A Few Changes

We made a few improvements on our hoop house for the second flock. First, we added softball netting to the electric fence to keep the chicks in the fence. The last week before slaughter for the first flock I lost a chicken almost every day, during the day, outside the fence. Something kept killing them one-at-a-time and chewing off the head and neck, which indicates a small mammal. Though one day all we found was a leg thanks to the nature's awesome clean-up crew, black vultures. In order to keep the chickens safe, I put up the softball netting. Unfortunately, the Friday before slaughter we did loose a bird to the fence. *Sigh*, chickens really do look for ways to die.

The new flock more-or-less mind the fence and none have gotten so tangled or panicked to die from it. I have not found any evidence of predation either. The Dark Cornish have found their way out of the fence some and I catch them and toss them back inside, but none seemed to get out this weekend.

 We also added 80 percent knitted shade cloth to the hoop house. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The chickens lounge inside during the heat of the day and they're cool enough to keep eating. They don't huddle around the ends hoping to catch a breeze under their wings. No, they're spread out, lounging in the grass, walking around some and eating voraciously. I believe the comfort of the hoop house keeps them from wanting to venture outside of the fence too much.

Ask me why I have a chicken in a box on my washer.

Go ahead.
All right.
Nick and I moved the hoop house in such a way that required a pivot yesterday, and one of the poor Freedom Rangers got his leg caught under the left skid. Unfortunately we it took us a minute to realize what happened. This young cockerel is now sitting in a box in the laundry/pre-brooder room.

He walks with a limp, but can move his injured leg and curl his toes. I think with a few days' rest we can return him to the chaos and comfort of his flock.

Another chick got a leg caught today, again, with the pivoting. This time it was just Nicholas moving the house and I think the bird just got caught during the turn without any forward movement to compound his injury. We kept him in the tack room for a while, but before we left this chick walked and even ran with a very faint limp, so s/he went back into the flock.

The Freedom Rangers seem more prone to getting caught under the skids because they lack fear. Dark Cornish chicks stay well away from the sides during the moves, but the Freedom Rangers seem not to always recognize danger. Their lack of fear makes them easier to handle, but more likely to get run over (Keep in mind, we pull our house manually so it is not going very quickly!).