The Hawk Buffet is Closed

After being greeted by clumps of feather and bits of bird every day the last couple of weeks, Nicholas and I built a Salatin Box. Well, a modified version. I owe many thanks to Rachel Prickett's A Daring Adventure blog and Troubador Farm's flickr. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences!

A normal Salatin Box is two feet tall. We made ours three feet tall to allow more air flow because it is hot here in the Southeast. Sure, we get snow and frost some, but most of the year we worry about keeping animals and ourselves cool and hydrated. When I get around to making another one, I may try to contrive a way to pitch the roof to allow even more airflow.

We lost several chickens recently to both kites, hawks, and yes, even the fence and the chicken's own self-destructive tendency to panic. In fact, while building the Salatin Box we chased off a kite before s/he could kill one of our Dark Cornish.


Below is a photo journal of this past weekend.

 

 

I am a goddess!

Well, at least that's what the Freedom Rangers seem to believe.

About a week ago, after still not having all of the necessary slip-ts to build the portable PVC pen for the layers, and losing some layers to a prying nocturnal predator, I moved the layers to the hoop house.

Then, I lost more layers, but not to hawks or nocturnal predators. It took me a couple of days and five chicks, but after a conversation with my guru, Hal, I figured out that the other chickens killed and ate those layers. He also uknowingly, gave me the solution to the rampant cannibalism among my flock. The chickens crave protein. The towering Freedom Rangers pecked on and then ate the little layers because they're diet lacked sufficient protein. Hal told me about wheat germ and that he started using it almost as a substitute for the pricier fish meal. Wheat germ has the added benefit of being procured locally.

I started feeding it that very afternoon and sure enough, no more cannibalism. The Freedom Rangers now recognize me and come running every time I feed them. It is their crack. But if wheat germ is their crack, then Bluegill guts,skin,and heads are their cocaine.

My landlord kindly left a bucket of unwanted Bluegill remains for me to feed to the chickens. I dumped them out in a row outside the hoop house for them to eat. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm came up not long after and one Barred Rock did get pecked on quite badly so I brought her home. Yet, after the storm passed and I went to fix the fence posts, I could not walk without tripping over Freedom Rangers. They swarmed around my legs in hope that I would rain down more protein to them. Either I am a revered character in their eyes or a meaty treat they just haven't quite figured out how to eat yet.

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!).

New Chicks!

Sunday we received our Murray McMurray shipment of chicks. Dark Cornish, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, and White Crested Black Polish chicks, plus a free exotic chick make up this recent shipment. The Dark Cornish I plan to raise as broilers like the flock I have on the pasture now. The other breeds I plan to keep as layers.

In our first flock, we received a white crested black polish chick as our free exotic chick. Unfortunately, it died. Nicholas thought it was cute, so when choosing birds to keep around, we decided to get a few of those.

Unlike the last order from Murray McMurray, this one arrived after only a day and a half of travel and I only lost two chicks within the first 48 hours. All and all a success.

Chicks in the brooder with Gimpy.

The Freedom Ranger chicks arrived this morning. They almost tower over the Dark Cornish chicks. All arrived in an energetic state after their two day travel through the postal system. I brought them home and let them drink and eat fruit before heading out to the brooder.

Half of the newly arrived Freedom Ranger flock.

My clever scheme also allowed me time to eat breakfast. The chicks seemed so energetic that I decided they could go straight out instead of spending the night with us. Nicholas helped me pack them back into their shipping box and off we went. Once in the brooder they quickly made themselves at home and began mingling with the other chicks. They also began darting around like pinballs.What a great way to start the day!

Give Me Land, Lots of Land...

Despite the PicknChickn Application's description of the Cornish as lazy, my dark Cornish seem quite willing and excited to explore for food. True, they do not tolerate mid-day heat very well and tend to find a shady spot to sit, but when they do forage about, they roam fairly far. Luckily the neighbor has not complained and having the fresh manure near the barn scratched through is good.

Regalo and Louis appreciate the chickens for a couple of reasons. Their favorite thing about the pastured chickens seems to be the corn/oat mix left behind the hoop house. Decreased flies are their other favorite aspect of sharing the pasture with chickens, though I cannot say the horses necessarily realize the correlation. Nonetheless, I no longer think Louis needs that $80 Baker fly sheet.

Yenti has a Kitten

A few weeks ago we brought Nike home. For reference, the owner of the mother studies Latin and gave them all Roman names, but I prefer the Greek pronunciation Nee-Kay.

Nike seemed like a possible snack to the hounds and pure trouble for Chorni. She spent her first week with us locked in the bathroom for her protection. Nicholas brought her out one afternoon and laid down on the bed with her to read. Yenti also climbed on the bed. While Nicholas read, Nike wandered over to the greyhound. Once Nicholas realized she'd gone around him, he sat up, but found Yenti playing with the kitten. Thus began a friendship.

Chorni still demonstrates that herding cats can be done, sort of. And Jatamer doesn't really care for Nike much, but he doesn't try to eat her. In fact, this whole time, he's been very perceptive that his pack leaders would punish him if he tried to eat the kitten. Nike's initial response to explore instead of run away also helps fight back Jatamer's strong "must eat small furry thing" instincts. If the small furry thing does not run, he cannot chase.

Nike acts a bit like a dog, which will prove good. For instance, she follows the humans around, she comes when called, and she helps Yenti eat her dog food. After all of this, I doubt Nike will spend much time as a barn cat until (because it probably will happen in her lifetime) we move to a farm.