who has chickens

Turan wrote:You and she are beautiful.

+1

Big D.R.
That's a great story finding them on your shoes.  
  For the first time I added a practice perch into the new bigger garage brooder.  Not sure about it at first so they ignored it. By midnight 4 of the 6 were perched and sleeping on it. Took them about 4 hours to figure it out.

From KauiaRosina:

[quote]Especially for llama momma.  Your husband does not get the credit for being the biggest nimcompoop west of the Mississippi.  I call this our chicken McMansion.  Yep.  Close to being Fort Knox for chickens. This structure is built better than our houses.

We have three roosters for 19 hens. What shall we do??

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

llama momma wrote:my favorite so far, Princess Laya.

I like it too.  

Well now we have huge rats coming into that structure from the top.  Ned is planning to put electric wires to shock the little devils out of their bloomin' carcasses.  My granddaughter didn't put the bag of chicken feed directly into the sealed containers and boom the critters got a bunch of it over night.

What a shame.  Hope he wins that battle.

I had rats start hanging around the coop stealing the food. Resisted as long as I could then got a rat proof chicken feeder. I don't go for all the hype but this thing worked. Not cheap but worth the money.

We have had Grandpa's rat proof chicken feeders for some time.  They are well worth the money.  One time however, a bunch of birds figured out that if they put their weight on the top thingy that opens it they could get at the food.   The manufacture suggested putting some weights on the lid.

It is not the feeders that are attacked, it is the food if we do not transfer it from the bags we buy to the rat proof storage.

Had that problem too. Bought a metal trash can with a lid for the chicken and dog's food. Not much you can do when someone forgets to put it up.

We use metal trash cans for our house food also - pastas, beans, rice, crackers any thing in plastic jars.  The rats would get them all if we didn't do this.

I feel lucky, I don't have rats. I have a real issue with them, let's just say they are not my favorite cuddly little fur-barring animal on the planet. The last time I was greeted by one it turned into a less than gentle altercation which had dire consequences for the dreaded scourge. 
I have the easy animals to deal with, an occasional Grey, Red, or Flying Squirrels, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, occasionally the flying predators (Eagles, Hawks, Owls,) and now VERY occasionally Bears and probably the mini terror of the Weasel world, the Ermine (what a dreadful, horrible little creature . )
Rats are so prolific and miserable, they can make you want to move to another state. I have found that using Metal cans to be the only way to prevent them from getting into your supplies. The problem is that when you put the food out for your animals that the rats are enticed/brought in by that. I found that while I was helping a friend control the rat population I tuned my hand/eye/finger coordination rather nicely while depleting the local rat population. Good luck and don't let your guard down for a second!

kauairosina wrote:Well now we have huge rats coming into that structure from the top.  Ned is planning to put electric wires to shock the little devils out of their bloomin' carcasses.  My granddaughter didn't put the bag of chicken feed directly into the sealed containers and boom the critters got a bunch of it over night.

One huge advantage to having double-digit cats roaming the property, is that we don't have rats. So far our skunks, raccoons, and rare opossum are very well-behaved (at least to us, if not to each other   ). We leave plenty of food out for them to encourage good behavior. The other night, one of our hens got locked out and spent the night loose on the property.  No harm done. She was safe and sound the next morning, waiting for her friends to come out and wander with her. We also accidentally locked a cat in the coop one night. No problems there, either. Note to the gods: Please don't consider this post to be bragging. We know how lucky we are -- please don't think we need to be taught any kind of lesson.

sanderson wrote:From KauiaRosina:

Especially for llama momma.  Your husband does not get the credit for being the biggest nimcompoop west of the Mississippi.  I call this our chicken McMansion.  Yep.  Close to being Fort Knox for chickens.

That is amazing. Mine is a studio apt compared to your McMansion.   I went with a Supersize run.  Husband picked up most of the building supplies and about to get started with construction.  Look forward to seeing them run like crazy and play outside.  For now they are in a 8 x 4ft. brooder in the garage.

What NOT to feed your chickens.

http://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2013/02/toxic-treats-what-not-to-feed-your.html

I have a lot of this stuff in my compost pile and our free-range chickens think that's an all-you-can-eat buffet. So far, no harm done (I hope) but I will be more careful in the the future.

Note: They are very well-fed in their coop, so maybe they aren't eating any of this stuff anyway, just grubbing around for bugs and other delicacies.

My babies are growing so fast.  Today 9 weeks old.  This is Silvia, an Ameraucana. She'll lay light blue shell eggs in a couple of months.  She is very sweet like Princess Laya that was in an earlier post. She was making a new sound while we were sitting there.  When I looked up trilling, some people call it purring, they think it indicates extreme happiness. She did seem to enjoy sitting on the towel on my lap, looking around and preening.  I don't know what to believe but it sure was a sweet sound.

Awwww

O00hhh...Sylvia is such a beautiful young lady!

Thanks Turan and Cape !  I think for now she looks like a hawk.  Her personality is gentle, no pecking at my fingers, just like Princess Laya.  'Sugar' is another one that sits nice with me, she's a Speckled Sussex.  I'll take more chick pics tomorrow. 

Having trouble finishing up the run. Trying to put a predator proof top on a 24 by 40 ft area.  Not easy.  1/2 inch hardware cloth is a pain to work with and mount six feet high. Heavy duty plastic aviary netting seems flimsy if or when a chewing predator comes through at night. I welcome any comments...there are posts down the center of the run at the 12 ft mark then every 8 ft.  Is there a trick to mounting hardware cloth?  My non construction background husband is frustrated with the difficulty of it.  We're checking out information but still, 24 ft by 40 ft is a large area to cover...

So cute!

Just about a week to go till the outdoor run is ready for the girls.   For now I bring in chunks of sod to them in the garage so they can pretend to scratch and peck  like real chickens.  Afterwards these 10 week old girls are tired and snuggle up to the sod. They push each other around trying to get the best spot. Then they take a snooze together.  

Turan wrote:Awwww

+1 Awwwww

One of my Buff Orpington girls(I hope a girl), Princess Laya 11 weeks old. I think this one has a particularly feminine and dainty little face. Her color is more golden than the pic. She is very pleasantly soft and fluffy.  Moving day is right around the corner! to a large run after 4th of July, thanks to my rural neighbors shooting off unbelievable large fireworks.

I'm loving all the photos of the chickens.  So adorable.
I think Princess Laya is a girl.  The tail feathers are sort of drooping over instead of sticking straight up.  And the wattles are very small and light in color. Young boys usually have tail feathers that are more spikey.
Keep the photos coming.