For the love of chickens

[DharmaGirl]

It turned out to be a hawk with Doris. I put up a 5 foot wooden pallet fence on one part of the yard so I could plant grass for the chickens, and this morning Mini kept crowing and crowing, which is unusual for him. Then I heard Doris sounding the alarm, I looked out the back door and there was a hawk sitting on the new fence! Damn. I was planning on putting chicken wire on top so no one could roost there, so now I will do it sooner rather than later.

Mini had all his flock, all the chicks that were hatched around the time he was, so 10 pullets and 2 other roosters, in what we call the summer coop. It is just an old coop that they use for dust bathing. He kept them all safe. Doris had her flock of 19 hens on the porch. My two heros! I used every rain free day to work on the fence, now I'll have to do the extra stuff in the rain, which I don't mind. I eventually want to put in several pens so I can separate the roos and their hens into different spaces to get purebred eggs. Then I can sell them as fertilized eggs.

 

[blackemerald1]

@DharmaGirl - if you have not considered it already - have you thought of pegging some of your clothes like a scarecrow onto a fence or other vertical frame to see if that reduces birds of prey?

 

[littleoc]

Or one of those plastic owls?

 

[DharmaGirl]

have you thought of pegging some of your clothes

those plastic owls?

Both of these are excellent ideas! I'm a farmer from way back, you would think I would have figured that out! Thank you!

 

[blackemerald1]

Hey @DharmaGirl - leave the bottom of the pants and a sleeve flapping in the wind.

Birds (as I'm sure you know) are not stupid. Birds of prey watch and learn. Movement which is sudden or irregular, such as part of your clothing flapping does their heads in. lol.. Make a face with a plastic plate and peg a cap on.

Depending on how smart and patient your birds of prey are - it may work. It's worked for me a few times...

 

[DharmaGirl]

Yay! The two extra roosters are gone. Mini is in heaven. He is quickly taking over all the young hens the others had. He is really a good rooster. I can't figure out if Mr.M is a hen or a rooster. He looks like a rooster, but acts like a hen. I guess if you're rooster number 4, you downplay your roosterness. Either way, he is stunning!

 

[VioletButterfly]

Yay! I hope things settle down for your brood! I need one of those scarecrows where I live. There is this gang of HUGE, black crows that talk (screech) to one another across my complex. Ugh, they sit on the gutters and in the trees. It's just eerie. I'm experiencing Alfred Hitchcock vibes and flashbacks to that movie - "The Birds"! Even one of my neighbors stopped her dog from walking into the dog walk area one day because there was a gathering of them on the ground making a racket. The dog was actually cowering. Gads!

I just finished watching a video of Sunny Hostin's chickens. lol She talks about them all the time on-air. I don't think she has the diversity of your brood, but it's kind of cute all the same. I'm interested in this one breed of chicken I saw with a little topknot of black, sassy feathers. I'll have to do a little research, it just caught my eye when I was watching P. Alan Smith's show. So cute!

Again, thanks for sharing. :)

 

[blackemerald1]

Mr.M is a hen or a rooster.

^^ Is Mr. M fighting or shirt-fronting Mini? If Mr M. is I'd lean towards rooster. In close quarters they soon arc up at each other if both are roosters. But it is risky..

 

[VioletButterfly]

I was out at Pinterest last night looking at all kinds of things. I found a new dog breed - English Golden Retrievers (Who knew!), more pictures of cute little piggies and lambs, and....... chicken jewelry! Yes, there were "charm bracelets" for chickens. LOL

So, I have to ask... @DharmaGirl , do your chickens have charm bracelets? There were also leashes for chickens. Please! The charm bracelets reminded me of the charms you put on wine glasses. I wonder if the person who developed them was drinking a little (or a lot of) wine when he/she came up with the idea. ha ha :)

 

[ladee]

@DharmaGirl , thought of you this morning when I saw a Tshirt with a picture of a rooster on it,that said, "I may appear calm, but in my head, I have pecked you three times!"

:hug:'s

 

[DharmaGirl]

I need that shirt!!

 

[DharmaGirl]

Ok, I do have charms for some of my chickens. Some that I can't tell apart if they are not together. I could always tell dogs and horses apart, no matter what they looked like, but a lot of mine are bred to standard of perfection, so look a lot alike. Some people just put zip ties, but I have had charm bracelets starting from when I was 8, so I'm a little nuts. I have Wonder Woman for Marcy, and Spiderman for Fruit loops, who look exactly the same. Doris looks exactly like Big Bird, but I wouldn't dare put a charm on her, lol, Big Bird will get one. I don't dress my chickens, unless a rooster is overbreeding them, then they get a chicken apron they wear on their back so the rooster's claws don't pull out their feathers. You can laugh if you want, I laugh at myself all the time, lol.