First Occupant in New Coop

The New Coop is done-ish.

I gave the coop a metal roof. I managed to put the last screw into it just as the rain started.

Roof installed in the nick of time

Doc and I worked feverishly the next day, enjoying the Texas sun and heatstroke. We completed the drip edge, hardware cloth, door latch, and run fencing. We decided to test the coop with one chicken. Jailbird Vo volunteered.

Vo enjoying her own private coop

We constructed a cheesy sliding pop door. The hardware cloth impedes the door and the pull string will have to be replaced with something better.

Dodgy Door

After some perfunctory exploration, Jailbird Vo pooped on the sand to make sure it was working. Then she settled in for the night on her mini-pallet roost.

Fancy roost

When we ventured out in the morning, Vo was still in the coop -- alive and well. This was at least partly due to the vermin trap being occupied by a nocturnal trespasser.

Pre-occupied vermin trap

We plan to put the poultry netting over the run ASAP so the chicks can have some elbow room.

Chicken Lytle and the Prisoner of the Nest Box

I went to collect eggs today and found Mr. Big standing watch by the nest box. Suspicious, I shooed out the chickens and peeked inside.

The nest box was occupied by my scaly nemesis. Calmly I squeaked, "Get the camera" to Doctor Dolittle. Thus armed, I collected evidence.

Snake, caught red-somethinged

See the bulge in the middle? That was my other ceramic egg. Last time it came to visit, it took a ceramic egg and left behind a snakeskin. Apparently this snake has a veeeeeery elastic digestive exit.

The snake seemed a little drowsy after eating De's and Vo's eggs along with my second ceramic egg. It started paying a little more attention when the flash went off. 

Face to face with creepiness

It tried to make a break for it by going out the back of the nest box through a narrow gap, but was foiled by the ceramic egg bulge. Then it tried to escape by charging toward me, making my digestive exit pucker. The snake, intimidated by my standing hair and bulging eyes, turned away and headed for the pop door.

Doc and I persuaded the snake to relax with gentle application of blunt opinions. I got the dubious honor of carrying off the limp critter on the end of a shovel.

We inspected the rest of the coop, flock, and chicks. Everybody was OK and we retired to the house for a victory meal.

Later, while Doc was watching Voldemort and his scaly friend, I slipped out to retrieve the ceramic egg. I washed it about a bazillion times and then put it back in the nest box.

Mayhem managed.


Update: A local codger gave me a couple tips on how he manages snakes around his coop. He got a 7' x 100' roll of deer netting. Then he strung up spirals of the deer netting around the chicken run, sort of like the concertina wire you see in Hollywood prison camp movies. He said the snakes get caught in the netting all the time.

Trapping Pests

My flock brings all the predators to the yard. One made off with a clutch of eggs. One left footprints in the dirt. Another had a staring contest with me late one night.

I have left my traps unbaited for too long. So today, after Doctor Dolittle prepared an amazing steak dinner, I took some trimmings out to the coop.

The birds saw me coming with a bowl. Oh the chickeny joy! They paced back and forth and clucked and hopped and collided like a handful of stooges. Their joy turned to fury as I kept walking past the coop. They squawked and grumbled and paced and hopped and ... well you know.

I stopped at the old TSC varmint trap stationed in the old chicken run. It has seen better days, but has done the job. It has captured squirrels, cats, a chicken, opossums, raccoons, and a fox. I baited it with delicious steak trimmings, carefully stuffed into an attached cat food tin.

Old trap from TSC, with DIY bait can

Did likewise with the Havahart trap.

I went back to the coop with the beefiest trimmings. Oh the chickeny joy! They paced back and forth and clucked and hopped and ... well you know.

Racing to the coop, I dropped the bowl inside and ran for cover. The ravenous birds put themselves up for the night as I stealthily closed the pop door. With the sound of violent feasting in my ears I slipped away.

Hopefully I will have a good catch tomorrow.



Update: Yikes! Saw an armadillo in the creek bed. Doc warned it to stay away from the trap.

Update: One less raccoon....

Mayhem -- Snakey Snakey

Two weeks ago my Buff Orpington went broody and camped out in the downstairs nest box. I took advantage of the situation to put eight eggs under her. Three days later they were gone.

Lacking any more of my genetically superior eggs, I grabbed the mutts that were on the kitchen counter and stuck them under the oblivious broody. Then Doc helped me convert the chicken jail into a broody nest. We moved her upstairs without losing any of our fingers and settled in for a long hatch. Yesterday, egg candling revealed progress, so happy day right?

The other hens kept laying in the downstairs nest box. I was consistently getting eggs every day, except for the occasional shell-less egg from Vo.

But this morning, things took a creepy turn.

I went to the coop and immediately noticed the chickens were behaving strangely. Instead of rocketing out of the coop, they reluctantly looked out the pop door around and stayed inside. I eventually shooed them out and went to collect eggs.

One glance inside and I immediately left the coop.

Evidence that a snake was here

I collected my wits and went back for a second look. I poked my camera into the nest box for a reconnaissance mission and scrutinized the picture. Seeing no immediate threat I took more pictures and bravely ran away.

Two weeks ago I saw a Water Moccasin in the driveway, but it slipped away before I could ask it to park elsewhere. Last week I found a four foot long snakeskin near the front gate. Today I find another snakeskin in the nest box. This is bad.

Missing egg

It ate the eggs. Again. And it ate my ceramic egg, too.

Snake owes me a dollar.

Update: Settled up with the snake.

Broody Hatching Disaster

I placed eggs under my broody buff orpington just 3 days ago. I already have a failed hatch. 100% failed. Argh!

Worse, it is a mystery. But I have my suspicions....

I went to remove Buffy from the nest today so she could get some food, water, and exercise. She squawked and pecked and fussed and huffed. But once she was off the nest there were no eggs to be found!

Eight eggs vanished into thin air. There were no sticky spots. There were no eggshells. There were no signs of struggle. Just empty space where my carefully hoarded eggs used to be.

Doctor Dolittle and I examined the coop for evidence and found none, so we fell back on speculation. We considered human theft, but rejected that due to the undisturbed gate of annoyance and latching system of despair. We considered snakes due to the recent sighting of both copperhead and cottonmouth venomous snakes, but rejected it since Buffy would probably have blinded them or been bitten. We considered crows, rats, opossums, raccoons, and foxes, but rejected all of them since Buffy would have forced them to deal with her before surrendering the eggs. We reluctantly considered that Buffy might be the culprit.

Another egg eater? Were her eggs too thin for her enormous bulk? Did she grow so ravenous that she consumed her potential offspring?

Could be....

So, for now Buffy and her new clutch of randomly selected eggs are residing in chicken jail with food and water right in front of her. This ought to reduce possible predation by snakes, crows, rats, opossums, raccoons, foxes, and the other chickens. Vigorous patrols by Doctor Dolittle and a certain part-time chicken farmer should limit the risk of two-legged predators. This leaves Buffy.

If Buffy eats these eggs, then she will be fired as a mommy chicken. Lucky for her we now have two desirable nest boxes that the other hens will actually use.

Yet another high maintenance hen. *sigh*


Update: The eggs were still under her this morning. But she rejected the nest box in favor of the jail floor which has lots of wood shavings. Doc says she probably got too warm.

Update: People keep saying it must be a snake because of no mess and that a hen in broody trance will not notice a snake under her. I really appreciate this information, but I hope you will forgive me for wishing it not to be so, especially since the cottonmouth is still at large. Snakes are creepy.

Update: Learning the new routine.

Update: Y'all were right. I was wrong. It was a snake. Here is the proof.

Springtime for Predators

Spring has finally sprung here in Texas. A late frost turned most the the budding greenery into dormant brownery. This week the second attempt at buds finally got going.

Now the pasture is a riot of growth. And my birds can have none of it.

True, Mr. Big has turned his fancy to thoughts of love, or at least the physical manifestation thereof. The current egg fertility rate is evidence of his diligence.

But the rest of the wildlife has been fecund as well.

Yesterday a copperhead snake fussed at me. A few blunt remarks persuaded the snake to relax and hang loose.

The worst has been the hawks. They are everywhere. You can hear them all the time. And you can see them flying low, searching. They are so numerous that even the crows are intimidated.

So the chickens remain incarcerated in their fully enclosed pen. Except for Mr. Big, they are bored and frustrated.

Luckily for them, the sudden growth has included weeds. I pulled some out and delivered them to the pen. Oh the chickeny joy! They dove in with single-minded ferocity. They scratched and pecked a little and clucked and pecked a little more.

Guess I have another farm chore.

Sad day

Well it finally happened. In the back of my mind, I knew it would eventually happen. I told myself I accepted the risk, that it probably would not happen for a long time, that it was just the circle of life.

Well it happened and it sucks.

My chickens wanted to free range and I let them. Now they don't want to leave the coop.

Yesterday I let them out to forage before the rains came. I had some lunch and went out to check on the birds. They were nowhere to be seen.

Then Doctor Dolittle started shouting. A large brown hawk (or owl) flew up into a tree and then casually moved away a few trees at a time until the crows came.

I found my favorite chicken, IQ, in the place where it took off. The predator had bitten off her head and eaten both her breasts. There were feathers everywhere.

We started searching the yard for survivors. Doc found three birds under the woodpile. One was disemboweled and dying. We found another under cover on the front porch. And we found Mr. Big hiding under the chicken coop.

Doc put the survivors in the coop while I buried the dead chickens.

It was not a good day.

IQ

Robin

Chickens Going Stir-Crazy

Recently there have been too many hawks in the unfriendly skies above. My formerly free range flock has been confined to their fully enclosed 800 sq. ft. pen, much to their annoyance.

The pen has been turned into a giant litter box as well as a giant dust bath. The recent rain made the whole thing into a mucky yucky place.

I put an entire bale of hay in there for them. They dutifully dismantled the bale and distributed the hay, but that barely kept them occupied for an afternoon. They are now so bored that they are no longer interested in the formerly delicious Black Oil Sunflower Seed.

When I go outside they pace back and forth along whichever fence is closest to me. They grumble and cuss in their chickeny way and generally give me the stink eye -- even my secret favorite, the smart one.

I need some ideas to keep them entertained while I keep them safe. I tried 99 bottles of beer on the wall, but they do not seem to like my beautiful "singing" voice.

Chicken Products

Here are some products you may find helpful.

Handy books on building chicken coops and raising chickens:

Incubators for hatching eggs:

Winterize the water supply for chickens:

Poultry Nets to keep hens in and keep wild birds out:

Varmint traps to thin out the predator population near the flock:

Motion-activated scarecrow to spray intruders with water:

Vacation: Out of Control

How do you take a vacation when you have a flock of chickens? OK, this applies to dogs, cats, horses, and other critters. But the question remains the same....

My flock of seven, six laying hens and the big guy, has been my little friends since I got them in May. In that time, we have learned together about what foods are chickeny-delicious, how to recover from a chickeny virus, how to deal with weak eggshells, proper coop construction, puberty, and choking hazards.

Through all these adventures I have become quite close to my little feathery friends and they have learned to (mostly) tolerate my presence.

But now I need to travel from Texas to the frosty wasteland known as "Up North". I have at least 40 hours of driving ahead of me before I am home again.

I have enlisted my most trusted friend to take care of my fluffy babies. Now I have the delicate task of respectfully communicating every single detail of caring for my cherished cockerel and prized pullets.

While I am away I will worry about the flock. Will there be predator problems as they free range? Will they gain a lot of weight from gourmet cooking?

I don't know what to expect. I am afraid of the unknown. Guess I need some perspective.

Predators and Pests

The availability of delicious fresh chickens and delicious fresh eggs and delicious fresh chicken feed and my disastrous leftovers makes my yard a predator magnet.

So far I have encountered the following:

• raccoons
• hawks
• opossums
• squirrels
• foxes
• sparrows
• moles
• rats
• my neighbor's cat

Some of these varmints have had a close encounter with my Havahart trap. Some others got blasted by my automatic scarecrow. My neighbor suggested that a pellet  rifle would be handy for some of the critters.

I noticed that his cat was not on the suggested target list.