Can't help you - we did the 7 ft fence for our orchard. On the plus side, it's also the run for my welsummer flock. It's about 50 ft X 80 ft.I hear you!! I just planted a bunch of fruit trees and almost have of them have had all the leaves eaten off as high as the deer could reach. AARgh! I don't know what to do to keep them away. I thought about moving our dogs kennel to the middle of the trees to see if that would help! I would love any tips that don't involve building an 8 foot deer fence.![]()
Quote: Agree - nice looking birds!
The wildlife (deer, wild pigs, coyotes, etc) seem really desperate for food this fall. There's a young buck who has been eating my roses right on our porch outside our sliding glass doors. He even comes almost every night even when all the lights are on, windows/doors open and the TV blaring. If you chase him off, he comes right backQuote:I agree. They aren't supposed to eat lilac bushes. Tell that to my poor lilac bush. Then they rub their fuzz off their antlers on my fig tree and break the branches.When they come into my yard, how about if I send them to your house? And eat all your plants? I always go to the nursery and ask about plants for deer. They say, you want something deer resistant? And I say no, I want something that will make them choke to death and die!![]()
DebThere's a momma doe, yearling, and fawn down the street too and they look really skinny. The wild pigs are so desperate that they plowed through the neighbors electric fence to get to their lawn! I wouldn't mind the deer if they ate my lawn instead of the fruit trees and roses...grrrrr. Our dogs are the only reason why I still have fruit trees, a lawn and chickens. What good girls they are and we're lucky to have them. But the dogs have to sleep sometime and that is when the deer sneak in on the opposite side of the house. Hopefully the wild pigs don't sneak in... they can cause A LOT of damage in minutes.
On a side note I saw a roadrunner in our yard! I've haven't seen one in the North state in all the years I've lived here. I saw them in AZ, but not here. Really neat bird! I looked them up on the internet and saw that they would eat small birds and ran out to check on some chicks I was letting free range. Luckily the chicks were all fine, but it seems everything likes to eat chickens, LOL.
edited to add: There's also almost NO acorns on the oaks around our property this year. The deer and pigs will really miss that food supply and have even a harder time finding food. No acorns + very little grass= less squirrels and gophers =no food for the coyotes= very hungry coyotes going after livestock.
Trisha
No way - A Roadrunner? I've seen them in AZ, but never here.
There have been mountain lions in CA for a VERY long time. They range through 98% of California, including the desert.On a related note, I read an article yesterday that said contrary to expectations, Mountain Lions released into Nevada were migrating back into CA Via the Sierra Nevadas. They are not hunted in CA and there is more food and water in CA, so they are moving in.
Another predator to worry about...
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_21719519/study-nevadas-mountain-lions-migrating-california
re: mountain lions -- they've been here in CA longer than people have, and the more we build our homes close to wild areas where they live, the more trouble we'll potentially have from them. there were several livestock kills on my road on Sonoma Mtn this summer, most of which were attributed to feral dogs (!), but two were likely mountain lion, due to the way the animals were killed & then cached -- but we'll just have to secure our animals better and accept any loses we might incur, because we're living in THEIR neighborhood, not the other way around.
Yup! We have several sightings here every year. Had one on our property once (saw it's tracks in the snow). A couple of years ago our neighbor's dog had one cornered.
Glad she's doing better!About Hope: I noticed for about three days she had a very large crop that hung really low. I took her to Cheryl's and Cheryl put a tub down her throat and into her crop. She then filled the crop up with water and mineral oil. This made Hope throw up a bunch of times and we were able to empty the crop completely. I brought her home and noticed her crop was full again and huge the next day so I did the following: Day 1) No food, Day 2) yogurt only, Day 3) Eggs and olive oil only, Day 4) Yogurt, olive oil and mashed medicated food, Day 5) Same as day 4. She's been back in the coop for a couple of days and is back to normal now!!