Most of you know Billy got 6 chickens this year for his 3rd birthday, they were a few days old back in January. We ended up with 5 hens and one rooster, Spiderman. We raised them in the house first, then moved them outside. I took good care to fix what I thought was a good pen. A few days ago, we came home to find a mess of feathers, and only one hen left in the pen. There have been sightings of a bobcat around here again, and so I have to think that was the case. I scoped up the lonely hen and put her with my girls, where she has not moved off the coop for two days. I make sure I put food on the ledge, so I know she is eating. The other two are not happy, but they will get over it. My egg production is down to Zero.
I will re enforce the pen again, and we will have more... I am heart broken, Spiderman was so pretty and gentle it hurts most of all. I dont hear him in the mornings anymore, so my morning does not start off good like it did. Billy thinks it was mean coyotes, I wont correct him....
CHICKEN FAIRY, I am appealing to you... PLEASE help up find some chickens to replace our family...
Billy has lost all but one chicken
I am so sorry to hear that MissJestr. It hurt a lot when I lost my one Buckeye--I can imagine it is very hard for a child to lose so many, and especially Spiderman.
If you can run a small electrical line or battery, electrical fencing or poultry mesh might help.
This message was edited Nov 21, 2009 1:37 PM
So very sorry. I know what you mean about the crowing. I have all the roos out here loose and they start early but it is a comforting sound to a farm girl like me. I hope you are able to get some new ones soon. I would cry like a baby if the same thing were to happen to my girls. We have coyotes here so I keep my big watchdog tied next to the chicken coop.
I feel so helpless... I'm so sorry for your loss! I wish I could send something! {{Billy}}
Wow!!! Tell Billy were all sorry about his great loss. Miss Jester do you and Billy ever do any hatching? I you do I would surely send him (Billy) some fertile eggs to hatch, either standards or bantams. Let me know if your interested. Haystack.
I'm so sorry about your loss. Since I've joined in the poultry forum, I've read so many sad stories and it never gets easier. I hope you're able to get some more feather friends for little Billy. I have a three year old granddaughter who just loves my hens and picks them up and carries them around. I know she'd be devestated if something happened to them. My condolences.
Brenda
If someone would tell me how to send the eggs I could also send a few to hatch. They are mutts tho.. I don't have anyone seperated. I don't know yet how well they hatch out.. We've only had Nutmeg hatch hers. But if your willing to try them I'll send them. I know what you mean about the roo crowing.. I had to get rid of my favorite roo bc he started attacking me & left me with several cuts. it didn't bother me to send him to the neighbors freezer till he didn't crow the next morning. I miss his crow. It was so different than the others.
Thank you all for your kind words, I am happy to report the one lonely hen left has become friends with her neighbors and is now living comfortable in the pen with them. It was intresting for the first few days, I kept going out there to make sure she was ok. She was high on the coop and would let me pick her up and pet her. I would stash some food up on the ledge for her and yesterday she was on the ground next to them squacking when I walked up.
I have a friend that offered me a incubator, how much work would it be? Haystack will the eggs travel here to Arizona from your place or Cindys? we are DEAFENINGLY (sp?) going to start again, one of the ranch hands came and helped repair the hole, strengthened the door and helped clean the mess. Then he walked around and made sure there was NO WAY that anything could get in there again. I want to raise them from start again, I feel it makes a better bird for BIlly.
He has not lost his smile
One of our drivers is getting ready to put a dozen of my girls eggs in his incubator this week sometime. So 21 days? and i should know how well they hatched here. I hope they'd get to you alright.. i've got plenty of eggs & right now they are all full sized eggs. I don't know how to package them to send to you tho? anyone any help on that part?
um... a opossum can get in a hole 2 inches x 4 inches.. don't ask me how but they were.. so make sure you have nothing that's that big thats not covered by wire.. unless ur lucky enough to not have opossums.
Love that pic. Pure unadulterated joy!!!!
Miss Jester, yes the eggs will ship from my place or Greykyttyn's either one and be viable. The eggs should be wrapped and taped in bubble wrap, and then placed in a box of peanuts with plenty of peanuts on the bottom and around the eggs to make them packed solidly. Then place fragile stickers on them so they are handled gently and then shipped. Here is a list of what I can ship and then you can look at what any others offer and then let is know what you select. I can send Austrolorps, Cuckoo Marans, Mixed banties, or barnyard mix. There is not a lot of work to hatching, basically follow a few rules, and watch and wait for twenty one days. I don't know anything about you incubator so can't advise on that. Hatching would be a great experience for Billy and You both as long as you understand that shipped eggs are always questionable. You could also look around and check for the sale of fertile eggs in your area that wouldn't have to be shipped. I always try local first and then reach out. Just let is know what you want to do and good luck to both of you. Thinking of you. Haystack
deafeningly would be putting your ears next to a Jackass when it brays.
Definitely is what this bunch will do to get Billy a new herd of chickens.
=0)
I have lost a few chickens before and there is only one way to ensure nothing gets in the cage. You have to put chicken wire or fencing with 1"x1" holes on the top, bottom and all around the side. It has to overlap and has to be secured really well. You also have to lock your chickens up every night.
Most people just put it on the sides and top but you gotta have that bottom closed up even if it is on the ground and buried on the sides. I use the 1/2 inch gap fencing on the bottom covered in hay. The doors have to be really secure since raccoons have little human hands and can open anything.
Good luck.
Oh no, chicken wire is not enough... I had a scruffy little terrier beast tear a hole in mine (had to shoot that neighbor's dog). I'd suggest stucco wire along the bottom course, so dog/coyote teeth can't rip through it. Stucco wire has the same pattern as chicken wire, but it's a heavier guage wire.
Least wise, that's what I'm going to do if I ever build another chicken pen. 'Cause I've got a least one of everything that eats a chicken out here...
I wondered what the difference between chicken and stucco, I know that stucco is cheaper here at Home Depot in the building dept. I have tried to find the guy that sold me my two girls, but he is out of business. I really want to try my hand at hatching them out so If I cant find any in the next week, I will be getting ahold of Hay and Grey. I think the trip from Hay's place would be shorter, and as far as the breed, it makes no mind to us as long as we have chickens to marvel over and hear the crow of a rooster, any breed would do as long as they can survive the hot summers we have and are gentle... Thanks to everyone, I knew I have had friends here and all of you are a wonderful group..
Good to hear from you Jay..
I never thought of using stucco mesh, we used hardware cloth (rabbit wire) and it is not cheap. We made a 'skirt', about 2 feet out from the bottom of the duck pen, buried it, angled, under 3-10 inches of dirt (10 inches being the furthest from pen, then put large river rock from the base of the pen to about a foot away (no rock in front of the door). We will be putting hardward cloth about half way up the sides of the pen, then a double layer of chicken wire on the remaining sides and top. We won't have it done until this spring so I don't have any new pics.
Non-climb horse fence would work for the dogs/coyotes, too, lined with a layer of 1" chicken wire to keep the smaller varmints out. I had a section I did that way and it worked pretty good, til the wire rusted out along the bottom.
Yeah, hardware cloth is precious... I've got a raised bed lined with it to keep the gophers out. I'm fixing to build another so I can rotate crops a little better.
There was a local feed shop that used to sell chickens. They had a coop with the wire cemented in about 10 inches deep. The critters just dug 18 inches down and right up into the coop. They would fill the hole up and put rocks on it and they would dig in another spot the next night. A coop without a wired bottom will be good until a drought hits and then all bets are off. Once those animals get hungry, they will dig for two nights to get in.
Also, dont put perches next to the chicken wire on the sides. I heard stories about raccoons grabbing the legs of the chickens and eating them off. Very sad.
A good guard dog is worth it's weight in gold.
Yep and since I live in the desert, I have a bunch of rock, both in the ground and out. If I try to dig too far, I hit a rock shelf.
GOOD NEWS. I went to my feed store and was talking to the girl who runs it, she has 3 EE hens about 6 months old she will sell me on Friday, 2.50 a piece and will throw in the rooster for free. Its not a EE Rooster, and she says he is not pretty, little and black and white, not a Rock either, some other fancy name. She was just going to butcher him cause he has no tail feathers, but she will just throw him in with the others. I said me and Billy don't mind that he is small or Ugly, as long as he is sweet. She says he is, and is use to being with the girls. So we have 4 new chickens coming on Friday... WHOOO HOOOOOO
Still no luck on the eggs though, but I am still looking. I have decided that Billy and I need to hatch some for the whole chicken experience...
Hooray!
Great news!!!!
Good for Billy! ... and you!
Today is a good day. I woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing.. It was music to my ears. He is a something I cant remember like scottish spotted highland or something that sounds like it, he is mostly white with black spots... WHOOO HOOOO
that is great news!!! I can almost hear it right here in the truck! I'm so glad you got replacements!
Hey MissJ - do you have an incubator?
No but someone said I could borrow one of theirs but now I can not get a hold of that person. I have been trying since I decided that would be the way to go.
MissJ - would you like my spare styrofoam one? I don't really need it and it is just taking up space. It has the egg turner but no fan. It works fine as long as you monitor the humidity and temperature carefully. I would be happy to send it to you if you would like it. Let me know. I would send it after my exams finish on Dec 14.
You can get a temp / humidity measurer thing at Walmart for less than $10. It has a probe you can put through the vent hole in top and it has a digital read out. Mine doesn't have a fan or a turner and it works fine. I put my eggs in a carton without a lid and turn the whole dozen in 1 swift move.
What a great Christmas gift, a styro bator. I have a styro little giant, and I love it. Holds good and steady just gotta watch humidity.
Just try to keep it in a room with a stable temp (I don't have central heating or air conditioning and it does make a difference)
That would be wonderful, Billy would enjoy it... My house is not very warm in the winter, does that matter?
MissJestr -
What kind of chickens were they? I think I might have to either do some breeding, have some bred or order some. In looking at the map, how far is Kingman from Sierra Vista? Maybe I could help out somehow? I have both Delawares and New Hampshires that I could breed. Can't promise anything in the too near future as I'm having surgery tomorrow that will have me down for, oh, maybe two weeks but after that, I'd love to help your little man out with some new chickens.
Hello Granny,
I live off Interstate 40 on the way to Las Vegas from Phoenix. I am about 100 miles from Vegas, or 40 miles from Bullhead City Arizona. I think Sierra Vista is outside of Phoenix.
They were your garden Variaty of EE's, nothing fancy as we were just starting out in the chicken business, well actually not a business, just a responsibility and a love for animals. When I got them for him, I was looking for something he could take care of that would not hurt him. He is a little Cowboy, and we already have horses, dogs, cats so Chickens seemed the way to go. Now we have added ducks to the mix, and am looking for a female goose to go with the male goose someone has given him.
Hope your surgery goes well...