➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Sara L]

My quail are so quiet I have to constantly check on them to make sure they are alive.

I can't believe how quiet and small they are.

If they are quiet then you have everything they need set up correctly. Or they are plotting trouble...

 

[sdm111]

 

[Morrigan]

The war is now on! Bobcats will keep returning until there are no easy prey left. We have snap traps and snares ready.

I hope you get it. Last December I had a couple of juvenile bobcats kill 9 out of 17 hens in less than an hour. Luckily my husband has bobcat tags and is a good shot. Both are gone now.

 

[Morrigan]

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They are beautiful.

 

[Morrigan]

I was going to add, we still have an adult bobcat in our area. We have caught it a couple of times on one of the night cams handing outside the garden fence, and last Friday night, while I was in the wee hours helping my broody adopt her chicks, I could hear one screaming close by. It is a really eerie sound -- it sounds like a a woman screaming.

We've never seen the adult around our coop with the night cams, however. I'm hoping that means it already got shocked by our electric fence and doesn't want more of that.

 

[RosieR]

@KikisGirls i wet some food last night and gave it to the babies this evening. I’m hoping they will not fling it around as much this way. They waste so much.
2.5 weeks old. I’ve got one for sure with red breast feathers coming in, I’m hoping I don’t get all males again...

 

[Kiki]

@KikisGirls i wet some food last night and gave it to the babies this evening. I’m hoping they will not fling it around as much this way. They waste so much.
2.5 weeks old. I’ve got one for sure with red breast feathers coming in, I’m hoping I don’t get all males again...
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Zero flinging going on here!
Good luck!

 

[jwyles]

Finally caught up and thought you might be interested...We have never had this predator in the 20 years we have lived on the farm.
We have had a few assaults on the 6 foot tall Cochin chicken pen this past week...lost a rooster and two hens. Made repairs to that pen and have locked up the rest inside their coop at night. Then set out the trail camera and a live trap for the past several nights.
Last night this bobcat was not interested in the food bait in the live trap and snagged another one of my hens from a different pen. We think she flew over the four foot fence because there were no cat prints in the soft mud in that pen. Nor were there any prints around the barn pens.
The war is now on! Bobcats will keep returning until there are no easy prey left. We have snap traps and snares ready.
The remaining chickens in the breed pens without tops will be moved back to the hen house.
The duck pen is only 4 feet tall and has a more sturdy fence that the bobcat could have easily scaled but that pen is under a pole lamp at night. Without chickens to catch, it may go after the ducks.
The duck hens are hatching ducklings this week...so I'll be moving the duck hens and their eggs into cages in the hen house. The remaining ducks will be locked in their houses inside the pen at night and released in the mornings until the bobcat is eliminated..
View attachment 1504474
Yep, one of my hens in its mouth. A friend said it was a female...I sure can't tell from the night photo, but he is a hunter.

Oh no!

 

[Pugsabi]

Sleep deprived me went shopping last night and bought another incubator and dog booster seats. It's a kit with a mini Brinsea and brooder.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01M...294810&sr=8-27&keywords=brinsea+egg+incubator
Last time I was that sleep deprived, I decided to drive down to San Antonio to buy a dog, instead of just waiting a week or two for one to be available in my area. That's how I got Wasabi.
Here's a picture from when he was taking a nap with me before work.

Terrifying right!?! He was full blown snoring too.

 

[NanaKat]

A couple more blues in full molt and summer heat

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Beautiful Blues!

I hope you get it. Last December I had a couple of juvenile bobcats kill 9 out of 17 hens in less than an hour. Luckily my husband has bobcat tags and is a good shot. Both are gone now.

No tags here....yet. Will have to check with Wildlife about getting some. We have a total of 410 acres, running cattle on two properties. We take no prisoners when our livestock and poultry are threatened.

I was going to add, we still have an adult bobcat in our area. We have caught it a couple of times on one of the night cams handing outside the garden fence, and last Friday night, while I was in the wee hours helping my broody adopt her chicks, I could hear one screaming close by. It is a really eerie sound -- it sounds like a a woman screaming.

We've never seen the adult around our coop with the night cams, however. I'm hoping that means it already got shocked by our electric fence and doesn't want more of that.

We had a mountain lion on our 160 acre wooded property; warned by one of the neighbor's while we were gathering possum grapes. That cat scream makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck and sends chills to your core...it sounded like a woman screaming too.

We have battened down all hatches, locked every coop, mounted the camera where it should catch three pen areas, set 4 snap traps chained to the posts, and arranged two snares on top of gate entrances. The guns are loaded by the back door too.

And we are hearing thunder with storms around us. Lily has begun reacting to the anxiety in out local weatherman's voice. Here she is in my lap before and after a clap of thunder. The whites of her eyes just kills me.