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Post by bullfrog on Aug 17, 2023 20:39:06 GMT -5
Yes. They are taking them out of the coop at night. He has caught several mink after them, a couple Raccoons and even a possum. It says that possum would not be after chickens but there was one. I guess it was one of the minks that got in and tried to drag one through the small hole in his chicken wire. It was stuck in the wire in the morning. He has a few problems with his family and the chickens really help him mellow out. I don’t think people who have not had chickens can believe how calming and therapeutic they can be. I used to spend hours out with ours years ago. Anyway he is badly bothered when he loses one of his flock. He was telling me about how a few actually come up to him and hang out with him when he sets outside. 😊. Anyway thanks for the help. The thing about coop raising chickens is that when you gather them all together into one spot they can't escape from, you create fish in a barrel for predators. If the predators make it inside, it's a slaughter. As opposed to athletic chickens roosting outside in the trees, where most will escape if attacked at night like wild turkeys do. He's either going to have to secure his coops so nothing can get in, or get some dogs and let them run the yard at night. I do the latter and don't have predator issues in my breeding coops except for rat snakes and the occasional cottonmouth. If he can afford an electric net with a low impedance fence charger, I bet he can end his troubles by running the net around his coop. Most predators will stay off of an electric net once it's zapped them a couple of times. I run a chicken paddock down in the woods with a very low charge solar charger and it even keeps bear out. I am about to upgrade the charger though because the chickens will pass through the net (their feathers insulate them from weak shocks). I think it will take a strong shock to keep the chickens off the perimeters of the net. Make sure it's low impedance. That's the kind that pulse their electric charge. You don't want a constant charge. That's like having an open power line around your coop and it can kill a person or another animal.
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Post by illinoisfisherman on Aug 17, 2023 20:44:53 GMT -5
Thank you. I will help him with an electrical fence. 👍
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Post by bullfrog on Aug 17, 2023 22:14:01 GMT -5
Thank you. I will help him with an electrical fence. 👍 Just make sure there’s no trees with branches running to the coop a predator can use to skirt the net. If the only access to the coop is through the net, I think you can resolve the issue. Get the smallest squares you can for the net with the strongest charger you can afford. Minks and similar weasel types are small. You want to maximize the chances than an animal cannot pass through a net without touching a hot strand. I currently use Premier1 brand Permanet Plus net and their second weakest charger. When I upgrade the charger in a few days I’m going to get the Tractor Supply charger and the strongest one they have.
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Post by 1outlaw on Aug 18, 2023 10:55:06 GMT -5
Bullfrog do you think predators can sense the electric wire? We have a hot wire ran around our coop and run at a 6" off the ground and then at 4'. Since i built the new coop and run we havent ever had a predator again. Our dogs wont even go near it. Actually had a bob cat sit outside of it for about 30 minutes and just stare at the chickens. Its built so nothing could get in but still.
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Post by bullfrog on Aug 18, 2023 13:45:23 GMT -5
Bullfrog do you think predators can sense the electric wire? We have a hot wire ran around our coop and run at a 6" off the ground and then at 4'. Since i built the new coop and run we havent ever had a predator again. Our dogs wont even go near it. Actually had a bob cat sit outside of it for about 30 minutes and just stare at the chickens. Its built so nothing could get in but still. Yes I believe they can. They’ll still try it but once they get a good zap they’ll stay away as long as its on. When it goes off, it can take a few days or a few weeks to figure it out. Not just predators but deer and cows too. Once deer get zapped a few times they won’t browse within 2 or 3 feet of the net.
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Post by swampdog on Aug 18, 2023 14:45:34 GMT -5
Outlaw I’m betting animals can pick up the imperceptible buzz from the electric fence. Just my 2cents.
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Post by bullfrog on Oct 28, 2023 22:13:18 GMT -5
A major short-term setback that will likely have major long-term benefits: Normal eye: Pathogenic eye: Compare left to right: Marek's disease, caused by the bird version of the herpes virus. It amounts to cancer in the chicken's nerves. When the cancer sets in, it will make the chicken lose cordination as if drunk and the bird will waste away from tumors in the digestive system. It's very hard on chickens that are under 18 months old. Mature adults can usually fight it off. However, vaccinated birds that comes from hatcheries can carry it for life, shedding it to other chickens and killing those other chickens quickly. Birds that have it and are carriers will often get constricted pupils in one or both eyes and the eye will start to go milky. I've lost all of this last spring's bitties except for 7. I had several hatchery layers running around that I think were the carriers. I've culled them all and any bird I was suspicious of having the disease. A percentage of the flock will be immune and can pass that immunity to their offspring. I now have to put the skids on selecting for size, color, ect. and instead give almost the entire flock over to natural selection to allow the immune birds to breed and reproduce until flock immunity is established. This will set me back about two years. However, that means in the long term I'll have extra tough chickens. Immunity to Marek's is no small thing.
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Post by bullfrog on Oct 28, 2023 22:14:27 GMT -5
BTW, it killed Azog last week.
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Post by swampdog on Oct 29, 2023 7:49:17 GMT -5
This is all new to me and interesting. Good luck going forward BF.
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Post by bullfrog on Nov 19, 2023 22:08:38 GMT -5
If I didn't mention it already, my book is still a go. It may be in print by Christmas. I haven't taken fresh pics of my chickens in a while. I'm waiting for the molt to finish. These are some of the improved Crackers below, but they're not done molting so their feathers aren't filled in yet: I have some Cracker x Terrorfowl crosses that I'm going to cross into the Cracker line to see how they come out. Tough birds. You can see it in their eyes and how they carry themselves. They're approaching 2 years old and I think they're immune to the Marek's disease. I have this young stag in the terrorfowl project that I want to father the next generation of terrorfowl. He's had no Marek's symptoms, but he's not a year old yet so it will take another year to know.
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Post by bullfrog on Nov 19, 2023 22:14:28 GMT -5
This is my most recent pic of Indo. He's somewhere around 3 years old. He's a bit overweight because I've had him cooped for a long time. I don't trust him out anymore. He's not human aggressive, but he's so large and powerful that one blow from him could be deadly. It's not clear in the picture, but his spurs are huge. He's in his prime and I think he'll kill to protect his hens. That could mean spurring my dogs. The brown hen behind him is a rare wheaten Liege hen. She's also huge.
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Post by bullfrog on Nov 19, 2023 22:17:08 GMT -5
All of this between this and the frog thread reminds me, I need to get Indo some mice.
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Post by stc1993 on Nov 19, 2023 22:34:48 GMT -5
The hen in the improved cracker picture look just like the wild chickens we have in Albany. The wild chickens are alot smaller though.
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Post by bullfrog on Nov 19, 2023 22:38:01 GMT -5
The hen in the improved cracker picture look just like the wild chickens we have in Albany. The wild chickens are alot smaller though. This is one of my wild Crackers in their original state. How does this compare to your wild hens? The improved Cracker has been crossed with oriental gamefowl to improve size, muscle, and aggressiveness towards predators.
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Post by bullfrog on Nov 19, 2023 22:39:27 GMT -5
Here are some more pure Crackers:
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