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Can deer netting work in addition to chicken wire on the top of a pen to deter predators? A couple years ago when my chickens were crossing the road (I don't know why) I whipped up a quickie fence made of metal posts and deer netting doubled over so it was about 3 feet tall. It did its job...

I have never been interested in hatching out any of my own birds (though a friend who got some of my eggs did once) since there are so many birds in the world that could use a home. But on the night of the Fourth of July, my beloved BR Tom was murdered by a mink or weasel, still not apprehended...

Unfortunately I missed the actual hearing, which I was told was about ten minutes of emotional nay-saying about how dirty and unsafe chickens are, yadda yadda. I don't actually have any say as I'm a resident outside of "town limits" but rather went to support a friend who initiated the proposal...

Last week my beloved Tom turkey was killed (head and neck chewed down to the bones) in what I thought was a pretty safe pen. It's hardware cloth all the way to the top (6 feet) on 3 sides, with chain link covered in chicken wire in back. There is welded wire attached at the bottom all the way...

I really miss my sweet Tom, always appearing next to me, gobbling when I gobbled to him or when he heard a loud noise. Everyone loved Tom. People coming down my road would stop to see him. If nobody was in the yard, he would stand by my door or go to the fence where people were. He was pettable...

I came out this morning to let everyone out of their pens, only to find my beloved Tom Turkey, King of the Barnyard and beloved by everyone, dead under his roosting table. His head and neck were chewed down to the bone and I think his crop was gone. There were plenty of ducks, chickens, geese...

Late yesterday afternoon I got home to find my muscovy drake Ivan with bloody caruncles. He was in the "non-muscovy sector" of the yard where he didn't belong, so I thought he might have gotten into a scuffle with Stella the Polish rooster, whom he often singles out for attack. Nope, Stella and...

I think something with teeth made a move on my Muscovy drake Ivan and my turkey Tom today. Ivan had bloody caruncles and Tom has fairly deep wounds with cartilage or some kind of hard white bubbles exposed at the base of each of his wings as well as a balding chest below his beard and what...

My 2 year old Pekin duck has arthritis. To rule out infection as the cause, I gave her Cipro for 3 weeks as well as Meloxicam. I stopped about 2 weeks ago. I was giving her glucosamine every day I gave the other meds but now I just give it to her a few times a week. She moves around more and...

I guess spring is in the air as my egg production from the gang of chickens, ducks, and turkeys has seriously amped up in the last few days. The piles of eggs on my kitchen table are accumulating much faster and demanding my attention more frequently. My girls are pretty good about laying where...

I was wondering others' experiences with different breeds/species of birds interactions, if they stick with their own kind given the choice. In my flock, the species tend to hang together, though my Muscovy drake that was raised with chickens likes to be with them when given the choice (never...

I have a Muscovy drake that I've had since he was a few days old and he's always enjoyed sitting on my lap. Of my 54 outside birds, he's the only one that I can actually cuddle. Today while I was waiting for duck pools to fill, I sat on the ground with Ivan on my lap, where he wagged his tail...

I've seen some PVC pipe feeders for chickens and other smaller poultry and was wondering if it would work for emus. Right now my sheep try to bully my emus away from their food, so I have to shut them in the barn for an hour or two so the emus can eat in peace. I'm afraid my emus may not be...

I asked on one of the chicken forums but nobody could give much help. Last fall, my muscovy drake Ivan started singling out my biggest rooster, Stella, to attack. (I think that Stella is actually # 2 in the pecking order but he is the biggest; the top cock is a bantam who is very dignified and...

I'm not sure if this is the best place due to the mixed flock, but I'll start here. Poor Stella, my BC Polish roo! I think he is actually the #2 roo, with the Silkie as boss, but Pantaloons is more subdued and gentlemanly, and Stella is big so he might be the more obvious "leader." Some of the...

I just peered out my window and saw THREE naughty birds on the wrong side of the fence, hanging out by the neighbor's house. I'm trying to break them of the habit but the fence itsn't tall enough. I went over to re-route them to find there were actually four birds-two chickens and two turkeys...

A friend of mine posted on Facebook the other day that he was feeding his new cat and had ringing through his ears "Food for the kitty" to the tune of Foghat's "Fool for the City." I realized that happens to me all the time. Yesterday, I was wrestling with frozen hoses and snow so that my ducks...

This past year hasn't been the greatest for me in outward ways: I have been lagrely unemployed; my relationship with my fiance became so frazzed that he moved out and we don't know if we can repair it or not. I raided my 401K to make ends meet. But I have a lot of wonderful, important aspects...

My silkies take turns hogging the nesting boxes all day and I don't really pay much mind to who stays in which box or for how long. I pick up the eggs just about everyday since I have NO intention of hatching any (I need more roos like a hole in the head). My girls give a token yip, but they're...

I need about 75+ feet of garden hose to get from the spigot on my house to the various bird waterers and ducky pools. I use a regular 50 foot garden hose with a 50 foot coil hose attached-I find that it is much lighter that way and easier to drag all over the place. But the cold water makes the...