Sorry the coop portion got messed up. You can see at the point I’m smoking my pipe I’m dirty and winded from messing with the coops. I had the catch out 4 Cracker hens that ran into one of the coops when I opened the door. I’ll film another video shortly showing the coop routine.
I do similar feeding, sometimes they will come and say good evening when I give them something.. We have 45 free range ones, 14 of them have a coop, others truly free range. Our survival rate is not too good, mainly dogs around eat the small ones
Do you not have any coyotes we have a ton here in North Mississippi how do you deal with coyotes and foxes And what kind of chicken do you think I should have that might stand a chance against them
I really appreciated this video and especially detailing #1s injury. I'm just curious what could've injured him like that. I'm thinking it would be an awkward place for a snake bite. Plus he's number 1 for a reason. He's street smart and I just can't see him letting a predator get that close. Could it be barb wire fencing he tried to crawl under and got snagged?
I’ve actually considered that. That perhaps he got caught in the fence of the big coop where I kept Indo and Indo sunk a talon in him. But it would be a long shot. N1’s back end is so rotted out that I am of the mindset that it was a snake bite. He is still alive and active. He was showing signs of healing then one of the hens in the coop with him started eating the wound and put a hole in him about 1.5 inches deep and as big around as a quarter. It showed that inside the tissue was mostly dead. Its the kind of catastrophic tissue rot I would expect from pit viper venom on a galliform, where quail and young turkeys are natural prey for local rattlesnakes and the venom ought to be potent on them. I think odds are a little better than 50-50 N1 will make it. I have part of another video filmed but I’m going to finish the film either with his recovery or his death. If he was any lessor rooster I’d go ahead and cull just out of efficiency but he is my favorite rooster, I need him for my primary breeding project, and I think he deserves the chance as long as he can function.
I think a bird of prey jammed a talon deep in his back. Its bad infected. But he acts like he feels fine. I pulled him off of free range. I’m about to go wash the wound.
I should be in my new home in the Ocala National Forest near the river by October. I see hawks every time I am on my property, not to mention all the other predators.I want to start some free range chickens. But with no adults to blend in with what would be your advice? Buy three or four times your need and hope some make it?
Yes, in part I’d recommend buying more than you need. Chickens do in fact learn from watching the mishaps of other chickens and you want to factor in some of the flock functioning as sacrificial lambs for the others to watch get caught. However, I’d also recommend sheltering your starting flock until they’re around laying age of 6 months or so. That’s what I did with my first group of Crackers. I kept them cooped for the first 6 months. Then when I turned them out I didn’t lose the first one to a predator for over a year. I do recommend if you coop raise them to start to constantly give them green grass clippings (that are free of lawn chemicals). Not only is it good for their health, it builds their immune system. I have ran into an issue where I’ve raised chicks in an off the ground brooder then a dirt coop for their entire lives then when turned out to free range a percentage immediately get sick and die within a couple of days of eating greenery. The 14 I just turned out were not grass raised and within 2 days if this video being shot 4 died that fast. Its called “grass sickness” and its thought to be a form of botulism. My first generation of Crackers were fed green grass every few days and they never got sick. Hen raised chicks that start on the ground are the same way. The sooner they’re exposed to green grass, the more likely they are not to get sick.
Your going to take losses. We started with 6 Red Jungle fowl roosters and now only have one, Chucky. We don't cull our roosters. The hawks do it for us.
They're the sacrificial lambs. If hawks happen to key in on them first, it lets the others learn from watching their siblings get caught. I personally don't like a white chicken even though those white chickens I've raised have been fine survivors (white leghorns and a white Easter egger). I cull the white Crackers if they make it to adulthood. I don't want white becoming a common color among them.
@@Florida_Bullfrog The white Red Jungle Fowl/ISA Brown crosses (Jungle Whites we call them) usually die. They are the first to die from the cold and the first to die from the hawk. We take the white ones and the red ones to the auction once a month to get rid of them. We keep the J.F. Isa brown Crosses that look just like Red Jungle fowl because they are the target breed we wish to create. (Improved Jungle Fowl)
