BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Beer can]

There have been a couple if instances where they were photographed in a nearby town. It isn't any wonder though they're coming out in towns they want to keep cutting down tree and making the woods area dense for houses built so close to each other they're practically part if each other. Then the shopping malls. They're getting crazy with building those around here.

Sorry to hear that, was happening here in some places until there was no jobs.

Bears are opportunists, they love garbage cans and bird feeders, human population doesn't bother them, they thrive where they can get food. I live far from neighbors, mostly woods and fields, have many bears in the area, but I have not had any problems with them, I give thanks to my beagle and mountain cur. Can't think of any reason why they do not visit my place or my chicken coop, our garbage cans are just sitting there on the back side of the garage. Right now one has the remnants of culling three red sussex cockerels and two white giant pullets, should have culled a couple more but that's a lot of work...Gotta get quicker, took three hours....I guarantee nothing will touch that garbage can tonight...

 

[hellbender]

For my part, there's no doubt the bear was headed for the goat barn. They are closed off from pasture a night but have free access to the open loafing area and likely giving off scents he couldn't refuse.

If he had gotten to the goats and over the paddock fence, the dogs could have done little more than bark at him 'til he was finished. He would have had to pay for his crime eventually but he could have had a field day for a while.

The dogs don't run around the property like soldiers. in fact, they just lay around their make-shift shelters on the outside of their kennels 'til they scent/sense a problem. I'm guessing the wind was in the bear's favor until he got to the walnut stand and that's where the s*** hit the fan, the first time.

 

[dfr1973]

Well, as I said, electric is our ONLY defense here in FL. The state says we cannot harm the bears in any way, outside of one weekend earlier this month. Hubby found an article this morning that said the hunt wasn't extended because in one weekend there were 295 bears bagged statewide, which was close enough to their target/limit. I don't think any were taken in my immediate area, which means that momma-bear who hit us last December for about a dozen chickens, and has taken three hogs in less than five years from next door (including their "spare" hog this spring that I was gonna buy half of!) is still out there.

It's frustrating, and not cheap either. We bought some electric goat/sheep fencing from Premier1 earlier this month, and I am on a list to get a dairy goat and her kid(s) one week after kidding come spring. The goat enclosure will also function as a cockerel and capon grow-out area where they can range during the daytime. The new fencing looks a lot like our current chicken netting (white/black, visible most nights) just 48 inches tall instead of 30 inches tall. Our neighbor has been hit at least three times since we put up this first electric net fence - even the time she didn't get any livestock she still caused quite a bit of damage to their hog pen. Meanwhile, the bear has left my chickens alone even though one neighbor from the other dirt road scoffed at it, saying, "She could step over that if she wants to!"

Oh, forgot to mention: first good hatch about two weeks ago. Eighteen Wyandottes and one Meatie, though it is now looking like we'll need to cull one of the Wyandotte pullets (already obvious she's a she - even has tail feathers) for failure to thrive/injury/defect. She doesn't seem able to stay on her feet long, and is wobbly when she stands, and now obviously smaller than all the others.



The one Wyandotte chick from last month (also pretty sure was a pullet) just disappeared Thursday afternoon. She and the Meatie cockerel had been roaming the enclosure without their capon-nanny by shimmying under the end of the tractor. Thursday dinner feeding ... no Wyandotte chick. No trace of her either. We figure a hawk picked her off, and will not be using that tractor for young chicks anymore.

Edited: The new fence is forty-eight inches tall, not 4 inches tall. I really should not post before my 2nd mug of coffee.

 

[Beekissed]

Laws or not, around these parts that bear would be toast...and then served on toast. Lots of folks in these hills love the taste of bear meat. They'd just do it real quiet like and no one would be the wiser.

 

[dfr1973]

They'd just do it real quiet like and no one would be the wiser.

When I was in, the official policy was, "Don't ask and don't tell." Same applies here. If it happens, I ain't heard ANYthing. Even the little birdies keep secrets like that.

As it is, no one's said boo to me, and I don't go nosing around on the subject.

 

[hellbender]

If it rains tomorrow as promised, I'm going to make my final cull/kill of my Chantecler cockerels. There are couple that make themselves easy targets but then again, there are about 4 that I am having really mixed and changing feelings about.....I guess that might make it a semi-final cull.

I will simply go in, 'take out' the first 4 or 5 that I know have to go, then I might even wait until Wednesday or longer to get down to brass tacks. A couple folks have asked for the culls (alive) but if they aren't good enough for me then they aren't good enough to live. For instance, I have two absolutely beautiful cockerels in almost every way but they have pea combs and while they would work all right for the crossing with the Dark Cornish, The ones with correct cushion comb can cover them just as effectively. And another that is fine for some but he is just too narrow form my liking.

I have a very nice display box now and when I DO get down to the final three (or two), I will see if the box makes them more photogenic. I realize they will have to be handled and made comfortable in the box.

I may end up killing the best of the bunch but them's the breaks.

 

[DesertChic]

If it rains tomorrow as promised, I'm going to make my final cull/kill of my Chantecler cockerels. There are couple that make themselves easy targets but then again, there are about 4 that I am having really mixed and changing feelings about.....I guess that might make it a semi-final cull.

I will simply go in, 'take out' the first 4 or 5 that I know have to go, then I might even wait until Wednesday or longer to get down to brass tacks. A couple folks have asked for the culls (alive) but if they aren't good enough for me then they aren't good enough to live. For instance, I have two absolutely beautiful cockerels in almost every way but they have pea combs and while they would work all right for the crossing with the Dark Cornish, The ones with correct cushion comb can cover them just as effectively. And another that is fine for some but he is just too narrow form my liking.

I have a very nice display box now and when I DO get down to the final three (or two), I will see if the box makes them more photogenic. I realize they will have to be handled and made comfortable in the box.

I may end up killing the best of the bunch but them's the breaks.

That's always the hardest part for me...deciding culls vs keeps. The ones who are mean make the decision easier, but when I have a bunch of beautiful, non-aggressive, impressive cockerels running around like I do now I tend to keep them alive and kicking a lot longer than my neighbors probably appreciate. (Mornings and early evenings get pretty darn noisy around my home.

) I've got two 19-week old cockerels right now that with crooked toes that I know I should cull.....but they're both so incredibly sweet that I haven't been able to bring myself to cull them. I know...I know....I'm a total sucker, but as soon as one of those handsome fellas hops up onto my lap to let me pet 'em my heart just melts and the chopping block remains vacant.

 

[hellbender]

That's always the hardest part for me...deciding culls vs keeps. The ones who are mean make the decision easier, but when I have a bunch of beautiful, non-aggressive, impressive cockerels running around like I do now I tend to keep them alive and kicking a lot longer than my neighbors probably appreciate. (Mornings and early evenings get pretty darn noisy around my home.

) I've got two 19-week old cockerels right now that with crooked toes that I know I should cull.....but they're both so incredibly sweet that I haven't been able to bring myself to cull them. I know...I know....I'm a total sucker, but as soon as one of those handsome fellas hops up onto my lap to let me pet 'em my heart just melts and the chopping block remains vacant.

Lest someone feels otherwise, I don't take the life of even a chicken with joy in my heart but I've hardened myself to it over the years, knowing every bird/goat kid can not be kept alive. It takes time and it does come with the territory.

I'm sure I will be second-guessing myself over these Chantecler cockerels but all I can do is the best that I can. I've studied the standard and I've looked at a thousand pictures and basically, in this case, it comes down to gut-instinct.

 

[holm25]

I always found finding culls to be easy and have never had a hard time culling.

 

[hellbender]

I always found finding culls to be easy and have never had a hard time culling.

My situation is, I have no mentor and I really don't know the breed as well as I'd like. So I wil have to just do the best I can and select the ones that seem to appear nearest the standard, since I do plan to keep a pure line of Chanteclers.