San Diego Chicken meetup and Chat thread

[perchie.girl]

Hey I was up at Double S today (Blossom Valley along the 8) and she has a boat load of Buff Orphingtons that are almost a month old. She needs to move them because shes getting more chicks today. My brooder is occupied. But shes offering them buy one get one free. With the temps around here they are probably to the point where they just need a light at night.

deb

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

LOL.... not a Snood lover eh....  What is cool is they can change its color depending on their mood.  My Mr T would puff up and walk up to me kind of sideways....  I Named him Mr T because he had all this bling in hie feathers....  He was a firece defender of the flock too.  I caught him beating something up in the coop one day and thought OMG it was a chicken.... I pulled him off and it was a Raven.  It was on its back and its eyes was shut.  Not killed just playing possum. 

deb

Wow, that would have been a sight to see!! I've always wanted a pet Tom Turkey...just don't want to have to set up another pen. It's awfully tempting though after seeing these beauties! Could never it eat it though...would just have to be my buddy

 

[Fraunie]

It's true! Turkeys are SOOO amazing. I bought a couple last year from the feed store and absolutely fell in love with them. They are amazing! In fact, yesterday I let them all out to forage and my boyfriend and I were standing next to the garden watering when I heard the baby turkeys make their "alarm" call. They were only about 5 feet away from us and I didn't see or hear anything so I was like ?what? I edged a little closer and looked in the direction they were looking and there was a rattlesnake! in the rocks RIGHT NEXT TO US!!! I was like WHOA!!! OMG it was so close and it didn't even rattle or anything. But the good little watchers found it and alerted us! We chopped it's head off and I gave the turkeys extra treats for being such good babies.

OMG!!!! little lifesavers!!! I do love how loud my Red is (not such an original name, though). I always know when something is up. I just moved my 8 chicks outside to our new coop, they are still seperated from the 'old' coop and hens/Red. I put the chicks (6wks) in a protected area in a horse stall with a fence, but they can see everyone and everyone can see them. Red is hilarious....she comes up to them when they are out....not too close, but close enough I can see she is there, she knows I see her and she can see the babies and gives me this grunt and evil eye look. Then she walks closer, fluffs up a bit, turns red to show her uncertainty and then calms down and walks away. When they squawk though she always comes to see why. I'm hoping she will get sued to them and introductions won't be too bad.

DH thinks she needs another turkey friend, her last one was coyote food about 3 months ago, right before we moved in.

I agree on both comments! Your birds are stunning and turkeys are wonderful pets. My Popcorn fellows me around all the time and every night I give him a hug and kiss when he goes into the coop. Sounds silly I know but I love my birds!

I'll admit to LOVING my little female.....but the big guys do still scare me a bit!!!! Love that he follows you around! Red totally chews my ear off everytime I enter the corral....she has to catch me up on all the happenings!!

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I put a double apron (chain link, then 1/2 x 1/2 wire on that), 2 feet out, all around my runs. Still, in one pen, I have either squirrels or gophers tunneling into the run. I can see on the outside where the critter went to the edge of the apron and tunneled all the way in. I could pull my hair out!! I hate to take it all off and have to dig down...this So. Cal. dirt is not easy digging as we know. I'm worried that something other than a squirrel or gopher is going to find it's way in through the tunnels created by the first little beasties.

What are your suggestions? I'll have hubby set traps in the holes tomorrow...I'm so hoping it's just gophers. Is it just me or is the rodent population INSANE this year?!!

My semi-feral kitties in the garage better hurry up and grow so I can get them to work.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
He was a wild turkey the kind that doesn't get so big their legs fail. And I got him just 'cuz he had a girlfriend too Mrs T. Both were really good fliers they roosted inside my green house room on a pipe just over the back door. One evening just after the sun set I heard this big THUNK.... I flipped on the lights and Mrs T had fallen off the perch a good twelve feet up. She straightened her feathers and in one hop fluttered back to her roost.

No home grown turkey eatin here. But the predators got em. ..... sigh.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

I put a double apron (chain link, then 1/2 x 1/2 wire on that), 2 feet out, all around my runs. Still, in one pen, I have either squirrels or gophers tunneling into the run. I can see on the outside where the critter went to the edge of the apron and tunneled all the way in. I could pull my hair out!! I hate to take it all off and have to dig down...this So. Cal. dirt is not easy digging as we know. I'm worried that something other than a squirrel or gopher is going to find it's way in through the tunnels created by the first little beasties.

What are your suggestions? I'll have hubby set traps in the holes tomorrow...I'm so hoping it's just gophers. Is it just me or is the rodent population INSANE this year?!!

My semi-feral kitties in the garage better hurry up and grow so I can get them to work.

My dad used to work in Peach and Apple Groves when he was in Highschool. His job was to rid the grove of gophers..... He would get a nickle for every tail. I am getting to a point here.... What he did with the gopher body was shove it back down the hole he trapped it in. For every buried gopher the other gophers would seal up the runs and move elsewhere. You see gophers are suprisingly clean and when they come across decay they shut down the runs. Effectively running them out of the groves.

So if you trap a gopher Shove it back down the hole and you will eventually clear the buggers out.

You are right there are more gophers squirrels chipmunks rabbits and Predators to catchem.... this year.

deb

 

[RyeRanch]

I put a double apron (chain link, then 1/2 x 1/2 wire on that), 2 feet out, all around my runs. Still, in one pen, I have either squirrels or gophers tunneling into the run. I can see on the outside where the critter went to the edge of the apron and tunneled all the way in. I could pull my hair out!! I hate to take it all off and have to dig down...this So. Cal. dirt is not easy digging as we know. I'm worried that something other than a squirrel or gopher is going to find it's way in through the tunnels created by the first little beasties.
What are your suggestions? I'll have hubby set traps in the holes tomorrow...I'm so hoping it's just gophers. Is it just me or is the rodent population INSANE this year?!!
My semi-feral kitties in the garage better hurry up and grow so I can get them to work.

You might try putting a mix of blood meal and cayenne prepper around the perimeter as well. Squirrels and gophers are not terribly fond of the mixture. We put a perimeter of the mix around our garden to keep them from tunneling in. As long as we don't get too sloppy with the watering and dissolve it away it seems to work. The chickens don't seem to be interested in it.

 

[Aumlet]

LOL.... not a Snood lover eh.... What is cool is they can change its color depending on their mood. My Mr T would puff up and walk up to me kind of sideways.... I Named him Mr T because he had all this bling in hie feathers.... He was a firece defender of the flock too. I caught him beating something up in the coop one day and thought OMG it was a chicken.... I pulled him off and it was a Raven. It was on its back and its eyes was shut. Not killed just playing possum.

deb

I am a total sucker for personality, so the stories here charm me. But at face value, they seem rather lumpy.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
when they woo the girls that Snood and wattles turn Red if they are scared they turn blue..... What I fell in love with was the bronze green iridescence of his feathers. And the kind of Snidely Whiplash way he'd saunter up to you.... You get used to the lumpy stuff. Heck I love Guinea Fowl faces.... Helmets and alll.... hee hee

deb

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Thanks RyeRanch and perchie.girl for the great tips!