frans530 do you find yourself pounding your head thinking why on earth did I turn them loose when they vanish from view? I don't think I could take it if they put themselves to bed without me doing a head count though what I am going to do if it's ever a short count I just don't know!
L2G must have been the CF protecting you from untimely chicks! LOL
MollyD
Finay got some eggs here!
no I am fighting the CF off. NO NEW chicks.
Yes Molly.. I pound... luckily I have always counted the right amount.. BUT.. in the woods, in the dark, or even dusk.. when they go to bed, they are gone for the night.. so there would be no real finding them.. the really don't make noise..
So the scariest thing would be to have to walk away with somebody being out for the night..
I don't want to think about it.
I always thought I would hear if something attacked them in the night. But because I am holding on to my crowing roo until his new home is built, and because I am not suppose to have roos--I go out at 4am to move him into his kennel in the garage for the morning. I have to reach in and lift him out from all the other roos--and no one makes a sound even though they are upset and unsettled. So would they really be just as quiet if something predatory grabbed them at night?
That is upsetting.
Catscan some predators are so fast that no one notices a thing. A chicken is just gone and those around it don't have a clue anything happened.
With the woods so dark and so many things to trip over I know I could never find them after dark. I can just barely manage the trails if I really have to with a flashlight.
MollyD
I never heard a thing.. 3 big roos and it was probably what 50' from my bedroom window? It is freaky how quiet it is!
That's why they're called 'successful predators'! If they made noise they'd be very hungry a lot of the time.
MollyD
It is not so much how silent the predators are--but how silently the chickens go to their doom. I would have expected much squawking and resistance--but they are so silent and resigned
They sure squawk a lot when I pick them up!
MollyD
LOL Molly! My thoughts exactly. Talula squawks like I'm trying to kill her! I'm sure half the neighborhood can hear her!
I wondered the same thing. We went out to a huge garage sale prior to us getting our chickens. The woman was selling her coop. She said that something had come in the middle of the night and killed ALL 30 of her birds! The coop had to have been less than 50' off the back of the house and I wondered, "how the h3ll did they not hear that?!?"
I think it is the dark that silences them.
Scary any way it happens.
I was in the coop a short time ago, Hanzel was guarding it and not letting anyone go in. He even tried to stop me and got bopped on the head for his effort. Inside Gretel was straining to get an egg out. I got it a little while later and it's a wonder she wasn't split in two!! That thing is huge ^_^. I think Hanzel knows I took it cause he was very upset when I went in the coop. I think the new coop is going to need three sections instead of the two I had originally planned. I can see those two keeping the ducks out in the cold cause they've got a family planned!
How do you stop geese when they want to set up housekeeping? I don't want any baby geese till March at the earliest so I've been taking any eggs I spot. I'm doing the same with the ducks too. I'm assuming the Mareks doesn't spread to geese and ducks from chickens?
MollyD
Hello Molly,
CF is so happy you are enjoying your long awaited eggs. And CF believes waterfowl ARE safe from most any poultry disease, including Marek's.
Catscan, WHAT?????????????? HOWMANYEGGS?????????
Well, allright, anyone who has eggs to incubate, CF says get them set THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!
Now onto dear lost soul. You need a roo. CF is here to help. Please search online for shelters near you, and go to their farm animal links. www.Petfinder.com is a good one, and CMOXON can give you others. As much as you would like a Blue or Splash, CF says you must EARN it, by proving yourself worthy. So go and adopt a roo. RIR, Red Sex Link, or the best choice would be something black or something white. Then you can hatch out sex linked chicks. Catscan will tell you how.
Sending my best and lots of eggs to my dearest servants,
********************************************************************
CF
p.s., luvs, have you got the huge egg CF sent???
Yes Ma'am I sure did get this very large egg. If i didnt know any better i would have thought the ducks had flown up there and laid that giant egg. Will see if my girl lays that size again or was it just a fluke. It is so big it would not fit into an 18 pack egg carton. Large at that. Just WOW!!!!!
Thanks CF! Duck hens layed two eggs this morning in the same nest the goose and the hen used. That is going to be one busy nest with waiting chairs on the side!!!
MollyD
Molly, all my chickens use the same nest. i'll go in the coop, and there will be 3 in the nest together and a waiting line. i have plenty of nests, but they all use the same one
I wonder why they do that? I've got alternates for the hens. I can understand the ducks and goose wanting this nest (it's on the floor) but I sure can't figure out the chickens!!
MollyD
if you figure it out, be sure to let me know
Mom has chickens and I have seen 2 in the nest at same time with both laying. And another one waiting.
oh Molly..
I have 6 laying nests and 19 birds.. a partridge rock uses the top middle one, but almost everyone else uses the bottome right, occasionally I will sit ouside to watch and laugh.. they will literally stand in line on the ramp and wait until someone comes out, just like at the fair or something big with the crowded ladies room... only problem is.. with chickens.. nobody flushes.. LOL
I've had chickens 7 years now and it's still a mystery to me too.
as long as mine aren't the only ones, i guess its ok
LOL fran that'd definitely be a sight for sore eyes!
It's definitely normal. I've read that any more boxes than 1:4 or 5 will be in vain. They like to share! Isn't that just cute?
I lost a good settin of eggs not moveing a hen once.
I had a good hen go broody on a suprise by the way she was sittin on ten eggs i couldn't move her so i left her well the other hen got mad cause she was sittin on half her eggs and a fight broke out while i wasn't there and broke all the eggs.
I came home and it was hay and eggs everywhere and the rooster eaten them.
That was a few years back and i move mine now when they go broody.
Forgot to add, I do thank the CF for that extra large egg.
i had a rir attack jezzy[my cochin] while she was sitting on eggs. that could be the one eating my eggs? she did break one of jezzys, and left it i the middle of the yard
The guilty one is always the one with egg on their beak LOL!^_^
Guess my flock is acting normal then! I may have to seal that area off since it was never intended as a nest. To get the eggs I have to crouch and lean like a pretzel. Not my favorite position!!
Will it upset them all if I force them to pick another spot to lay their eggs?
MollyD
yes, but did your kids get mad at you when you said no they could not play in the street!
Did the kids pout for an hour.. yep, in that second hour did they forget what they were mad about... yep..
they'll live.. you'll be happy!
LOL guess who'll be moving that darn nest! I did get two duck eggs and one chicken egg out of it today :-)
MollyD