The Brooding of Allie, Casey and Latte

[Julie Birb]

Now they want their own smart phones to play "Where's My Water" on...

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee yes. Sweet things. Make sure the qwerty keyboard is adequate to allow their webs to strike each character accordingly so that they avoid spill over and typos. Then they can type, text and surf the WEB all they want.

 

[Julie Birb]

Ok, there coming to take you away ha ha.

that is OK with me.

 

[Julie Birb]

Casey is amazing. I know I've asked you this before but will she become flock leader and how is this affecting the status quo? Or is it too soon to tell?

 

[Amiga]

Is it over us or the ducks

I meant to attach this to my post last night so I'll put it here. Top center... Casey, Latte and Allie.

My empathy kicks in.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Casey is amazing. I know I've asked you this before but will she become flock leader and how is this affecting the status quo? Or is it too soon to tell?

It isn't in stone yet. Today I let Kaine out and he didn't avoid Casey. He went right to her and attacked her head on. She sent him on his merry way.

 

[Julie Birb]

It isn't in stone yet. Today I let Kaine out and he didn't avoid Casey. He went right to her and attacked her head on. She sent him on his merry way.

WHAT??? Change is on the way. I am amazed at this. She is like a Viking Goddess or something. And really Kaine is no slouch. He's a powerhouse. Just goes to show you that in the world, there is always someone stronger than you are. Wow.

 

[pattyhen]

Love the pic of the 3 of them lined up and sleeping togeather. Casey continues to amaze me I think she's going to lead the flock if that is what she chooses to do.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I put this up on my secure kennel page but haven't gotten any responses yet. Our initial anti-aerial attack defense is some light strings. The lights are just for us when we want them, I doubt they will be on every night all night, but I have heard of people hanging fishing line so I figure any lines/ropes/strings would work. The lights are about 2-1/2 ft apart at the edge of the fence and get closer in the center. Here is a pic with them lit:

The close area with the house is going to be Kaine's new jail - it doesn't need to be secure if the area is. The far corner that is fenced of is a current construction zone and that is where the scattered patio benches will go leaving the rest of the area open (with some shades/shelters added). I am going to have electric fence around the cage to prevent climbing.

So my question is, should these strings be enough of a deterrent to keep the hawks/eagles/owls away? Do I need more strings closer together - I could use fishing line or even more lights if I only needed to cut it in half. Should I also get anti-perch strips for the top of the fence? Any other ideas welcome. I have had no problems with hawks/eagles so far. That might be luck or it might be strategic clutter, but I have not had them exposed to owls and I know far less about their behavior. For example eagles like to strike their prey. They don't like to land near them then chase them down on the ground and attack them that way so clutter is fairly effective. I am not sure this is true for owls or not. We have great horned owls and barn owls in the area. My desire with this enclosure is to be able to go away say over night on a weekend (I will still be able to see them on the cameras) and put them in this enclosure with plenty of food and water. If they go in their house at night great! But if they don't, I don't want them to pay the ultimate price for their error.

I welcome any comments or experiences with flying predators. Thanks.

 

[Ravynscroft]

First I gotta say, that is beautiful! The whole setup is amazing and you have some lucky ducks...

I *think* the lines might be ok for the hawks issue, but owls are definitely a different story... I really don't know if the lights themselves will be an effective deterrent due to their night sight, it may interfere enough, but I'm just not sure... I do know that they are much more analytical in their approach to prey... we had owl issues here ourselves... they would land on top of the chicken coops to study for for prey, figured this out by finding owl pellets left there...

Our grow out pen and our Calls we put plastic netting over... might not be much, but it has kept them out... found a pellet on top of the grow out netting once right after it was put up... the only time we had an issue with the netting was in one pen where we had our Araucanas, they were awful about perching on top of their coop at night... we put netting over and it walked across it until it dipped enough to trap one and it ripped through to that bird... we raised the netting and the Araucanas decided to sleep inside their coop after that and haven't had issues since...

So... maybe add at least a plastic netting across the top? And I really would think about the anti-perch strips... hope this helps...

 

[Tevyes Dad]

First I gotta say, that is beautiful! The whole setup is amazing and you have some lucky ducks...

I *think* the lines might be ok for the hawks issue, but owls are definitely a different story... I really don't know if the lights themselves will be an effective deterrent due to their night sight, it may interfere enough, but I'm just not sure... I do know that they are much more analytical in their approach to prey... we had owl issues here ourselves... they would land on top of the chicken coops to study for for prey, figured this out by finding owl pellets left there...

Our grow out pen and our Calls we put plastic netting over... might not be much, but it has kept them out... found a pellet on top of the grow out netting once right after it was put up... the only time we had an issue with the netting was in one pen where we had our Araucanas, they were awful about perching on top of their coop at night... we put netting over and it walked across it until it dipped enough to trap one and it ripped through to that bird... we raised the netting and the Araucanas decided to sleep inside their coop after that and haven't had issues since...

So... maybe add at least a plastic netting across the top? And I really would think about the anti-perch strips... hope this helps...

Thanks. I know owls are more prone to hunt in wooded areas than hawks and eagles. So I wondered if that might be the case... I will check for the strips and adequate netting...