Chickens RIP

[John W Blehm]

Does this mean JW that you are cutting back in general or adding in new varieties?

The short term plan is to concentrate more on buffs; bantam & LF Ameraucanas and LF buff Chanteclers.  It has always been my favorite color and the long term plan is to hold onto buff bantams till the end.  There was a time when I bred all 16 varieties or Ameraucanas at the same time.  That was too much. 
Yesterday morning I found our two dogs had killed 16 bantams.  The biggest setback there is that 6 were silver cockerels and that only leaves me two.  They had already been sorted and culled a few times, so these were in line to be next year's breeders.   

[Mike Gilbert]

Yikes!   It was a massacre.   How did the dogs get to the birds?    Don't you have them all enclosed behind wire?

[Russ Blair]

John I have Several growing out and Nationals or no Nationals we will probably still take a weekend in the fall to stay at Zhenders. Which means I could probably give them a ride to your back door. Price would be right around the LF Silver cockerels you got a couple years ago . Just let me know if you need a couple. Oh sorry for your loss, it's always the best ones that get hit

[Russ Blair]

Oh and not to scare you, I had a top notch rabbit dog do that years ago. Once he did it the first time I couldn't stop him. He kept going back until he eventually killed every chicken I had. It took him 3 different days, I even tried a shock collar on him to break him. Needless to say he is now laying with a bunch of chickens that he loved so much. Probably was one of the best beagles I owned 😣. So take precautions and I found out 2x4 welded wire didn't stop a determined beagle from digging under to actually chewing through it.

[John W Blehm]

The dogs have access to half a lean-to with their pen on the side and I had it prepped for painting, so I put the dogs in an empty chicken pen between two others with birds.  They went under the 2 by 4 welded wire in with the bantams, killed 16 and worked staples loose enough to escape thru the welded wire in that pen.  One is 100% German Shepherd and the other was supposed to be 1/2 Shepherd and 1/2 Husky, but instead of Husky he matured into looking and acting 1/2 Beagle...I never had a use for a hunting dog and he leads the Shepherd astray.  I don't know if it was one or both that did the crime, but they are best friends and love to chase and catch anything that moves in the yard. 
Is that squirrel still up in that tree?

[John W Blehm]

John I have Several growing out and Nationals or no Nationals we will probably still take a weekend in the fall to stay at Zhenders. Which means I could probably give them a ride to your back door. Price would be right around the LF Silver cockerels you got a couple years ago . Just let me know if you need a couple. Oh sorry for your loss, it's always the best ones that get hit

Thanks for the offer.  I had sold some bantam silver chicks to Karen Allen, here in Michigan, and contacted her right away to inquire about extra cockerels.  She said out of the 11 silver chicks she got, 9 are cockerels...not good for her, but maybe good for me.  My first choice would be to get some from my breeding, so I'll wait to hear from her again plus I still have two that the dogs didn't get.

[Cesar Villegas]

Sorry about your loss John, I came home to something similar but the culprit was the heat. We got hit with a massive heat wave here in Southern AZ.  I lost all my whites and a good chunk of my blacks. Even though my coops are shaded the heat was too much. 110 degrees in the shade, I had to install misters. So Im virtually going to start from scratch especially with my whites and with 95% of the eggs not making it to hatch date Im left with one chick and my 4 last eggs in the bator due to hatch next week. Glad you found someone that had extra cockerels.

[John W Blehm]

Sorry about your loss John, I came home to something similar but the culprit was the heat. We got hit with a massive heat wave here in Southern AZ.  I lost all my whites and a good chunk of my blacks. Even though my coops are shaded the heat was too much. 110 degrees in the shade, I had to install misters. So Im virtually going to start from scratch especially with my whites and with 95% of the eggs not making it to hatch date Im left with one chick and my 4 last eggs in the bator due to hatch next week. Glad you found someone that had extra cockerels.

Wow.  I keep trying to fool proof pens from predators and you have the added challenge of extreme heat.  Don't give up. 

[Suki]

Wow  John, I do not nearly feel so bad about Ruffian (GSD) and Gusto (Borzoi) and the damage they've done, though my husband still mourns that his favorites were the recipients of one interlude of the dynamic duo.  Luckily, Ruffian will eat the bird; Gusto just tosses it about. 

As for heat, Cesar have you tried those sun block coverings?  I used to use them when I lived in the city for the labs, where it got during the summer months on average about 90 to stay cool.  They preferred digging under the pine trees, and family members stayed under the heat tarps instead.  I guess that worked out well.

Here at 5A where 85 is hot, I have reused them & put them on our chook runs.  They congregate under them during the heat of the afternoon, but of course humidity is more a problem than heat for the most part, still when it hits 90 and above it's a real joy.  I got mine, 90% blocking, at Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Coolaroo-6-ft-x-100-ft-UV-Block-Wheat-Shade-Cloth-300081/100656900
(they have smaller lengths, different colours & cheaper brands in the store)

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=Dog+Kennel+Pet+Shade+Sunblock+Top+Cover+10+x+10

Good luck.

[Cesar Villegas]

Wow  John, I do not nearly feel so bad about Ruffian (GSD) and Gusto (Borzoi) and the damage they've done, though my husband still mourns that his favorites were the recipients of one interlude of the dynamic duo.  Luckily, Ruffian will eat the bird; Gusto just tosses it about. 

As for heat, Cesar have you tried those sun block coverings?  I used to use them when I lived in the city for the labs, where it got during the summer months on average about 90 to stay cool.  They preferred digging under the pine trees, and family members stayed under the heat tarps instead.  I guess that worked out well.

Here at 5A where 85 is hot, I have reused them & put them on our chook runs.  They congregate under them during the heat of the afternoon, but of course humidity is more a problem than heat for the most part, still when it hits 90 and above it's a real joy.  I got mine, 90% blocking, at Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Coolaroo-6-ft-x-100-ft-UV-Block-Wheat-Shade-Cloth-300081/100656900
(they have smaller lengths, different colours & cheaper brands in the store)

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=Dog+Kennel+Pet+Shade+Sunblock+Top+Cover+10+x+10

Good luck.

Yes I have them on top and some on the sides of my coops/pens. I think its was the actual air temperature that got too much for them to handle. Its a really dry heat here in Southern AZ, its like sticking your head in an oven. It just hovers around you.

Since I lost most of them, Im condensing all of them to my big coop. I added misters to help cool the air temp, tommorrow Im adding more. I also added water pans with bricks in them and they seem to like it a lot.

I think also there was no transition to extreme heat. It was low-mid 90s then the following week it was 110 degrees. We had a very cool month of May and I think that contributed to not preparing the chickens well. A lot of people here in Tucson and phx have lost a lot of birds to the heat.

[Suki]

That is terrible that even with the shade cloth nothing helped.  Funny about the bricks; I use blue stone (our mountains are full of them as is my backyard)  for the chicks when they first go outside to nestle next at night to stay warm.  But you are right, fast transitions are always the worst. Did you just lose numbers or whole varieties?

[Mike Gilbert]

I would think electric fans moving the air would help about as much as anything in heat.   I have a large door on both ends of my main coop, and when it is warm I have a fan moving air in and through the building. 

[Tailfeathers]

Wow!  Sorry about your loss, John.  When I first saw the post and pics, my first thought was AI.

Since Russ mentioned his Beagles, I just gotta add that I've had Beagles for years.  Had some pups flown into from IA several years ago from Field Trial Champs and were the best I've ever had.  But Buck did kill a whole slew of chicks one time.  My own fault.  I put a bunch of chicks out in the sun in an open brooder because it was a really nice day.  Then I got busy doing stuff and mowing and didn't even think about it until I saw him run down the hill with his jowls full and two little feet flopping out the front of his mouth.  I couldn't really do any thing as it was my own fault and I'm pretty sure that he was just curious and they probably freaked out which caused him to try and pounce on them to calm them down.

My Beagle, Buddy, that I have now is from Field Trial Champion blood too.  You would not believe how much of a guardian dog he's turned into.  The good news is he chases the coyotes off ever single day on this place.  He's saved a bunch of my birds no doubt because they go under the fence and roam all over.  I lose one ever now and then but he's really a good protector.  The bad news is twice I've had him 20' or less from a cottontail and he just stands there and looks at it!!      I never got around to getting him started on rabbits and I'm not sure I want to now because I'd like to see the population of cottontails get better and I'm wanting to and some New Zealands and/or Giant Flemish to the place but don't wanna do cages.

Anyways, again, sorry John.  I tell folks all the time that dogs kill more chickens ever year than anything else.  Sorry to see you had to experience that.

[Patti Jordan]

Sorry about your loss John, I came home to something similar but the culprit was the heat. We got hit with a massive heat wave here in Southern AZ.  I lost all my whites and a good chunk of my blacks. Even though my coops are shaded the heat was too much. 110 degrees in the shade, I had to install misters. So Im virtually going to start from scratch especially with my whites and with 95% of the eggs not making it to hatch date Im left with one chick and my 4 last eggs in the bator due to hatch next week. Glad you found someone that had extra cockerels.

 

So sorry to hear this Cesar, these last few weeks have been Brutal and now the dew point is in the 50's coupled with 110 degree heat it's HORRIBLE here in Phoenix area too !  I have swamps, misters, fans, shade cloth and spray areas down in the pens twice a day to keep them cool.  So far so good, lost 2 a few weeks back but one wasn't thriving to begin with and the other I think got into some mouse bait.  Don't give up, there aren't a lot of people breeding the White AMs here in AZ.

John, so sorry for your loss as well - that's just devastating !   

[Suki]

Hi Patti, What's a swamp?  And I guess you usual special farm & not regular household fans too?


thanks  brownie