G.hurricane, burnin...chicken question.

vash · vash's Garage

my hens are mostly pets..they are not delicous or anything. too old.

we feed them fruit leftovers, bread..rice (asians..rice we have). past prime blue berries and grapes are favs..so are my bread baking experiments.

now they wont even touch their hen food.. scratch..layena..meh! few pecks and that's it! am i screwed? is there another hen food i should try? when i toss my compost pile, they are all over it grabbing those black beetles. i run interference for the earthworms..but they occasionally grab one. i grab my pitchfork, and those damn birds meet me at the compost. weird.

vash · vash's Garage

a week ago, a racoon broke into the hen house and took out two hens. brutal. they left a head on the porch, like a furry, grey, masked..Godfather.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

I think you need an AR-15 with a silencer and night vision gear.

You KNOW they are bad guys; they wear masks!

ckissick · 07-01-2010, 10:15 AM

Are they still laying? If they are laying and you can supply them with enough scraps to forego the laying crumble, then I see no problem. Save money on crumble.

How did a raccoon break in? My coop is totally impregnable. However, my 9-year-old girl left the coop door open a couple weeks ago. Four dead hens was the result. We now have four chicks in a box in the garage.

vash · vash's Garage

the coon flipped open a latch!! i have added those dog leash clasp to secure the latches..nothing is getting in. i heard the racoon jiggling the clasp a few nights ago..at 1:30 am. i let it be. cant shoot an arrow in the dark. yet

Rikao4 · 07-01-2010, 10:21 AM

my dogs found 'Elvis' a few weeks back...
his eyes were just starting to open..
found him a home on the coast...

Rika

ckissick · 07-01-2010, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vash

the coon flipped open a latch!! i have added those dog leash clasp to secure the latches..nothing is getting in. i heard the racoon jiggling the clasp a few nights ago..at 1:30 am. i let it be. cant shoot an arrow in the dark. yet

Yeah, that's a retrofit I had to do a few years ago on the coop and the shed where I store the food.

targa911S · 07-01-2010, 10:23 AM

be careful they carry rabies buddy.

enzo1 · 07-01-2010, 10:56 AM

raccoons can get into any thing, their amazing to watch...yea they can carry rabies, bobcats got into a my friends chicken coupe, didn't leave anything

Groesbeck Hurricane · 07-02-2010, 07:51 PM

Vash,

Sorry, hay and gathering used building materials. I scored some ~18 foot long industrial strength never before used tin to repair my hay barn. $.25 per pound, 2400 pounds... Unloading was a bear this morning... Oh, and work somewhere in there. Glad this was my off Friday!

Anyway, yep you have trained the little dears to eat what they love: YOUR leftovers! They will get calcium from the bugs. Give them the old shells back and provide some powdered oyster shell. I'd keep providing scratch feed in smaller quantities until you discover what they will eat in a day. Oh, and we gave up on keeping a neat compost pile. They are ALL over it all the time! And they ate all the cabbage, lettuce, brussel sprouts, and are eyeing the squash right now.

I would just keep giving them the scraps. Ours get all the scraps. Meat fat and everything. Vegetable matter goes on the compost area (no longer a pile...) and wast meat products are fed directly to birds as you never want to put meat products/meat eating animal waste in your compost pile.

Coons get into everything. Them and possums are two animals I will shoot on sight. I don't shoot coyotes, foxes, snakes, and such. My horses keep most animals away from the barn and coops, they kill stray dogs and other such critters.

Go around your coop. Make sure everything is nailed down and latched with a clip style latch. Generally, if you have a small flock you can work with a raised coop that is three or four feet off the ground. The chickens will learn to climb up and get in. Rats will also make quick work of your chickens. Horrible little vermin!

Oh, and if you want to try something different see if you can get some midget white turkeys. Turkeys are rather unintelligent animals but the midget whites are ULTRA friendly and good egg layers, large mottled white eggs. Ours come up demanding to be petted and eat from your hand. But they are very good flyers and will roost in the trees.