ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS > FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE
Broody Brains
Acebird:
--- Quote from: The15thMember on March 24, 2022, 10:49:31 am --- But the kids have never forgiven the hawks for the couple of chicken they killed before we got the dogs. :shocked: :cheesy:
--- End quote ---
Birds of prey are nothing compared to a fox. A fox doesn't give up until they are dead or the hen house is cleaned out.
The15thMember:
--- Quote from: Acebird on April 01, 2022, 08:50:59 am ---Birds of prey are nothing compared to a fox. A fox doesn't give up until they are dead or the hen house is cleaned out.
--- End quote ---
We have foxes around here, but we've never had too much trouble with them. Now that we have the dogs, we don't have to worry about foxes anymore either.
BeeMaster2:
We just had another hen hatch bout 16 of 18 eggs, like the other one and his is her first clutch. The chicks were all kinds of different colors. The following morning she only had 7 black ones. We have no idea what took out all of the light colored ones.
The other hen, Partridge, still has 9 chicks. I find this pretty amazing considering this is her first clutch. Day before yesterday I walked out in the pasture and there was a hawk and 2 crows sitting in the trees above Partridge. There wasn?t a single chick with her. I chased the birds away and went looking for the chicks. Partridge was acting like she didn?t have any chicks. The roosters were even trying to mate her, something they would not try when she has chicks. I found all 9 chicks buried under pine straw. Each chick was under a different patch of straw next to the pond. It took a few minutes to find all of them, but they were all there. She quickly collected them up and went back to feeding.
Jim Altmiller
Ben Framed:
Fox, Coon, Coyote, Wiesel, and the old Nasty Possums, are just some that will reek havoc a chicken population, don?t forget chicken snakes, they will not only eat eggs but baby chicks as well, even the common house cat will decimate a baby chicken population, Hawks and Owls as well. Another great enemy is the bobcat. They will come back night after night hitting fast, and gone. (Sometimes in broad open daylight as the rest will do as well, but most of these seem to prefer the safety of darkness excluding hawks of course).
As you say Reagan a good yard dog will cut down losses tremendously. At one time we had a German Shepard that proved to be a real family friend as well as a friend to the chicken flock. He would put a bobcat up a tree as good as any coon dog after a coon. With (Boots) around the chicken flock was in good paws.
Phillip
The15thMember:
--- Quote from: Ben Framed on April 02, 2022, 09:46:50 am ---don?t forget chicken snakes, they will not only eat eggs but baby chicks as well
--- End quote ---
We have a lot of black rat snakes around and one will occasionally get an egg or a chick. Any snakes caught red-handed are killed to prevent further incidents with that snake. In our experience, once they figure out there is an easy meal available, they just keep coming back. But any snakes who mind their own business are left alone and welcomed, as they really help control rodents.
--- Quote from: BeeMaster2 on April 02, 2022, 08:49:24 am ---We just had another hen hatch bout 16 of 18 eggs, like the other one and his is her first clutch. The chicks were all kinds of different colors. The following morning she only had 7 black ones. We have no idea what took out all of the light colored ones.
The other hen, Partridge, still has 9 chicks. I find this pretty amazing considering this is her first clutch. Day before yesterday I walked out in the pasture and there was a hawk and 2 crows sitting in the trees above Partridge. There wasn?t a single chick with her. I chased the birds away and went looking for the chicks. Partridge was acting like she didn?t have any chicks. The roosters were even trying to mate her, something they would not try when she has chicks. I found all 9 chicks buried under pine straw. Each chick was under a different patch of straw next to the pond. It took a few minutes to find all of them, but they were all there. She quickly collected them up and went back to feeding.
Jim Altmiller
--- End quote ---
Weird. I wonder if the light-colored chicks weren't as camouflaged against a predator as the dark-colored ones.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version