Recent content by PaigeWells

My neighborhood crow Dante has a wife and 5 adult kids now, they don’t seem to land near my girls and they can’t get in the coop, and I don’t have babies so I encourage them. They LOVE peanuts (in the shell). I throw a handful on the driveway (200 feet from the chicken yard) and call them. They...

I have a heated waterer for when it freezes (mountains of Western NC) but I also have 3 other waterers, every winter day when I visit the girls I take one of the 3 with warm water in it to them and carry another home to thaw and clean. The new warm water doesn’t freeze as fast, I’m cleaning them...

My hubby was ok but not thrilled with my wanting to convert a good looking shed into a chicken fort/palace. He specifically said he “didn’t want it to look like the Clampetts live there”. So I took the time to space out my washers (to hold the hardware cloth down) evenly and it looks pretty...

I went with the “pay off the mafia” approach: I noticed that in my area we have several red tailed hawks AND a local flock of about 7 crows that harass the hawks en mass until they leave. I am in Western NC at 3700 feet on the side of a mountain, and we have everything that eats chickens. So I...

I know- they are so cute! Mine are still doing well, our nights get down to mid 30’s occasionally but when it’s cold mama has them hunkered down. I built a berm of bedding outside their cage to block any drafts just in case. (They are under the poop board counter in a pen). I let them out to...

Thanks for the reassurance. It will be 16 tonight (where is this cold coming from?) and 26 tomorrow night. since she’s already inside I’ll likely keep her there until Tuesday then pop them back into the quarantine cage, temps will be down to around freezing but not crazy after that into April...

Izzy is beautiful! Delta (my broody) did the puff and peck thing too, and would eat treats in between pecks. I got her as a 6 week old and she wasn’t as tame- I really didn’t want a rooster so I found a breeder who would sell 6 week olds with a much better chance of sorting sexes. I had never...

I just had a young broody aracauna about 10 months old adopt 3 3 day old babies (Just today). She went broody and I could not break her- she was stealing everyone’s eggs, hogging the favorite nest box, she held on for 60+ days despite all attempts to break her- and btw, I don’t even have a...

Thanks for all the advice! We watched her a lot today and saw how she acted when a chick left her- it took her a while to get them back, the longest a chick was out from under her was 16 minutes and she was very determined to get them back. Ultimately the thought of meeting a bear in my bathrobe...

Ahh- spoken like a mom! You are right, that and the frozen chick water decided me. They are inside now!

She is an araucana (with the puffed out cheeks) and they are smaller and less fluffy than a big hen but larger than a bantam. She would probably be fine but we brought her and them in. At least we will be able to sleep tonight!

It is going to be 17 (much lower then normal here) for the next 2 nights but 45 in the days, should I leave mama and her 3 out there where she is comfortable and familiar or move them inside to a dog crate for a few days? Here’s the details: I had a broody hen that I could not break (Araucana)...

Well the $&@#%* hawk was just outside being chased by our resident flock of crows. It swooped down right off the front porch and over the (locked up safe) chickens and into the woods. The crows are still harassing it. I guess it came back looking for another snack. Thanks for the help and now...

I felt a little mean posting her death picture, here’s one where she looks much better. Poor Elvis! (She was the ugliest baby but she grew up gorgeous!)

Would a hawk strip all the feathers off the whole neck? We do have red tailed hawks in the area, I haven’t seen them circling the chickens but they are around. The crows are pretty good at harassing them in our area but I guess maybe one got through. If that is the problem, I guess I need to...