the crooked little chicken house

“Last night I got home late and went out to check on the flock..."Big Tom" was roosting on the plywood, so I went over and started petting his head - he let me and even started making this purring like trill (like a tribble in that Star Trek episode), and falling asleep, LOL...this morning he pretended like it never happened - what a guy!

I got one egg and it was in the nesting box, yay!”

“Tom laid an egg?”

“Yay Tom!”

“Sounds like more Tomfoolery to me.”

“Great that they caught on so fast to start laying eggs in the nesting box.”

“I have 6 Rhode Island Red hens, and 6 Barred Rocks - 4 hens, 2 roosters. I got them in May as chicks along with 6 Cornish Giants which went in the freezer around July 4th. Got three white turkey chicks in June.

How this all happened:
My sister wanted chickens for eggs last year, and our stepfather - who has a huge farm - didn't want to keep them. Too easy to lose them to coyotes - he just lost 10 of his 15 geese. I was talking to friends on the March BSP winter trip, who were interested as well, one of whom was supposed to build the coop...well, soon as I mentioned "meat" most everyone ditched me, and I found myself on my own with birds and no house for them...”

“One of the families I gave my 'survivors' to reported the last chicken missing more then a week ago and assumed it ended up as a coyote meal. Yesterday it walked back into the yard as if nothing had happened, offering absolutely no explanation as to her absence. Probably hiking the Appalachian Trail with David Letterman.”

“A donkey or a llama will protect stock from coyotes (Euro told me about llamas ans sure enough we saw one in a field with sheep).”

“You could see XL in a field with sheep too; I doubt he'd be thinking of protection...but the sheep would. Both kinds:)”

“Ram-A-Llama(with his)Ding-Dong??”

““A donkey or a llama will protect stock from coyotes (Euro told me about llamas ans sure enough we saw one in a field with sheep).”
Gremlin
3:35:29 PM
10/06/09

What about bears? I remember several occasions growing up when my neighbor's chicken coups would get raided by a black bear.”

“Chickens have lots of enemies from ground predators, also in the air from hawks and eagles. I read that weasels are really ferocious predators when it comes to chickens. I never thought of weasels being that bad.”

“Yeah, weasels are damn bad. Bears you treat the same as you would a wolf.”

“�You could see XL in a field with sheep too; I doubt he'd be thinking of protection...but the sheep would. Both kinds:)�
Nimblefoot
12:51:03 PM
10/06/09


Nimblefoot ...LOL so aptly recreated in South Park episode 203 "Chicken Lover"”

“A family friend has exotic hens, siberian huskeys, and great pyranese. He sold the dogs, and the predators came in and clean out all his fowl. He brought back in a great pyranese, and now doesn't have a prob. He reported seeing skunks, coyotes, and red foxes”

“South Park, Family Guy and a six pack. I'm set for the evening:)

Opie, don't say 'exotic hens' with XL around.”

“There's a local farm with lots of different dwarfed animals that has guard llamas and donkeys.”

“'dwarfed animals' ? Now you're really gonna get XL riled up.”

“The farm has a llama AND a donkey, but they can't be everywhere at once. There are several fields and they are probably 20+ acres each. My family has always farmed sheep and cattle, among other things.

Chicken news...
One more egg yesterday, in the nesting box...none this am, but it was raining and the dingbats were still on top of the roof. The roosters are really picking on the chickens, not just chasing them for whatever, but pecking at them and stepping on them. And the Rock hens peck at the Red hens...one in particular...

Since the roof is still not screwed in and leaks, I put the tarp back over the coop. That makes it really dark inside, so last night I ran a cord out for a heat lamp with a regular 60 watt light bulb in it. Hopefully they'll stay inside more. Later I'll add more lamps and up the bulbs to 100 watts. I noticed the turkeys "sneeze" but I think that's normal - blowing the rain out of their nostrils.”

“but pecking at them and stepping on them.

LOL
That's chicken sex, twiggy.”

“Sounds like you know from experience Stovie. Ruffle some feathers back in the day? ;-)”

“.....and plucked some and put them in a pot of boiling water, lumber.”

“Caution: Chicken Porn......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWd7WmbkD9A

NSFH (Not Safe For Humans)”

“LOL!!!

yep, that's it...”

“LOL..Nimble the Velcro gloves you wanted to get....you wanted the HOOK Loop side for better grip right?”

“Twig, if the roosters, or hens for that matter, are pecking at one particular bird, they will eventually draw blood. When that happens they will really focus on it until it's dead (sorta like trail talk in that regard). Buy some pine tar and splotch it on the bitten area and the problem will be solved. I had a tin of pine tar but it burned up in the Poultry Palace conflagration.

XL, thanks for the tip. Your level of expertise in this area is truly amazing.”

“thanks nimblefoot.”

“omigawd, did you watch that chicken laying an egg? yuck!”

“Stovie is a cloaca face.”

“Weasels will destroy your flock in no time. You'll know it's them because there will be no sign, but when you examine the dead chickens closely you'll see a small blood mark on the top of the head where the weasel sucked their brains out.”

“Sooo, that's what happened to MarkO. Damned weasels.”

“I think we must have a weasel here in this office that sucks my brain out. Seriously.”

“Brain-sucking weasels?

Check the top of your head and get back to me, Euro.

You might need one of these..........

”

“You have no idea. The last couple of weeks were bad. Really bad. I was truely walking around like a weasle brain zucked zombie.

There were days I could not focus on my work for anything longer than 10 minutes. It's a horrible feeling if you know you have to finish work, but you realize you won't be able to do your job. You try to hide it from the colleagues and everybody, but you know it's only a matter of time. Then I would freeze up for minutes and stare blankly at the screen. Or other moments I would suddenly jump up from my desk, every few minutes, just to walk out of the room, without knowing where I was going to. I would stop, with my hand at the bathroom door, wondering what to hell I was doing there, since I didn't need to go to the bathroom. Or I would find my self in the kitchen, staring into the fridge, without a clue what I was actually looking for in the fridge. Then I would walk back to my desk, much slower than when I left it, feeling completly befuddled about what was going on.
I started to have centre chest pains. Like a fist was pressing down into my chest.
That was just before I left on my trip. It was totally scary and I think something bad would have happened if I wouldn't have left for vacation.
Damned weazles.”

“hope your vacation cured your befuddledness Euro...

Austin got up on the roof of the coop this weekend and screwed it all down...he and his sister painted it red...this morning I discovered the female turkey sitting on a chicken egg in one of the nesting boxes...
We put plastic on the upper south facing side so they'll still get daylight if I ever manage to coop them up.

We're still only getting one egg a day, but the hens run wild, so who knows where they are laying them...and now they are coming up the stairs to the house...more critters that I will have to remind don't live inside. There was just the chipmunk, but I think he's hibernating now.”

“Critters eat chickens.”

“Lol twig.

My brothers' turkeys were forever trying to get into the house.”

“lol....”

“Turkeys are the most curious things...and interesting to watch. Big piles of poop though, and they eat tons.

One of the roosters got lucky about 400 times yesterday, they make the oddest sound, LOL...the Red hens try to get back in the pen when one of the roosters is out with them - to increase the odds I guess...”

“The last two nights, the turkeys have been up on the steps at the door of the house. At first I thought it was cute, maybe they were trying to get in, but now I know that they just can�t walk back down the stairs! And they poop! So I�ve started barricading the stairs�

got an extra large egg yesterday...

last weekend me and Austin bought some roof stuff, and put up one side - this weekend we'll do the other - we might actually finish it for the winter...but will be adding on next summer...”

“Pictures?”

“I have a question...do turkeys lay eggs ( I know....sounds like a stupid question) and are they good to eat??????”

“...anyone???”

“Yes, Divinity, turkeys do lay eggs, but only the females. I've heard that turkey eggs are good to eat, but have never eaten one myself. This is not a stupid question when compared to others you've posted over the years. Rather middle of the road, actually:)”

“LMAO...thanks Nimble......for the info, and that you don't think it was the stupidest question I have ever asked!”

“Then again, who am I to say?”

“"turkeys do lay eggs, but only the females"

I am glad you went to the "extra" effort to clarify that for her.”

“Lord knows I try.”

“LMAO, lawsy you guys awta try stand-up!”

“once upon a time i worked on a turkey insemination farm and we got to take all the double and triple yolk eggs home. the eggs are bigger than chicken eggs and taste slightly different - although that could have been my brain playing with the concept of eating fertilized eggs.

one of the nastiest jobs i ever had, btw.”