[FONT=comic sans ms,sand]July 1, 2009
It is really hot today. Under our carport it read to be 105.2. That us usually the heat index too. I went to check on my 8 week old chicks in the hen house. They were hot too!!! I went back in the house and got lots of ice cubes and put them into their water. They LOVED them. I'm trying to get some pictures uploaded. Hope you will be able to see them later.[/FONT]
[FONT=terminal,monaco]July 3rd, 2009
TODAY IS GOING TO BE HOOOOOOTTTT!!! The regular temp is 102 degrees and they said up to 111 degrees with the heat index....
[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,palatino]Tuesday I was mowing back beside the chicken yard and found 2 spots with black feathers everywhere. I got nervous and went and counted chickens. Something had gotten 2 of my black australorps. Looks like they both were roosters. We thought that they were flying out the sides of the yard at the top. We have the top covered, but right where the top of the chicken wire meets the top of the hen house it is a triangled space on both sides that is open. SOOOOO I went and cut wire and fixed that. We thought that this was fixed. Wednesday came and I picked the corn in the garden, shucked it and cut it off the cob. I gathered up all the cobs and went to the chicken yard. I again noticed more feathers and a piece of chicken this time. I was REALLY upset now. Counted chickens again and 2 more black chickens were gone. We have went from 14 to 10 black australorps. I texted my husband at work and told him. When he got home I went to show him where something might be getting them under the fence. We have dog wire lining the inside of the bottom of the yard, all the way around. Keeps varmits from digging in. Right beside the post was a gap in the dog wire. When we were looking a the wire, we found a rhode island red feather...... Counted chickens again.... NOW one red is missing. In broad daylight, something came and got another chicken. This was 3 chickens missing in 1 day... I was pretty mad by now...Nothing I could do but try to get it. I fixed the bottom of the fence, reinforced it more all the way around. We got out the live traps my daddy had given me that we used when I was a little girl, and the first night nothing...Last night, something tripped both of them...still nothing. What ever it is, is coming in the daytime to. Before we went to bed, we seen where it tried digging into the yard in 2 more places yesterday during the day. It will be back today...I will be sitting and waiting under the barn this time.... I'll finish my story when I have a ending..Thanks for reading my troubles for the week.
Happy July 4th!!!!!
Today is supposed to be the HOTTEST day yet again. They said this morning that it will probably be 105 degrees alone. Yesterday about 4:00 p.m. I was going out our back door and under our carport it read to be 107.8 degrees....Louisiana Summers! Aren't they torture. Mild winters make up for it. We have been having something killing our chickens at night. So last night we put up my husbands deer camera. First light this morning, I went and got the camera, hooked it up and quess what it was??? A BIG FAT RACCOON!!!! Now taking care of this problem is next....
I went and picked the corn yesterday and begin shucking it this morning. I took all the cobs that I couldn't use and all the end pieces and put them in a bucket. I ended up with 1.5 five gallon buckets full of corn pieces. I took them to the chicken yard and they took me down as soon as I got in the door. They LOVE fresh corn. I had to dump it out right then for them. If you wait to long, they will fly up and get into your buckets. They are too funny. My 15 baby chicks are doing well. Friday they were 3 weeks old. I am so happy that I haven't lost any yet. I was told that it was just about impossible to not loose a pile of baby chicks when you bring them home. I started out with 15 barred plymouth rocks and still have them. I have had to do some major babying to them, but it is so worth it. Since it is so hot here during the day, I got a old play pen of my sons and fixed it up for them. They have so much fun in it during the daytime. I have a fan up on top and one on the ground blowing on them. I have to go out about 5:00 in the evening and dump their water, fill it with ice and put fresh water in each day. I have to do this for the chickens in the big yard too. They are sooo miserable from about 12 o'clock dinner till sun down. It's not even August yet! That is supposed to be out hottest month. What are we in store for then. The garden is powder, but we still managed to get over 180 ears of corn from 2 rows of corn, and a pile of tomatoes. We still had so many jars of squash, green beans, and purple hulls, that we didn't have to plant that this season. Next season will be a doosey...We will have to plant and put up everything. That will be a major job. Thanks for reading today! Have a wonderful and Blessed Day!
[FONT=georgia,palatino]July 14th, 2009[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,palatino]My new chicks were 4 weeks old friday. I was so happy. We started out with 15 barred ply. rocks and I still have all of them. I know that with the temperature here in Louisiana getting up high, 11th day in a row now over 100 degrees, my chicks were miserable in the brooder. It is open but covered with wire in the top, but the sides are wood. So I went to my grandmothers house to see what I could fix up. She has passed on now for 3 years but her house and all is still there. I found my son's old square playpen. I cleaned it up, layed boards on top and put chicken wire on top of that. Secured the wire to the boards, and now my baby chicks have a COOL new daytime brooder. They LOVE it sooo much. One of the little hens perches up on top of her waterer. They are so cute. This breed that we got loves to peck for attention. At first I couldn't figure out why everyone of them loved to peck the mess out of my hands when I was close to them. Now, they just want to have attention. In the mornings when I am transferring them to the playpen, they take turns jumping on top of the waterer. They know that which ever one is on the waterer will be next to get into the playpen. When I put them inside they fly around in circles so fast. It is too funny. Thanks for reading today. God Bless you and yours!
[/FONT]
August 18, 2009
Sorry it has been so long. Things have been crazy around here. Chickens have been sweating it out in this heat. My older chickens don't care much for the water being sprayed on them, but the little one, I call them, love the water. They have gotten use to being sprayed off since it has been so hot. We fought varmits like crazy for so long and we have just now gotten maybe a 1/2 step ahead of them. We ened up losing 12 chickens in all. 5 reds, 5 black, and 2 of my 6 week old barred rocks. We had coons pulling the top chicken wire apart that covers the top of the chicken yard getting in. When we discovered this, we also discovered that we had a bobcat getting in. Tracks were everywhere one morning. We set out traps like crazy and had no luck. We fixed that spot in the fence and then one morning I went out to feed the chickens and a opossum bent the wire down above the doors in hen house and drug a red up and over the doors. We found feathers stuck in the wire of the door. It was pretty obvious is was an oppossum. The hold was about the size of a softball. We ended up with 4 or 5 coons though. Some small, some very large and mean as all getout!!! I worked on the hen house and the fencing for days to secure any little spot. We put out our deer camera again and found a starving dog trying to eat its way through the chicken wire fence. Another night a coon pulled the wire so hard, we had the top wire meeting the side wire and had wire encircling both to connect them, he broke the wire and got in. Another chicken missing.... I laced stiff wire along the whole back side and up the sides. This took a lot of time, but for now, it has paused their killing spree. Went to pick our dryed corn so my husband could disk it under, the coons had eaten all the dryed corn, most of our tomatoes, and 12 chickens in all. They were really fat coons. This is where I am now. School starts back for the kids tomorrow!!!!! YEAH! My boy is so happy. So, It will be me and my chickens for a few days and I will start back to school also. Going back for more education....Thanks all for reading, any questions, please email. Have a blessed day!!
[FONT=comic sans ms,sand]April 19, 2010
It has been a while since I have been on here. All of my brooding last year went fine. We ended up loosing about 12 chickens to the raccoons. We are brooding now. We have 34 little chicks and they are work. I have one but she was acting funny since I brought her home. She lasted about 3 days and then died. I hate loosing any of my babies. We are getting eggs now. It is so nice to now have to buy eggs anymore. There is nothing like fresh eggs!!! The sumatra chicks seem to be really sweet. I don't know how long that will last. The Golden comets seem to be crazy. Maybe they will calm down some before I put them in the yard later with the older chickens. All is well here in the woods. Hope everyone else is doing good. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to me. I will do my best to answer any questions. Thanks for reading, and God Bless![/FONT][/FONT]
It is really hot today. Under our carport it read to be 105.2. That us usually the heat index too. I went to check on my 8 week old chicks in the hen house. They were hot too!!! I went back in the house and got lots of ice cubes and put them into their water. They LOVED them. I'm trying to get some pictures uploaded. Hope you will be able to see them later.[/FONT]
[FONT=terminal,monaco]July 3rd, 2009
TODAY IS GOING TO BE HOOOOOOTTTT!!! The regular temp is 102 degrees and they said up to 111 degrees with the heat index....
[FONT=georgia,palatino]Tuesday I was mowing back beside the chicken yard and found 2 spots with black feathers everywhere. I got nervous and went and counted chickens. Something had gotten 2 of my black australorps. Looks like they both were roosters. We thought that they were flying out the sides of the yard at the top. We have the top covered, but right where the top of the chicken wire meets the top of the hen house it is a triangled space on both sides that is open. SOOOOO I went and cut wire and fixed that. We thought that this was fixed. Wednesday came and I picked the corn in the garden, shucked it and cut it off the cob. I gathered up all the cobs and went to the chicken yard. I again noticed more feathers and a piece of chicken this time. I was REALLY upset now. Counted chickens again and 2 more black chickens were gone. We have went from 14 to 10 black australorps. I texted my husband at work and told him. When he got home I went to show him where something might be getting them under the fence. We have dog wire lining the inside of the bottom of the yard, all the way around. Keeps varmits from digging in. Right beside the post was a gap in the dog wire. When we were looking a the wire, we found a rhode island red feather...... Counted chickens again.... NOW one red is missing. In broad daylight, something came and got another chicken. This was 3 chickens missing in 1 day... I was pretty mad by now...Nothing I could do but try to get it. I fixed the bottom of the fence, reinforced it more all the way around. We got out the live traps my daddy had given me that we used when I was a little girl, and the first night nothing...Last night, something tripped both of them...still nothing. What ever it is, is coming in the daytime to. Before we went to bed, we seen where it tried digging into the yard in 2 more places yesterday during the day. It will be back today...I will be sitting and waiting under the barn this time.... I'll finish my story when I have a ending..Thanks for reading my troubles for the week.
Happy July 4th!!!!!
Today is supposed to be the HOTTEST day yet again. They said this morning that it will probably be 105 degrees alone. Yesterday about 4:00 p.m. I was going out our back door and under our carport it read to be 107.8 degrees....Louisiana Summers! Aren't they torture. Mild winters make up for it. We have been having something killing our chickens at night. So last night we put up my husbands deer camera. First light this morning, I went and got the camera, hooked it up and quess what it was??? A BIG FAT RACCOON!!!! Now taking care of this problem is next....
I went and picked the corn yesterday and begin shucking it this morning. I took all the cobs that I couldn't use and all the end pieces and put them in a bucket. I ended up with 1.5 five gallon buckets full of corn pieces. I took them to the chicken yard and they took me down as soon as I got in the door. They LOVE fresh corn. I had to dump it out right then for them. If you wait to long, they will fly up and get into your buckets. They are too funny. My 15 baby chicks are doing well. Friday they were 3 weeks old. I am so happy that I haven't lost any yet. I was told that it was just about impossible to not loose a pile of baby chicks when you bring them home. I started out with 15 barred plymouth rocks and still have them. I have had to do some major babying to them, but it is so worth it. Since it is so hot here during the day, I got a old play pen of my sons and fixed it up for them. They have so much fun in it during the daytime. I have a fan up on top and one on the ground blowing on them. I have to go out about 5:00 in the evening and dump their water, fill it with ice and put fresh water in each day. I have to do this for the chickens in the big yard too. They are sooo miserable from about 12 o'clock dinner till sun down. It's not even August yet! That is supposed to be out hottest month. What are we in store for then. The garden is powder, but we still managed to get over 180 ears of corn from 2 rows of corn, and a pile of tomatoes. We still had so many jars of squash, green beans, and purple hulls, that we didn't have to plant that this season. Next season will be a doosey...We will have to plant and put up everything. That will be a major job. Thanks for reading today! Have a wonderful and Blessed Day!
[FONT=georgia,palatino]July 14th, 2009[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia,palatino]My new chicks were 4 weeks old friday. I was so happy. We started out with 15 barred ply. rocks and I still have all of them. I know that with the temperature here in Louisiana getting up high, 11th day in a row now over 100 degrees, my chicks were miserable in the brooder. It is open but covered with wire in the top, but the sides are wood. So I went to my grandmothers house to see what I could fix up. She has passed on now for 3 years but her house and all is still there. I found my son's old square playpen. I cleaned it up, layed boards on top and put chicken wire on top of that. Secured the wire to the boards, and now my baby chicks have a COOL new daytime brooder. They LOVE it sooo much. One of the little hens perches up on top of her waterer. They are so cute. This breed that we got loves to peck for attention. At first I couldn't figure out why everyone of them loved to peck the mess out of my hands when I was close to them. Now, they just want to have attention. In the mornings when I am transferring them to the playpen, they take turns jumping on top of the waterer. They know that which ever one is on the waterer will be next to get into the playpen. When I put them inside they fly around in circles so fast. It is too funny. Thanks for reading today. God Bless you and yours!
August 18, 2009
Sorry it has been so long. Things have been crazy around here. Chickens have been sweating it out in this heat. My older chickens don't care much for the water being sprayed on them, but the little one, I call them, love the water. They have gotten use to being sprayed off since it has been so hot. We fought varmits like crazy for so long and we have just now gotten maybe a 1/2 step ahead of them. We ened up losing 12 chickens in all. 5 reds, 5 black, and 2 of my 6 week old barred rocks. We had coons pulling the top chicken wire apart that covers the top of the chicken yard getting in. When we discovered this, we also discovered that we had a bobcat getting in. Tracks were everywhere one morning. We set out traps like crazy and had no luck. We fixed that spot in the fence and then one morning I went out to feed the chickens and a opossum bent the wire down above the doors in hen house and drug a red up and over the doors. We found feathers stuck in the wire of the door. It was pretty obvious is was an oppossum. The hold was about the size of a softball. We ended up with 4 or 5 coons though. Some small, some very large and mean as all getout!!! I worked on the hen house and the fencing for days to secure any little spot. We put out our deer camera again and found a starving dog trying to eat its way through the chicken wire fence. Another night a coon pulled the wire so hard, we had the top wire meeting the side wire and had wire encircling both to connect them, he broke the wire and got in. Another chicken missing.... I laced stiff wire along the whole back side and up the sides. This took a lot of time, but for now, it has paused their killing spree. Went to pick our dryed corn so my husband could disk it under, the coons had eaten all the dryed corn, most of our tomatoes, and 12 chickens in all. They were really fat coons. This is where I am now. School starts back for the kids tomorrow!!!!! YEAH! My boy is so happy. So, It will be me and my chickens for a few days and I will start back to school also. Going back for more education....Thanks all for reading, any questions, please email. Have a blessed day!!
[FONT=comic sans ms,sand]April 19, 2010
It has been a while since I have been on here. All of my brooding last year went fine. We ended up loosing about 12 chickens to the raccoons. We are brooding now. We have 34 little chicks and they are work. I have one but she was acting funny since I brought her home. She lasted about 3 days and then died. I hate loosing any of my babies. We are getting eggs now. It is so nice to now have to buy eggs anymore. There is nothing like fresh eggs!!! The sumatra chicks seem to be really sweet. I don't know how long that will last. The Golden comets seem to be crazy. Maybe they will calm down some before I put them in the yard later with the older chickens. All is well here in the woods. Hope everyone else is doing good. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to me. I will do my best to answer any questions. Thanks for reading, and God Bless![/FONT][/FONT]