such a good god after all. Fry on my man.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Not such a good god after all. Fry on my man.

Just call me Fryer Puck.

 

[dlgoff]

Just call me Fryer Puck.

 

[dlgoff]

OMG. Evo's going to sh*t. Guinevere was killed last night or this morning. RIP

Something dug under the pen (made a 1" high X 3" wide hole) and managed to grab her and pull her to the pen; close enough to bite. I just buried her. Must have been a raccoon.

I am so pissed off.

 

[Ms Music]

That is horrid news! That is one of my big fears.

I hope the raccoon doesn't come back. Were you able to get the hole repaired and reinforced?

 

[dlgoff]

That is horrid news! That is one of my big fears.

I hope the raccoon doesn't come back. Were you able to get the hole repaired and reinforced?

I've temporally placed concrete blocks there. I going to put rail-road ties around the entire bottom of the pen. I'll try to post pictures later. I can't believe how the chicken could have let him reach in through such a small opening, considering the pin is 8'x8'.

Damn raccoons.

 

[rhody]

OMG. Evo's going to sh*t. Guinevere was killed last night or this morning. RIP

Something dug under the pen (made a 1" high X 3" wide hole) and managed to grab her and pull her to the pen; close enough to bite. I just buried her. Must have been a raccoon.

I am so pissed off.

Time to break out the night vision googles, rifle, traps and do some late night varmit trapping and/or hunting Don, don't go down without the good fight. May Guievere RIP.

Rhody...

 

[dlgoff]

Time to break out the night vision googles, rifle, traps and do some late night varmit trapping and/or hunting Don, don't go down without the good fight. May Guievere RIP.

Rhody...

Steel traps will be out tonight. The last two chickens will get revenge.

 

[dlgoff]

Let's see. With two chickens, next summer we should get ~2 dozen eggs/week. Or ~32 dozen eggs/summer. So far it's cost $100 for the pen (not to count a broken nose from the construction) and $60 in feed cost. Next summers feed @ $60 gives $[STRIKE]320[/STRIKE] 220/32 dozen=$[STRIKE]10[/STRIKE] 6.88/dozen. They better be good.

Maybe eating raccoon would be more cost efficient.

Edit: Can you tell I was upset and chugged 3 beers? See line out above.

 

[Evo]

OMG. Evo's going to sh*t. Guinevere was killed last night or this morning. RIP

Something dug under the pen (made a 1" high X 3" wide hole) and managed to grab her and pull her to the pen; close enough to bite. I just buried her. Must have been a raccoon.

I am so pissed off.

Noooo.

Guinevere. How horrible, what a terrible thing. Poor baby. At least she knew she was loved and treated with respect.

I think I'm going to throw up.

 

[dlgoff]

I think I'm going to throw up.

Me too.

 

[rhody]

Me too.

Don,

Look closely, it is coming out of his neck, not his MOUTH !

Rhody...

 

[Ms Music]

Don, right after I posted, I found this article in my email. http://www.grit.com/livestock/chickens/predators-of-chickens.aspx It has some good ideas. One I found interesting, was putting sand around the cage at night to find out what comes by to visit. Sounds like weasels and opossums are also likely to dig, so if you have any in the area, consider them on the roasting list too.

I think I will print the article for when I build my first coop.

 

[dlgoff]

Don, right after I posted, I found this article in my email. http://www.grit.com/livestock/chickens/predators-of-chickens.aspx It has some good ideas. One I found interesting, was putting sand around the cage at night to find out what comes by to visit. Sounds like weasels and opossums are also likely to dig, so if you have any in the area, consider them on the roasting list too.

I think I will print the article for when I build my first coop.

I have plenty of these around here. I've never seen anything like it. This is the first time I've ever heard them hollering in the middle of the day and flying around in broad daylight.

 

[Dembadon]

I have plenty of these around here. I've never seen anything like it. This is the first time I've ever heard them hollering in the middle of the day and flying around in broad daylight.

Beautiful bird!

 

[dlgoff]

Don,

Look closely, it is coming out of his neck, not his MOUTH !

Rhody...

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/raccoon%289%29.jpg

 

[dlgoff]

Beautiful bird!

Yes they are. My mother and I raised one that had fallen out of it's nest. It only had pinfeathers and was as large as an adult. We bottle fed it until it was old enough to let loose. It stayed around the area for years scaring people as it swooped down to sit on their shoulder.

 

[OmCheeto]

OMG. Evo's going to sh*t. Guinevere was killed last night or this morning. RIP

Something dug under the pen (made a 1" high X 3" wide hole) and managed to grab her and pull her to the pen; close enough to bite. I just buried her. Must have been a raccoon.

I am so pissed off.

Can't remember if I posted this earlier, but my mother handed me our family rifle only once* when I was about 11 years old.

I sat silently, and shot the dreaded possum through the heart.

We loved our chickens.

My sincerest sympathies Don.

*The previous time I had a gun in my hand was when I was about 8, and nearly put my younger brother's eye out with a twig, shot through a BB-gun. "Here! I'll just shoot you in the foot, and, click, pop, Oh my god, there's a lot of blood gushing out of your face. I think I'll run away and hide until they've forgotten that I've just murdered you.

 

[dlgoff]

Can't remember if I posted this earlier, but my mother handed me our family rifle only once* when I was about 11 years old.

I sat silently, and shot the dreaded possum through the heart.

We loved our chickens.

My sincerest sympathies Don.

Thanks man. It's sad after taking care of them and watching them grow from chicks.

*The previous time I had a gun in my hand was when I was about 8, and nearly put my younger brother's eye out with a twig, shot through a BB-gun. "Here! I'll just shoot you in the foot, and, click, pop, Oh my god, there's a lot of blood gushing out of your face. I think I'll run away and hide until they've forgotten that I've just murdered you.

I'm probably lucky to be alive after some of the stunts we pulled. And I was older than 8.

 

[Astronuc]

OMG. Evo's going to sh*t. Guinevere was killed last night or this morning. RIP

Something dug under the pen (made a 1" high X 3" wide hole) and managed to grab her and pull her to the pen; close enough to bite. I just buried her. Must have been a raccoon.

Yep, probably a raccoon. There is a local farmer who raised chickens. The raccoons were worse than the foxes since they were able to climb into the pens and then they grabbed chickens, but they couldn't get out, so they just ended up killing a bunch of chickens.

I like foxes, so don't hurt the foxes. I'd love to have a pet fox. We had a kit in our backyard once. We found an wildlife rehabilitator who took it. Kits need other kits to be properly socialized as adults.

I don't care much for raccoons though.

I used to have a pet chicken. IIRC, I name her Penny (like Henny Penny) and she had copper coloured feathers. That was about 50 years ago though.

 

[dlgoff]

I like foxes, so don't hurt the foxes. I'd love to have a pet fox. We had a kit in our backyard once. We found an wildlife rehabilitator who took it. Kits need other kits to be properly socialized as adults.

Don't worry. They can probably out fox me.

 

[turbo]

Don't worry. They can probably out fox me.

So can the 'coons, believe me! My friend lost a lot of chickens to 'coons before he figured out what was going on. His coop was well-built and was probably pretty secure against weasels, fishers, foxes, etc, but the 'coons could climb to the top of the enclosure and lift the chicken-wire in a place that was a bit loose, get in and kill a few chickens and lug them back out of the coop.

His son is the guy I buy my sand, gravel, manure, etc from and next time I see him I'm going to remind him of that predation. He was a kid at the time, and he was pretty upset to see dead chickens that the 'coons hadn't managed to lug off, lying on the ground in the outside enclosure.

 

[dlgoff]

So can the 'coons, believe me! My friend lost a lot of chickens to 'coons before he figured out what was going on. His coop was well-built and was probably pretty secure against weasels, fishers, foxes, etc, but the 'coons could climb to the top of the enclosure and lift the chicken-wire in a place that was a bit loose, get in and kill a few chickens and lug them back out of the coop.

His son is the guy I buy my sand, gravel, manure, etc from and next time I see him I'm going to remind him of that predation. He was a kid at the time, and he was pretty upset to see dead chickens that the 'coons hadn't managed to lug off, lying on the ground in the outside enclosure.

I set out some steel traps around the pen and last night one managed to get caught but also managed to dig up the steel stake holding the trap and ran off with it. Poor thing. However it's cost me plenty, so good riddance.

My neighbor was out feeding his cows and told him about it and he said he lost all 15 of his chickens recently. So I'm glad we still have two.

 

[Ms Music]

Did it leave tracks? Make sure of what you are dealing with. If the neighbor lost all of his, this thing won't stop at one. And if it was a raccoon, you probably are dealing with more than one. Find out HOW it got into the neighbors.

 

[dlgoff]

Did it leave tracks? Make sure of what you are dealing with. If the neighbor lost all of his, this thing won't stop at one. And if it was a raccoon, you probably are dealing with more than one. Find out HOW it got into the neighbors.

When talking to the neighbor, he had just moved them into a covered pin also and the way he explained, foxes had gotten them about a month ago like ours (Evos and I). He later lost the last, again like ours, by something reaching in and pulling them against the cage and biting their heads off. When I set the traps around the pin, I placed them where it (maybe two) raccoons (?) tried to dig under in the hard dry soil. The soil is very hard like concrete and was surprised it could scratch as much as it did; that and it took some effort driving in the electric fence post I used to secure the traps. Never would have guessed it could have dug that much. But I am fairly sure it's a raccoon as I had seen one around eating leftover cat food a couple of times.

 

[rhody]

When talking to the neighbor, he had just moved them into a covered pin also and the way he explained, foxes had gotten them about a month ago like ours (Evos and I). He later lost the last, again like ours, by something reaching in and pulling them against the cage and biting their heads off. When I set the traps around the pin, I placed them where it (maybe two) raccoons (?) tried to dig under in the hard dry soil. The soil is very hard like concrete and was surprised it could scratch as much as it did; that and it took some effort driving in the electric fence post I used to secure the traps. Never would have guessed it could have dug that much. But I am fairly sure it's a raccoon as I had seen one around eating leftover cat food a couple of times.

The raccoon must have been really hungry Don, little consolation though... Why would the chickens get close enough to the fence to be grabbed in the first place, did the raccoon bring food to bait them ?! hehe...

Rhody...

 

[OmCheeto]

When talking to the neighbor, he had just moved them into a covered pin also and the way he explained, foxes had gotten them about a month ago like ours (Evos and I). He later lost the last, again like ours, by something reaching in and pulling them against the cage and biting their heads off. When I set the traps around the pin, I placed them where it (maybe two) raccoons (?) tried to dig under in the hard dry soil. The soil is very hard like concrete and was surprised it could scratch as much as it did; that and it took some effort driving in the electric fence post I used to secure the traps. Never would have guessed it could have dug that much. But I am fairly sure it's a raccoon as I had seen one around eating leftover cat food a couple of times.

bolding mine...

My friend got chickens last year. Now she has none. She caught one of the chickens pecking at one of the other chickens one day.

Watch the http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234538,00.html"...

and keep a shotgun ready.