California - Northern

[liz9910]

Good morning, darn just witnessed the bird I posted a picture of yesterday CROWING

and they are both getting loud. The feed store is totally full right now, looks like someone local just unloaded half their bantam "culls" there. Sigh. I have to call back on Tuesday, hope they sell tons of birds over the weekend. At least I ended up with one FCBM pullet and 1 Ameraucana pullet.

 

[ronott1]

Good morning, darn just witnessed the bird I posted a picture of yesterday CROWING

and they are both getting loud. The feed store is totally full right now, looks like someone local just unloaded half their bantam "culls" there. Sigh. I have to call back on Tuesday, hope they sell tons of birds over the weekend. At least I ended up with one FCBM pullet and 1 Ameraucana pullet.

So sorry. Yours are different because they do not have as much red coming in. Red should be on the wings for Boys and more in the neck.

You will get some nice eggs from the two though!

 

[lawatt]

Wow bobcats everywhere!

We did look into what can be done about bobcats here because we are frigging 4 blocks from the San Jose limits and it seemed a bad place for bobcats.

Apparently they are massively protected and you have to get a permit to even try and trap them. And you have to have a very solid reason to get a permit. Shooting one can actually get you jail time. So be aware everyone.

I say this as if I can even hold a gun Lol . we did not look at shooting it ( it was here before we were after all) but the vehemence of the law made me look into it all more then I might otherwise. What you can and can't legally do about predictors is quite interesting IMO.

right on schedule, just now at 6:30am, the bobcat made its occasional morning visit to the coops -- which are all locked up, & it does not seem to think that it can get in. the birds are all sounding their alarm calls, and the bobcat only stayed for a moment, then moved on across the meadow.

all native predators prefer less disturbed areas for their habitat, but many of them are also quite adaptable to urban and quasi-urban environments -- when i lived in the middle of SF, in the Lower Haight, there were always lots of raccoons and opossums, and undoubtedly foxes too -- and anyone who lives in an area that has parks or open space nearby is undoubtedly within the hunting range of a few predators at least. as i understand it, bobcats cover quite large areas as their hunting territory, as large as 10 square miles? which is why a single construction project is unlikely to cause a change in their abundance.

and we need them to help keep smaller animal populations under some kind of control -- many researchers connect the rise of Lyme disease (carried by ticks, that hang out with deer but also smaller mammals) to the decrease of predator populations, as well as a decrease in human hunting pressure. and while i am not at all happy about losing three beautiful chickens in a week to my resident bobcat, i can't blame the cat any more than i can blame the deer for coming around snacking on my garden -- which i also dislike, but the solution is for me to (eventually) build a better fence/protections, and/or be more careful/vigilant when i let the chickens free-range.

 

[lawatt]

Good morning, darn just witnessed the bird I posted a picture of yesterday CROWING

and they are both getting loud. The feed store is totally full right now, looks like someone local just unloaded half their bantam "culls" there. Sigh. I have to call back on Tuesday, hope they sell tons of birds over the weekend. At least I ended up with one FCBM pullet and 1 Ameraucana pullet.

oh dear -- one of my teen-aged cockerels (still not sure which one) has been attempting to crow lately, and sounds exactly like a kazoo. hilarious.

 

[liz9910]

oh dear -- one of my teen-aged cockerels (still not sure which one) has been attempting to crow lately, and sounds exactly like a kazoo. hilarious.

That's exactly what they sound like, and they start up even before light! Hope my neighbors didn't have their windows open LOL.

 

[liz9910]

So sorry. Yours are different because they do not have as much red coming in. Red should be on the wings for Boys and more in the neck.

You will get some nice eggs from the two though!

I know the sneaky one has no red what so ever, none of them do. All black with brown coming in on the chest.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

oh dear -- one of my teen-aged cockerels (still not sure which one) has been attempting to crow lately, and sounds exactly like a kazoo. hilarious.

that is my all time favorite sound.
Can you get a picture of the bobcat?

 

[lawatt]

that is my all time favorite sound.
Can you get a picture of the bobcat?

i don't currently have a big-enough zoom lens for my digital camera (although soon getting an adaptor that will allow me to use my old lenses on it, hurrah!), and other than yesterday, it hasn't been close enough to the house to photograph without a zoom. it's a large one, leggy and lean. i'll try to photograph once that lens adaptor shows up... (it's on backorder)

 

[Chickengirl1304]

I have a FBCM I got from a breeder on eBay from hatching eggs. She has a black comb? Looks like the back 1/3 is starting to get red but the rest is black. Is that normal?!

 

[ronott1]

I have a FBCM I got from a breeder on eBay from hatching eggs. She has a black comb? Looks like the back 1/3 is starting to get red but the rest is black. Is that normal?!

Yes that is normal. Pullet combs can be white to a blackish color and will often seem to turn red and grow big over night.

Pictures Please!