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Speleothing posted:Something got into my coop and killed 3 of my 6 last night. I'm really sorry  what a terrible tragedy
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Jun 13, 2022 23:37
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| # ? May 21, 2024 14:48 |
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Oh my gosh. I’m sorry. 
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Jun 14, 2022 01:04
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I have to admit we are not as diligent as we probably should be about closing the coup at night, but we've had our girls a year and a half now and haven't had any problems yet [knock on wood]. If we're square in the middle of suburbia with three dogs* and a 7 foot metal stockade fence around the entire yard, how worried do we need to be about any critters other than rats and cats? I've actually never seen a cat in our backyard, but I dunno if that's because of the fence, the dogs, or just that I haven't been lucky enough to catch them. Whenever I see folks post about something killing their chickens, I always wonder whether they live in the city or in a more rural area. *It should be noted that the dogs are inside at night, I just meant our yard probably smells powerfully of dog.
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Jun 14, 2022 01:19
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Oh god, I'm so sorry for you. Are the remaining flock members okay? A 7 foot fence is nothing to the urban foxes we sporadically get around our backyard. The 3 baby seagull chicks in the nest on the roof across from us got eaten last week too. 
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Jun 14, 2022 13:06
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Our coop is fully enclosed, they just kept pulling at the mesh until some of the staples gave out. Remaining three seem unharmed. My wife is pretty broken up about it, and if I catch the raccoon it won't be a "live" trap anymore.
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Jun 14, 2022 13:53
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Yeah the chickens I have lost to something killing them in the night seemed to have been from a racoon, a lone cat usually isn't much of a threat to adult chickens.
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Jun 14, 2022 17:32
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I'm sorry, it's harder to lose them so young. It's also very hard to keep things out if they really want to get in. I've seen really nice, really secure-looking coops where a raccoon was able to get into a small gap. By the time I was done keeping chickens, my coop was a hacked-together Frankenstein monster with two layers of wire on every surface and a buried wire floor. PM me if you want advice on trapping raccoons.
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Jun 14, 2022 17:37
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I've just finished making Hensylvania, our new coop/run facility. The coop is a Snap Lock large that is pretty sturdy, and is on a base that's two and a half feet up. The run is a metal pipe and coated wire mesh assembly that's 3 by 4 meters, and tall enough to stand in. Since our last girls were taken by a raccoon digging under the run, I put down chicken wire folded at an angle. A foot wide pinned to the ground, and then another foot going up the outside, zip tied to the original mesh. To make absolutely certain nobody gets through, I also ran a 30 inch high heavy wire garden fencing (2 by 4 inch mesh) layer that overlaps the ground/run skirt. This heavy layer is also ziptied top, bottom and sides to both the other layers and the frame. The door is covered with hardware cloth wrapped around the frame and zip tied in place. Any raccoon that can get through that is probably Rocket. Please don't let those be famous last words!
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Jun 14, 2022 20:04
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Are zip ties better than staples? How many are you using per meter of fence?
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Jun 14, 2022 22:04
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Sounds like a secure facility! Be sure to check your zip ties periodically since they degrade over time.
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Jun 14, 2022 22:15
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Yeah, I bought exterior grade zip ties, and they tie all the layers and the steel frame together. A lot. There are well over 200 on there. I put around two to three per meter, making sure everything was taught in between. I tried some pull testing and while I don't know the strength of a raccoon, it would be so difficult they'd be better off hitting trash cans. After The Incident two years ago, these girls are going to be as safe as we can make them.
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Jun 15, 2022 06:02
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I'm doing construction staples (stainless staples basically) and a max of 24 inches between studs and it's working okay. Put a linear actuator on your coop door. Probably hold it stronger than a flimsy latch and if you get a smart setup it can close at sundown.
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Jun 15, 2022 11:27
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Yeah, the company sells an automatic door closer, and we're looking at that.
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Jun 15, 2022 23:07
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Blanche the buff Orpington finally decided to be broody yesterday. She raised chicks last year so I assumed she would but she waited a really long time! I don’t know why she waited for the hottest time of year. We have 6 hens raising chicks and now 2 brooding so our rooster to hen ratio was getting too high. I found a nice home for Dandy and now he has 14 hens all to himself. Here is his glamour shot  We still have Clarence but he’ll have to move on when his chicks get old enough to lay. He’s so handsome I don’t think I will have a problem finding him a new place.  I will probably be keeping 2 total out of the 3 naked neck boys and 1 Legbar cockerel (not pictured).  This has been rooster chat.
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Jun 16, 2022 00:33
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lmao joburg your chickens are incredible
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Jun 16, 2022 05:36
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Soooo I have another broody, that makes 3. She’s a Lakeshore Egger like No Hat, who already has chicks. She’s usually nice but I got between her and her nest this afternoon and she went into attack mode. She was impressive! I need some name suggestions, her sisters are Goldie, No Hat, and Spot. 
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Jun 16, 2022 23:39
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what a good broody - i propose Scraunch (this will always be my name suggestion until some bird gets named Scraunch) City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Oct 9, 2022 |
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Jun 17, 2022 04:01
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I’m glad you discovered the problem before anything bad happened! Scraunch is funny.
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Jun 17, 2022 11:13
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I lost 8 of 10 to a fox couple. 7 years of free ranging in my fenced yard, no loses. Then over a month period, 1, then another, then another, then 5 of the 7 left on one day, but we were home and saw them. Middle of the day, dogs in the yard. Don't think that dog smell or presence will deter if they have an escape path. New flock in 6'+ tall fenced enclosure (no top), with an electric wire at 6 inches. Literally just shot the black (red) fox looking in from just outside the yard fence, ten feet to the chicken run. I use practice shot, so it won't even penetrate their fur, let alone seriously hurt them, but it is seriously unpleasant. Sprayed wolf urine on scent tags at the four corners of the run, and along the outside fence, so we'll see if that deters. Gonna keep making visits here painful.
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Jun 17, 2022 15:27
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Joburg posted:Blanche the buff Orpington finally decided to be broody yesterday. She raised chicks last year so I assumed she would but she waited a really long time! I don’t know why she waited for the hottest time of year. Looks like you got the exact same run I did! My girls are still getting used to being out, and tend to ignore the ramp and just leap out flapping. Can't really call it flying. We still have to round them up by hand at return them to the coop. But today they discovered the joys of dust bathing, and spent a long time scratching, rolling and doing that purring trill. Happy hens!
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Jun 17, 2022 23:25
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torgeaux posted:I lost 8 of 10 to a fox couple That's awful; let us know how this deterrent goes for you.
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Jun 18, 2022 00:36
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Trying to find somebody to take my chickens. Booked to go to Germany over the summer, to stay with my partner's family, and it's just not fair on them to leave them alone with questionable supervision for that amount of time. Sure they'd get fed and watered and the eggs taken, but nobody would be giving them treats or watching for problems. I thought my brother could take them, but he has no room. Does anyone in the NW UK want four good layers? They're good girls and it makes me sad, but it's the pragmatic thing to do for their own welfare. I was sweeping the front garden earlier and one of them joined me like "I can help! skritch skirtch!" Nettle Soup fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Jun 20, 2022 |
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Jun 20, 2022 12:40
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drat, hard times in the chicken thread. Chido posted:Oh god, this thread still exists. I haven't posted here in years and thought this megathread would be closed by now. For the oldtimers that are still around and remember the henhoes, two of the original ones are still alive - Rusty and Dust - and are pushing 11-12 years old. What a trip down memory lane this thread is. Hey Chido!!!  Fries, our 10 year old mottled Belgian d'Uccle hen is currently hanging out in the house due to an eye injury. Today she starting CROWING. It's every bit as nasty and horrible as you could imagine. Old hens tend to start crowing at a certain age due to hormonal changes, never fails to scare the poo poo out of your roos, who get all 'Who in the Hell is THAT?!'. The kid caught it, the first 5 seconds or so of this video. For the rest of it she stands around looking pissy: https://twitter.com/Clara_wolfdog/status/1539043972076621824 BTW, for some GOOD news, all of the Chickam chicks are doing great. They swarm about the yard in a juvenile delinquent group, looking like lurking teenagers about to knock over the 7-11.
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Jun 21, 2022 02:09
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Found a new home for my girls, they leave Thursday.  First woman who contacted me sounded like she was going to throw them to the wolves, "Oh we'll just put them in the others with the flock and walk away, they'll sort themselves out" and so on. The second woman only has two rescue hens, and she'll send me pictures of them now and again, and I just felt much better about that, even though it meant doing something I find really difficult and saying to the first woman "hey I changed my mind". I hope they have a good life, but I think they'll be ok! I posted on the local facebook and had over 50 replies within a couple of hours, more people around here have chickens than I thought!
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Jun 21, 2022 21:22
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Nettle Soup posted:Found a new home for my girls, they leave Thursday. I'm so glad you found a home for them which feels right! And it's nice that the lady already has rescues...that shows some greater care than most chicken owners, I think. Best of luck to them. I'm sorry you had to make such a tough decision, but I agree with you that it's probably for the best. Sometimes we have to do hard things for our beloveds.
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Jun 21, 2022 21:42
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Nettle Soup posted:Found a new home for my girls, they leave Thursday. That’s a great outcome. I’m really glad you found a new loving home for them.
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Jun 22, 2022 03:20
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Out in the coop tonight we found a rat snake constricting one of Rose’s chicks. My husband managed to peel it off but the chick had already suffocated  Rose just weaned her chicks today. Her 3 were on the roost unlike all the other mamas that had theirs in the nest boxes and I’m sure that why her chick was chosen by the snake. I’m really disappointed.
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Jun 22, 2022 03:30
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When it rains it pours. One of No Hat’s three chicks has disappeared. We looked in the woods and everywhere we could think of and found no clues.
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Jun 23, 2022 01:21
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oh no, joburg! that always happened to me too - i lost chicks to predators in waves, according to all sorts of natural cycles. i hope your fortune takes a turn for the better soon
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Jun 23, 2022 03:37
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mahershalalhashbaz posted:oh no, joburg! that always happened to me too - i lost chicks to predators in waves, according to all sorts of natural cycles. i hope your fortune takes a turn for the better soon Thanks. How are your quail?
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Jun 23, 2022 11:34
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Nettle Soup posted:Found a new home for my girls, they leave Thursday. It's really kind of you to make sure that their forever home is a good one.
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Jun 23, 2022 16:02
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https://mobile.twitter.com/TheFigen/status/1539998908298002432
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Jun 24, 2022 14:47
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and they're gone. Funny thing is though, the people who came to get them turned out to be the ones who sold us our dog, so it was nice for them to see that she's doing fine!
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Jun 24, 2022 17:42
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Nettle Soup posted:and they're gone. Funny thing is though, the people who came to get them turned out to be the ones who sold us our dog, so it was nice for them to see that she's doing fine! that's a bizarre twist of fate
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Jun 24, 2022 18:39
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Small town? Good feeling, anyway.
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Jun 24, 2022 21:12
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Not that small! Probably like 40k people or so over the area that the facebook spans. It feels so quiet outside now, I guess a part of my brain is always listening out for them, especially when walking through the kitchen.
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Jun 24, 2022 21:34
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Does anyone know whether my neighbors having new chickens would somehow upset my chickens? Cause two of my four chickens have started being aggressive buttheads pecking on heads and doing the mounting each other thing and I'm not really sure what their drat problem is. They are all girls btw no roosters.
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Jun 25, 2022 18:41
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Nettle Soup posted:It feels so quiet outside now, I guess a part of my brain is always listening out for them, especially when walking through the kitchen. ::Tina Belcher voice:: My hearrrrt. I'm so sorry. Animals really enrich our environments and it's sad when they're gone.
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Jun 26, 2022 14:53
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I am going to housesit for my mom and her wife for the next week and I am looking forward to hearing their neighbour's deranged rooster who crows like he's dying, but constantly I love him
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Jun 26, 2022 16:21
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| # ? May 21, 2024 14:48 |
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I knew it would be over 100 Fahrenheit here this week and so I was looking for some kind of wading pool for the girls to stand in when it got hot. But it seemed to me like even the smallest ones for little babies were too deep and tall for my silly birds to figure out, or were inflatable. Then I found this thing at home depot. It's a drip tray intended to go under dishwashers and the like. 
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Jun 26, 2022 19:51
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