I have not updated about our chicken tragedies lately, but this morning’s sad incident losing the new kid has gotten me thinking about our other losses.
I have already posted about the Black Giant hen disappearing on May 15th and of Wingleg, 5 Buff Orpington chicks, and 2 White Rock chicks turning up gone on May 20th.
On May 24th I decided to put our 4 Buff Orpington hens along with Sir Lancelot back into the enclosed lot in the ravine in order to get some more pure Buff Orpington eggs. On May 28th, Matthew saw a raccoon next to the lot at 9:00 in the morning. This was the middle of the day, so maybe this coon is the one that got the Black Giant and Wingleg and the chicks. The Black Giant hen was fond of going to the ravine and Wingleg’s feathers were at the top of the ravine road. That evening, of the 28th, the dogs caught a raccoon after dark in front of our house. The dogs gave it up when we went out and I thought it was pretty much dead, even though it was still breathing. I went in to get the shotgun to put the coon down, but when I returned it had disappeared! It apparently wasn’t hurt as badly as we thought!
Well, on May 30th I found a half eaten carcass of one ot the Buff Orpington hens in the ravine lot! This lot is made with fence that has 2×4 inch rectangles, so a coon could easily reach it’s paw in. The body of the chicken was still in the lot, next to the fence, with the feet resting on the other side of the fence, still attached. Sir Lancelot and the other 3 Buff Orpington hens were still in the lot and everything looked normal. They were just wanting to be fed like nothing had happened.
I decided to move the Buff Orpingtons back to the main coop, and we set 5 of their eggs under a broody Black Giant hen. Meanwhile, One Feather decided to roost in the tree with all of the chicks. On the 31st we were missing one of the remaining Buff Orpington chicks and also one of the Rhode Island Red Chicks!
I have put One Feather in the coop, now and am keeping the chicks in the duplex full time, for their own safety. Currently we have 4 White Rock cockerals that are about 9 weeks old, 2 Buff Orpington chicks 8 weeks old, 5 Rhode Island Red chicks 7 weeks old, 3 Black Giant chicks 7 weeks old, and 3 Black Giant/Buff Orpington mixed chicks that are 7 weeks old. For time reference, those Black Giant and Buff Giant chicks all hatched over Easter weekend this year and the Buff Orpingtons hatched a week before Easter. I pray we can keep the remaining chicks safe.
I have 8 mixed eggs under a Black Giant hen that should hatch this Thursday, June 4th and 10 mixed eggs under a Partridge Rock hen that should hatch on Friday the 5th. They are in small cages, so I will probably have to risk letting them out a big part of the day once they start growing. The 5 Buff Orpington eggs I put under the other Black Giant hen are due on June 17th, but they may be Buff Orpington mix depending on which rooster fertilized the eggs.
While I’m counting chicks and eggs, I guess I should record the rest of the chicken numbers as they stand on June 2nd. I have 7 Black Australorp hens (one is going to the freezer due to her destroying eggs), 5 pretty Light Brahma hens, 5 Dominique hens, 4 Black Giant hens (2 are currently setting), 3 Partidge Rock hens (1 is currently setting) and 3 Buff Orpington hens, and 1 game hen, (One Feather). In the rooster department we have 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Black Giant, and 3 Light Brahmas (2 of them are for the freezer). So that’s 29 grown birds that roost in the coop, 3 in nesting cages, and 3 in fattening up cages, along with the 17 growing chicks in the duplex. (I almost forgot about those 7 game cocks that we still have not butchered in another lot. Their time is short.)
We have more chickens than we need right now, but I still hate to loose any of them for no reason. I would rather thin down the flock by selling some for a profit and butchering some for the freezer. I am not raising them as food for coons, foxes, or hawks. We will have to stay diligent and do the best we can to keep them all safe.
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