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sweetiepie
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Re: Chickens on the Farm

Some of my mut's are Australorp crosses and they are the loudest and most offended when they can't be broody. :> I thought it would be cute to have mama's and chicks but other chickens tend to be mean to them and they happen at different stages, so the chicks are different ages and I found I had chickens in almost every building to keep them separate and it was ridiculous. So back to the Rhode Islands and thought I would try the leghorns but like you I am not sure how the Leghorns are going to do this winter. Smaller and big combs, might lead to frozen dinners. :hehe:

Do you have a rooster? I am keeping a Rhode Island and a White Wyndonette for chick incubating next year.

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sweetiepie
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Farm 2015 037.JPG
Here is the free exotic chick. He is still trying to get in his real feathers. He has no tail feathers yet. He is starting to look sinister and his name is Abominable after the snow monster on Rudolph.
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A leghorn, they are very flighty and aggressive to the other chickens. The were picking on a Easter Egger and I had to remove her. So I am trying to decide if I want to keep them over winter. I like my chickens to be more docile but not broody either.

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sweetiepie
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Also new to the chicken coop grainery is some new rodent killers.
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This is Pumpkin, she came from Minnesota. She is worried about the dog.
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This is Honey, I couldn't get a very good picture of her, she likes my lap. She is also from Minnesota. She is not worried about the dog.
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This is Cee Cee and she thinks she is Queen. She too is keeping an eye on the dog.
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This is the vicious dog peaking through the cat door. He doesn't bark, just whines, he is sure the kittens needed to be licked and drooled on.
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This my mama cat's kittens she had in May. The kitten is in the barn and she too is worried about the dog, licking her. She has two brothers that are both grey and look the same. They are called Pete and Repete. :hehe:

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GardeningCook
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How old do you let your kitties get before they go in for shots & spay/neuters?

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sweetiepie
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Some people will spay or neuter at about 8 weeks.

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ElizabethB
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I am jealous. I would love to raise my own chickens.

We have a friend who gives use eggs from his free range chickens. The BEST eggs ever!

I love the Kitties. :-() They are soooo cute!

8 weeks is too early to spay/neuter. Cats are best spayed or neutered at 4 months.

Shop around. Spaying or neutering can be very expensive. In Lafayette there is a non-profit organization called Spay Nation. The cost is less than half what you would pay at a Vet's office.

BTW - I am a life time humble servant to cats. I am currently owned by 2 lovely girls. Sallie Sue is 4 and Daisy Faye is 3. Love my Girls.

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applestar
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Soooo cuuute! :D

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sweetiepie
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I have no real idea about spay/neutering. We tend to have hawks, bald eagles, coyotes, foxes, raccoons etc. that keep our cat population down unfortunately.

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GardeningCook
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Wow. That's sort of sad for the cats. We also have a lot of cat predators around here - fox, hawks, owls, & coyotes mostly. But my current three (down from ten a number of years ago) are an indoor-only gang, so no worries here. It is an unfortunate fact that outdoor/barn cats tend to have short lives. In fact, according to all of my veterinarians over the years, living an outdoor (or indoor/outdoor) life is the #1 reason for feline deaths.

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applestar
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@sweetiepie I hope you won't mind me continuing on a bit about barn cats because I wanted to tell this story before and refrained as OT but conversation is hovering on what I was going to share.... 8)

Our current kitties are originally barn kittens from a horse stable where we used to lease a horse. The owner told us about the kittens being born and how she's restricting access to a stall until kittens are ready to socialize, and when she did. All these kittens tumbled out of the barn! :D

They had obviously been trained by their moms (there were two mama cats) to hide when warned/shadows glided overhead. Turkey vultures, Eagles, Hawks, airplanes, a stray cloud covering the sun -- The little fur balls all dove under the tack shed, horse trailer, into the barn.

When we brought our adopted two home at 8-10 weeks, they freaked out in the bedroom when the ceiling fan was turned on, and dove into their crates and would NOT come out. :lol:

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sweetiepie
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Applestar, that is too funny. :wink:

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GardeningCook
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Marlingardener wrote:, but the ferals just carry too many diseases.
Which is why they really need to be spayed/neutered & vaccinated. Otherwise they just increase the feral problem. Sorry - but I'm an active proponent of both spay/neutering & vaccinating of cats - both pets & ferals. And for excellent reasons. Can give fabulous/horrible stories why this is a GOOD THING.

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applestar
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I'm really sorry -- let's move the cat-talk to another thread.

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MichaelC
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Hi applestar - Sorry for one more off topic post. I don't know your particular forum software or your forum moderation conventions, so forgive me if I'm out of line. But since the cat discussion began with the pictures, and all posts following have been on the cats, it shouldn't be too hard to split that out into its own thread.

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sweetiepie
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I am sorry many of you seen to have such a hard time with the farm life. I get the hint. I am slow at times but this is just a gardening place, so I will quit with the animals. We all have purposes, life cycles and joy to spread in our short or long life times, including animals. I love my animals and they were given to me with a purpose. Without the purpose, they would not exist and I would not get to enjoy them.

I will stick to gardening from now on.

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GardeningCook
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Good idea, because I'm already biting my tongue. :roll:

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GardeningCook
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Lovely Longhorns!! We have a fair number of Longhorn breeders/owners around here. I love watching them.

Stefano
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Unfortunaly I don't have cows, but I have chickens, rabbits, some pheasants, a couple of peacocks and also two cats and one dog :)

Stefano
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Yes! the peacocks are very noisy animals, expecially the male during the mating season in spring. You can hear it from one kilometer of distance and pereaphs than more :)
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