Happenings in Paradise

[genebo]

We have some new predators. After several weeks wih no losses, we lost two ducks and a chicken last night.

The ducks show signs of being killed by a possum, skunk or owl. The head is gone and the innards were pulled out through the neck opening. I baited a big live trap with the remains of one duck. The other will go in a hole in the garden, to feed the vegetables this year.

The chicken was probably killed by a raptor bird, like a hawk or eagle, early this morning. It had been plucked and the meat was all gone. Just a pile of feathers left. Nothing you can do about that. I have 13 replacement chickens in the brooder already. I'll put them in the henhouse as soon as this coming cold snap is over.

This morning we watched the latest 5 chickens feeding in the barn yard. They are just maturing. It looks like we have 3 roosters and 2 hens. Just my luck. I already have too many roosters.

I bought more patio stones to make a path to the barn from the front gate. The mud was threatening to topple my bride every time she walked through to feed the chickens. Dunder has adopted the walkway as his favorite spot to hang out at night, forcing Babe to walk around, in the mud. I paved her way around.

It's getting near time to sell some calves. No matter how much fun it is to watch them grow and train them, the time comes to let them go. I'll be posting information in the For Sale section soon.

No day goes by that I'm not thankful for this farm and the wonderful animals that live here. It keeps me young and it keeps me happy and it keeps me mellow.

[Deleted]

I gave up free ranging chickens this summer. I had to many losses. I bought electric poultry netting for them in the summer. Worked well not one single loss after that. They still get to come out and eat fresh grass and bugs. When the weather turned I packed up the fence until spring so they are stuck inside until spring.

[genebo]

My chicken's main purpose on this farm is to keep the area around the barn clear of manure piles. The duks' is to break up manure piles over the rest of the pastures. I close them up in the henhouse at night (those that will go in) for safety, but other than that, they are on their own.

I incubate eggs and hatch ducks, chickens and guineas year-round, to replace the losses. I set traps and take other measures to hold the predators at bay, but I'll never be 100% successful. They will always get their share.

Once I got a master hunter/trapper to come here to clean out the foxes that were killing so many of my poultry. He did a good job, collecting a large number of foxes and a few other predators. My losses dropped to near zero for a while.

The next summer, I had to give up trying to raise a garden. The squirrels ate everything. Everything. For the first time, we had coyotes come close to the house. They reduced our wild turkey population a lot. I saw the first rabbit on my farm in years. More rabbits appeared. Then I saw a new fox. I saw it a few times.

Three years later, the squirrel population declined and I had a garden last year. Got some good tomatoes, peppers and carrots. Lost a few more birds. Still have a few coyotes, but they keep their distance.

I feel like I best keep the land when I do the least to it. That includes eliminating natural predators. I'm simply not smart enough to figure out a better plan than the one that nature puts in place.

My Dexters and goats have their horns for defense. If I could find some ducks and chickens with horns, I'd buy some.

[genebo]

Lost another duck this morning. I had two live traps set, but neither was touched.

Last night I discovered which chicken was eaten yesterday. It was the big Old English rooster that was my pet. He grew and matured slowly. He was close to a year old when he first crowed. He was afraid of the other rooster I had and would not go into the henhouse at night. Every night I held out my arm for him to get on and I carried him in to the henhouse. I put up some shelves and placed the rooster on the highest one, where the other rooster couldn't get him. Every morning we would find him outside. He flew through the rafters to get out, along with a few other chickens and some guineas. They got first crack at whatever there was to eat outside.

It was strange, not carrying him into the henhouse last night. I'm used to this, though. It seems that every time I make friends with a chicken, that one is the next to go. Maybe they lose their fear of other animals.

Several times a rooster would adopt me and follow me a long way when I headed for home. Once one followed me all the way to the house, around the pond. About 1/3 of a mile. None of them survived very long. One that I liked particularly well, I gave to a couple that kept their chickens in a large pen. I missed him when I gave him away, but not like I would have missed him if he'd stayed.

[rilie]

We have been free ranging our chickens for about a year now. They have free run of about 2 acres that includes the house and kitchen gardens. When we moved in all the neighbors warned us the fox were terrible. The neighbor next to us had just gotten out of chicken keeping due to losses to foxes. There was no way my wife wasn't going to have chickens so I knew we had to do something.

We decided on a multiple front approach;

First all chickens are locked up at night in the most varmint proof coop I could build. Every gap and seam in the entire interior is lined with 1/4 inch hardware cloth. This is the most common problem I've seen with predator losses. A few extra minutes locking them up tight makes a big difference. Seat belts (er coop locks) save lives!

Second we have two very protective Roos. We watch our roosters pretty closely as they are growing, any showing bad traits end up in the crockpot. We select for ease of handling by humans and protectiveness of the hens (surprisingly you can get both traits).

Third, we have a great mutt that loves to roam the outer perimeter and protects the flock. She is not farm raised and was not sure what to make of the chickens at first. We spent a few weeks desensitizing her and working with her around the chickens. She now loves the Chickens and Dexters, it's the goats she just can't stand, but her and grannie goat have come to a mutual understanding that involves giving each other a wide berth.

This is Mona out a few weeks back minding her charges. She spends hours every day watching the Dexter graze, not sure what the fascination is but never loses her focus.

[bruff64]

Get game chickens. They are survivors. You can only let one cock run the roost, but he will look over his girls. The range the best of all breeds and roost in the trees if you let them. The hens are fierce mothers and will self propagate well. Offer them some protection and you will do well with them. Plus they are beautiful to look at. I have hens running loose here that have been out for 3 years and we have many chicken predators in New England.

[genebo]

Larry, we think alike. I run two Old English Game roosters over all my hens. One full sized and one bantam.

They are such good fliers. They can beat the other chickens to the barn when a predator comes. they give the gift of good flight to their offspring, too.

I have some Antwerp Belgium hens that we like, but are too slow and fly too low to survive. I keep them in a safe pen with a bantam Old English rooster. The offspring go to the barn, where they do quite well.