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Red Pile Chickens

I'm sorry to hear about your chickens! My first thought, finding 3 of them dead suddenly and all at once would be a predator......weasel is the first thing coming to mind. They will kill them with almost no trace. If you have a live trap, I would definitely set it up and see what you can catch....I think I had my best luck catching weasels using pepperoni sticks, lol. Something tasty and smelly, canned cat food works too.

And well.....I don't know what to tell you about your rooster. Did they ever hatch any eggs? He may just be "courting" during the day when you aren't looking.....or he may be a "dud".
 
they had eggs, but not as many as they should have. They would all lay in the same nest though so they wouldnt set until they had about 25 and then only 3 hatched.. I was disapointed. Is there nothing I can do about him being a dud? He's so beautiful, I dont want to have tto replace him!

Alright, by no trace what do you mean? I dind't find any trace of violence or anything like that. Would you suggest putting the trap in the pen/lot? I reckon I will build a gum(sp).
 
Well, by no trace I mean exactly that, lol. To be honest, I'm not sure why the weasels kill like they do, it is usually a small bite wound on the neck, and unless you really, really look, you'll never see it, and sometimes you still don't. Now I've been TOLD that they actually bite them and drink the blood, but that may very well be an old wives tale, lol.....but I know for a fact they kill that way, whatever their reasoning is. I would go ahead and set the trap inside the pen, but put it as far away from where they roost at night as possible. That's where I've had my best luck at both catching the critter and keeping my birds safe.

The rooster may not be a "dud" if you had some luck with eggs hatching, albeit not great luck. Laying in a common nest is what they usually do, but if they are waiting too long to set, especially when the temps are quite warm, the embryos may be beginiing to incuabte at too low of a temp (the outside temp) and dying. That, or being such small hens, they don't get all of the eggs covered all of the time, and some get chilled when they aren't covered. There's a lot of variables....
 
Red Pyles don't have a huge hatch rate nor lay many eggs anyway. You may need to incubate, as mentioned. Especially if several are laying in one nest.
I had great luck with a heating pad and several layers of towels, although I was told they wouldn't hatch that way, my rates were about 80%+ while when I moved to a incubator, the rates plummeted to 50% or worse. Probaly was the incubator.
I'd definately look into the reasons behind those deaths. Never good to have multiple deaths at once.
Wolfy
 
So neither of you suspect disease right off? That is definately comforting. That disappoints me about the weasels. You would think that being of nature they wouldn't waste so much food, but oh well, either way I can't have them killing off my birds! Thanks for the help and advice!
 
LOL....albeit: Even though; although; notwithstanding.

I would really find it odd for disease to suddenly sweep in and kill 3 all at once, and leave the others untouched, especially if there have been no sign of illness. It's not impossible, but I would find a lot of other explanations a lot more likely.
 
I have two left now... My rooster and my barred-rock. One of the two fresh kills had some intestins hanging from his anus.. if that tells anyone anything. Thanks for looking, sorry for the graphic words.
 
How large of a live trap are you using?? If it big enough to put a whole chicken in, the wire spacing may be large enough for a weasel to get through (they can squeak through some mighty small holes).
 
Hmm, it may be.. I guess I'll have an idea though if the trap gets set or I could reinforce it with some of my on wire. I didn't have time exactly to build a wooden gum that in my opinion works better than anything, thanks for the heads up!
 
Well the remaining two are still alive, but I've caught nothing. My dog has had two rats in the yard, but I don't think it was them; I would expect rats to make quite a mess with the chickens. I am thinking about keep my chickens in cages now though. Can you keep them on mesh? If so what size mesh? I got some new hens and threw them in with the survivors and both survivors started fighting with the new ones. Do you think that my survivors actually killed the others? I would think it would be obvious by looking at them, so I don't think that is it.
 
I forgot to ask, do I need to be keeping my rooster's spurs from getting to long? If I haven't is there any harm done? Could not doing it be related to him not being a good breeder?
 
In the case of spurs as related to breeding, size really doesn't matter, lol.... ;)

I have only trimmed spurs if they have already been damaged somehow and leaving them could cause injury, or in the case of one particularly nasty rooster I used to have, for self defense so I didn't get an injury.
 
I assume you don't know about the mesh?

Anyway here is the caging plan. The individual cages will be supposed to house constantly one hen each with roosters rotating. They will be lined up inside the chicken pin to protect them from having predators nip at their feet. They will be 42"Lx18"Wx18"Tall, included in this will be a 12"x18"x12" nest raised 6" higher than the wire in the front 2/3's. I am probably going to put a roost in the middle of the front 2/3's about 9" high. I'll have self watering bowls and feed bowls in the front. There will be a front door and a nest door (either on the side or the top). The frame will be 2x4's. The nest will be plywood with a step/roost a couple inches in front of it. The front door and sides will be chicken wire. The bottom will be 1"x1/2" mesh and the roof will be either a sheet of plastic, tin, etc.

Does anyone see any problems in this design?
 
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