Calling all West-River South Dakotans

[rsleghornchicki]

hello again! anyone near whitewood having any skunk issues? i lost my birchen silkie hen Sage to one over the weekend.

 

[SouthDakotan]

I'm not in West River, but this past summer I had one continual Skunk visitor. I also had a massive problem with raccoons. The skunk was not too troublesome since my hens were put in each evening into a coop that he couldn't get into.

However the coons were horrid. Before I fortified my coops, they wiped out over 30 birds, from ducks, to chickens to pigeons. The skunk was mainly after the grains in the feeders & the eggs. Mind you my skunk problem is amplified by the fact a neighbor FEEDS the skunk on purpose from a cat dish on the porch, so she can WATCH it from her window!!!

So I started putting out a ferral "cat feeding station" out on the very egg of my property, along the skunk's nightly route.

I also noticed a different in digging patterns between the coons and the skunk. The skunk will dig maybe three inches but the coons dig all night if they have to. I was told that since the species are both territorial, trapping them only means you get a new problem later. So I had to "teach" the critters it wasn't worth wasting their energy at my coop.

I tried the repellant stuff (it didn't work). So I resorted to some other tactics. I drove rebar into the ground along the edge of my coop. It went down three feet into the ground. They can dig all night and get NO food (eggs or chickens). Before two weeks were out, they started going elsewhere to find their dinner. I also used the bull nettle and thistle stalks I was fighting to cut down (at the edge of my property & that of my neighbor's) as reinforcement. I took the thorny plants and carpeted the paths and parameter of my coop (other than where the hens enter) with the cut down stalks. This means they predators have to walk on the thorny stalks to go to the hen house! That worked very effectively to help "educate" them on why my place wasn't the easiest banquet hall.

Every once in a while I seen signs of the skunk, when I forget and shut the gate to the pen (feeding troughs and water), but other than that I've had no more predation.

 

[rsleghornchicki]

my poulrty free range. would that make a difference? oh and today i got back from school went to feed everyone and the coop was trashed! my white cochin hen lilly is dead and the nestboxes were tipped over crushing 2 eggs that i really nead to kep my bussiness alive...i want a coon dog.

 

[caseyBlane]

Where do y'all get feed? Are there local mills? I'm looking in to helping friends on Pine Ridge reservation get started with chickens.

 

[Wheeler Farms Chickens]

I think Dakota Mill has the cheapest prices on scratch and laying feed.

 

[sdcowgurl]

Hey, All - another West River SoDak checking in. We're from near Vale as well; or Newell. Actually we just tell folks we are from the NVN (Newell-Vale-Nisland) Triplex seeing as we are about halfways between Newell and Vale. Anyway, no chickens yet; planning to build a coop on the south side of the barn this spring and get some chicks in late May. Thinking Barred Rocks, Golden Sex Linkeds, Buff Orpingtons, and Silver Wyandotes. Please do tell if you have other or counter suggestions. I don't know doodly squat about chickens beyond the fact that we tried to have some on the ranch when I was growing up and the coyotes kept cleaning us out. Hoping it will be different this time.

 

[spectrumranch]

There will be poultry at the One Of A Kind consignment auction this Saturday Feb 23 at Platte, SD.

Some consignments include:
Sebastopol geese
Snowy Ducks
Black East Indie Ducks
Fantail pigeons
Giant Runt Pigeons
Pouter Pigeons
Various pigeons
Sebright Bantams
Cochin Bantams
Egyptian Geese
Blue India Peafowl
Blue Pied Peafowl
White Peafowl
Red Golden pheasants
Lady Amherst pheasant
Reeves pheasants
Silver pheasant
Mandarin Ducks
Muscovy Ducks
Sumatra Bantams
Guineas
Royal Palms

 

[Sagrav333]

Hello there! In Rapid City, S.D Just getting new to this backyard Chickens.

 

[Jans Chickens]

Welcome Sagrav333! I'm south of you in Custer.

 

[Sagrav333]

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/op...cle_ae7e17e2-1932-538f-8947-31b48adeb21d.html A group of people in Rapid City are working on legalizing Back Yard Hens