Two Quick New Homestead Videos
First one is just a bit of after action review on processing two cull roosters. Both were RIRs and both were starting to get the hell beat out of them daily by UPPGRAYYEDD.
Next is an overview of the Red Pharaoh Chickens so far. SADLY the night this was filmed something got into our brooder and killed all but one of the chicks.
Note this was our brooder in a closed and locked building not the little chicken tractor you see in the video.
I have some “have a heart traps” set but when I catch the killer, a heart for it I will not have! What ever it was chewed though metal screen and left a hole about the size one would expect of a large rat. It also though left some turds about the size of my thumb, I don’t know I am thinking opossum or may be weasel. Either way it is dead when I get it, and get it I will.
So I lost all three of the Red Pharaoh chicks. It is a bit late to incubate more this year. So I will just see how the two gals and one little cockerel I do have work out.
Yeah. I use my Havahart traps when the woodchucks get in the garden. But me and my .22 don’t have a heart. Those things are great because we cannot be in all places at all times. I only had to use grip traps once in my garden. The woodchuck kept going around the two Havahart traps that I had set up. He came back several days in a row and would not go into either trap. I am very, very cautious about using the grip traps though. I would hate to catch one of the neighbors cats. The grip traps were something that little terror wasn’t expecting. Less than 24 hours, and I saved a bullet!!
Sorry that whatever it was got to your breeding experiment and newest round of dinner before you did. If the guilty party proves to be good eating, so much the better.
Jack, accept my condolences to you and your Mrs. I know the little red hens are/were livestock, but with such a tiny flock they were indeed family members too. Watching fowl act like, well, like fowls is better than going to the movies. I hope you get replacements by next spring and try again with stronger fencing.
Just to be clear it wasn’t the adolescents we lost but the chicks. Really sucks as of the three I had two pullets. The adult Fayoumi is in molt right now, when she finishes I may be able to get a small clutch from her. I wanted to buy a few Fayoumi pullets for parent stock and just ordered some more pullets but everyone that sells Fayoumis is out for the season.
Sorry to hear about the chicks, I would be devastated if that happened! Especially since they were chicks, and you don’t really have time to do another round this year.
Is your incubator anywhere near wifi range? I was having some significant damage from some sort of wildlife, so I picked up a < $100 wifi, 1 megapixel camera with IR for perfect night vision. If you are interested in getting a camera out there to see what is getting in, and how feel free to shoot me an email and I would be more than happy to let you know what cameras I have tried, and the different types of software I have used. Many of them can do very simple snapshots on motion without any software, but there is free software that is pretty easy to configure that will do better video capture.
Srry 4 ur loss.
Jack, it is time for you to cull a few roosters, when the hens start to lose their back feathers it starts a downhill spiral for their health or at least their appearance. Been their done that, I tried to keep too many roosters on a free range system and ended up having to limit it to about 10 hens per rooster, and I too had a “Upgrade” (is that from idiocracy?) his name was Big Red and he did us well. Good luck, I would luv to get a few chicks from you when you perfect it a bit. You are great teaching us all you do, Thanks former army vet here, cold war/desert storm.
Thanks for your concern but it is unfounded. Those birds are molting, right now the flock is about 80 strong, there were 4 roosters (adult) when this was filmed but there are now only two.
Birds molt at 18 months for about 6 weeks, then once a year there after. The birds missing feathers are right now exactly 18 months old. Everyone else looks good.