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  1. LaurenRitz

    What did you do in the garden today?

    I don't think it matters. The mother for these seeds is a Japanese plum. I've been trying to get an American wild plum (they keep dying) and I have seeds for both a clingstone and freestone European plum. The seedlings keep dying. I do have two Stanley plums that I purchased. I lose a lot of...
  2. LaurenRitz

    Possible breeding program

    I lost a hen some time yesterday or early this morning. A body-part of feathers in the barn, and one of the RangerX is missing. I'm pretty sure she was in the coop last night. Whatever it was carried off the body, unless she's hiding somewhere. Probably not the neighbors dogs, since they tend...
  3. LaurenRitz

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Uh...my seed storage has its own closet, and I need to build more shelves.
  4. LaurenRitz

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Don't know yet. I've been struggling to get plums started, so a friend sent me plum-peach and plum-cherry crosses. If they survive, I'll try to breed back toward the plum parent. Peaches do just fine here, so I'm hopeful. The plan is to let them grow out for a year before planting, but it...
  5. LaurenRitz

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Three plum-peach crosses and an apricot have sprouted.
  6. LaurenRitz

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Yep. I think what we have is those who have survived or by chance avoided a certain type of trap or bait, and learned from the experience. A field mouse last week left a lot of skin and a major part of his tail behind on a stickytrap. Another left his tail behind in a snap trap. Probably won't...
  7. LaurenRitz

    Possible breeding program

    I gave them 3 quarts yesterday, and measured what was left. They ate just a little over a cup of quart 3, so I know they're still foraging the majority of their food. I also moved the additional two bowls closer in, but still out of sight. All six feeding stations had some amount of food left...
  8. LaurenRitz

    What did you do in the garden today?

    I have talented mice. They lick the bait off the traps without setting them off. All the mice that snap the traps are gone. So I set out sticky traps. Go through maybe a dozen in a week, then stop catching. So I sat and watched. They have learned that if they run along the edges, they can avoid...
  9. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    They don't seem to be going hungry, although I'm not sure. They are the best foragers, as I said. They look and act healthy. I never see them far from the other birds, although there's one spot they can get into that the other birds can't so I toss some treats in there.
  10. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    Had a weird thought. You know how animals are sometimes scared away by predator urine? Maybe find out what kind is repulsive to bobcats and put that in and around their tree.
  11. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    Snakes get very young chicks. Possums will take out whatever they can catch, which is usually ground-roosting birds. I have seen bobcats, heard coyotes, and seen hawks. I heard the neighbor's dogs going insane the other day in their kennel and looked over to see a really big cat taunting them...
  12. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    6 feeding stations for 33 birds, all out of sight of the others. I put out a bowl of eggs this morning and they were first there, well ahead of the others, but circled around the bowl rather than diving in and got chased off when the other birds arrived about a minute later. It's happened...
  13. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    Question. I have two, the Kraienkoppe girls, who are the smallest of my flock and also the best foragers. I noticed early on that other birds would follow them around and take away anything they found. These two would abandon it and move on. Now that they're adults (just over 6 months) and...
  14. LaurenRitz

    I'm so old I Remember when:

    Or it's a second/third marriage. They often had kids with the first wife (or husband) who then died and they remarried.
  15. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    I have one girl that goes broody like clockwork, spring and fall. She's been a good mom. The chicks seem to have no problem with hatching in the winter. They just spend more time under Mama warming up. I do choose which eggs they sit on, and now that I have the broody box I'll try to put them...
  16. LaurenRitz

    Possible breeding program

    They're now eating every scrap of food I put out for them, so it appears their foraging is no longer giving them what they need. Time to increase it a bit. Currently 2 quarts per day for 34 birds. Other than not leaving any food they don't act hungry, but I want to make sure they can all eat...
  17. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    Hardware cloth underneath? Raccoons can dig.
  18. LaurenRitz

    Rooster aggression help?

    Probably because of the similarity of the sound.
  19. LaurenRitz

    Rooster aggression help?

    How old are they? Do they do this only when you are not present? If so, that suggests that they know they're doing something you would disapprove of and you're the alpha--which also means that the second they see you as vulnerable they're going to try to unseat you and take the head spot. You...
  20. LaurenRitz

    Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

    When I'm looking at which birds to cull I take out only the birds that have traits I don't want. Roosters that mate pullets too young, overly aggressive toward me, etc. Eliminating the negative rather than choosing the positive. So far I haven’t found any physical traits that fit this criteria...
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