NORTHERN California!

[angierfind]

Does anyone have any Ancona Ducklings for sale? Its way too expensive to buy just 3 online and I'm desperate!!! Would anyone want to go in on buying them?
I'm located in Alameda, Ca!

 

[klucas80]

Hello from the Sacramento area! I live in Rancho Cordova! Nice to meet you all.

 

[chickenstricken]

Welcome klucas

 

[dbblaine]

Hey all! Im in Reno, NV and am looking for a home for my 5 month old Dominique Rooster. If you are less than 4 or less from Reno, I can meet you half way. He is free to a good home. Let me know if interested!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Hello from the Sacramento area! I live in Rancho Cordova! Nice to meet you all.

I am in Sacramento County - Antelope area. Howdy, neighbor!

 

[Shortblondemommy]

I am in Sacramento County - Antelope area. Howdy, neighbor!

I’m in antelope too!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I gotta question for you NorCal peeps: What predators do we have in our area? I'm in the Sac Valley, and I know I have opossum and skunk in my yard pretty regularly, and I used to have a barn owl living in my palm tree. Haven't seen any owls for a couple of years now. Reading about the tragedies many BYC folks have experienced makes my heart hurt. I want to do all I can to protect my birds, and knowing what is out there plotting against us would help. Don't know that I could handle losses like that. I would blame myself.

 

[The Dapper Duck]

Are there any Muscovy breeders in Humboldt County, preferably near Eureka? We have a mutt flock right now but want to start refining the plumage, adding some different traits and ditching some others. We want to get rid of the white head, and genes that make piebalds/whites. We can breed out the piebald right now but our drake has the white head, so he needs a replacement. Anyway we have a different job for him, he's a sweet drake.

 

[Raptorchick]

I gotta question for you NorCal peeps: What predators do we have in our area? I'm in the Sac Valley, and I know I have opossum and skunk in my yard pretty regularly, and I used to have a barn owl living in my palm tree. Haven't seen any owls for a couple of years now. Reading about the tragedies many BYC folks have experienced makes my heart hurt. I want to do all I can to protect my birds, and knowing what is out there plotting against us would help. Don't know that I could handle losses like that. I would blame myself.

Wow, only just saw this thread! Also from nor cal here
If anybody else has a similar question... hawks, raccoons, foxes, opossums, the occasional mountain lion but usually the big cats leave chickens alone. Raccoons are the devil.... not really, but shoot, I've had most of my problems from raccoons. Oh, and don't forget snakes I had a huuuuge gopher snake in my coop once, didn't do anything bad, but I've heard they can eat chicks/eggs pretty easily.

 

[The Dapper Duck]

I gotta question for you NorCal peeps: What predators do we have in our area? I'm in the Sac Valley, and I know I have opossum and skunk in my yard pretty regularly, and I used to have a barn owl living in my palm tree. Haven't seen any owls for a couple of years now. Reading about the tragedies many BYC folks have experienced makes my heart hurt. I want to do all I can to protect my birds, and knowing what is out there plotting against us would help. Don't know that I could handle losses like that. I would blame myself.

Down there you are looking at just about everything except mountain lions and probably not too many bears, unless you are close to some foothills and oaks. So that means Raccoon, red fox, gray fox, opossum, mink, weasel, Norway rat, black rat, skunk, bobcat, coyote, badger, great horned owl, ravens, crows, red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, probably not golden eagle but it's not out of the question, feral cats are only a threat to babies on pasture, and feral dogs can occur anywhere but usually closer to urban areas. You shouldn't have to worry about the barn owls, they specialize on rodents so they are good to have around.

California is a state of predators. We are allowed to hunt "meat animals" like deer, quail, ducks, rabbits, etc., but not the things that eat those things. So we have them in abundance AND (as a special bonus) they don't get shot at or trapped so they have little reason to fear humans. Best advice is to have a secure coop for them at night with no cracks or openings that a teeny tiny weasel can get into, and build a run that is totally enclosed with hardware cloth (but chicken wire will do ok) and bury a skirt 6" deep around the perimeter. If you're really paranoid add a hot wire.

That's worst case scenario. We are in the process of moving from a place where our ducks don't even have a coop and just graze the lawn all day and night, to a place against the redwoods in a clearing with a lot of raptor perches and we've been told a very high mortality rate. So your level of concern depends on your specific location, but you might have to lose a couple birds in the process of figuring out what that level is.