Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Hello Everyone,

Don't suppose there's anyone here who lives near South Glengarry? (about 30 mins east of Cornwall). I have a lot of questions I would like to bug someone locally with such as where I can buy food and supplies! (I'm also new to the area, new to the country in fact so entirely lost and confused)
I'm wondering which predators I should be most concerned of in the area and also which diseases are around here and could vaccinate for.. for that matter where would I go to get such a thing done?!

I just ordered 8 Australorp chicks to arrive at the end of April so hopefully will have figured some things out by then!

Happy chickening to you all.

Welcome to

New to the country, where are you from?

to PTO...not really close but still in Eastern Ontario...predators can be a problem but not much that a good dog (or cat, but you didn't hear me say that) and a solid lockable coop can't minimize...people here can answer most of your questions...Australorps are awesome birds so its a good start...have fun :running-chicken:

gidday and welcome eh!

diseases: my biggest problem is coccidiosis, its tough on young birds, its a cyst that lives in the intestinal tract; bottom line have a feeder and waterer they can't in.

which predators? all of them! we tend to have romantic notions of birds "free range" but sooner or later something will get them. best advice is to lock them in at night as this is when most predation happens and train a big dog to walk around the place; last year a fox got four (was late locking them up one night: his tail is on the wall in my shed), falcon (or whatever bird of prey) gets one or two each year as I let most birds run loose during the day; coyotes keep their distance after they heard my 12 guage one night (long story); and raccoons hit me hard years ago and not since (buggers can tear walls open and open locks so make it tight) and a mink killed one 5 years ago (shotgun got that one too). over 20 years add a rat and skunks and thats the whole list. all i didn't mention was an owl (who did bash in the roof of a pen one night) and neighbours dogs (lost a roo and a duck along the way) and cats; and weasels (killed a big brahma hen when I was a kid; friggin vampires; suck the blood and maybe tear the head off)

or you can lock them up tight: heavy welded wire, roofed pen, or good "chicken tractor". you'll build a pen that's good enough and you might be fine for years then something will hit you and you'll cry, get mad, and build a fortress with an electric perimeter fence and a guard tower with a machine gun (ok, bit of an exagerration but just a bit)

the bigger the bird (geese, Jersey Giant chicken) the less predator problems

apologize if details are gruesome: we like to eat chicken, so do all the predators

(as I write this there's a herd of 'yotes yapping maybe 300 yards from my couch. getting hungry and bold this late in the winter). too bad fur coats aren't popular.

good luck!

to PTO!!
There's a store called TSC in Cornwall that sells a selection of feed and supplies. It's a 'big box' store, and has convenient hours and locations, but their prices aren't great and quality can be hit and miss, as can the knowledge of their sales staff.
There is also an animal feed store in Williamstown, called Rozon I think.
Excellent choice in the Australorps! Are you getting them from Performance Poultry?

Hi & Welcome.
Lots of us in Eastern Ont.
Enjoy.

Welcome...I'm just outside of Kingston!

Hello and welcome!

thejonesboy wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 06, 2018 10:28 pm

Welcome to

New to the country, where are you from?

Just moved from England. So all the predators and cold weather is kind of a new thing! Haven't been put off yet though!

Welcome,
Oh and we have foxes here too that you may be familiar with!