Colorado

[Mtn Margie]

Caption:

"How YOU doin'?"

(Joey from Friends...)

Good one! I was thinking " Dude......" in the brain-dead teenage voice.

 

[wsmith]

Caption:

"How YOU doin'?"

(Joey from Friends...)

ROFL Good one!

 

[saellis]

I had to deal with a bully hen last night. I was closing up to coop at dusk and I noticed one of my girls picking on the lowest member of the flock. She was pecking really hard at the neck of the other and started to pull out feathers. After about half a minute of this I realised that she wasn't going to quit so I took the aggressor down from the roost and held her down on the floor so everyone could see that was busted. After a few minutes in this time out she got really quiet and I let her go but she just stayed on the floor looking quite humbled. Only after 20 minutes or so did she go back to the roost as far as she could from her former victim.
Pecking order stinks sometimes.

 

[WendyGeisler]

Bears, bears, bears.... when will they go hibernate???
Friday morning I went for a long walk through my neighborhood. Came home and saw the bears around my house. I thought by now they were hibernating. Momma and 2 cubs.



this is by my kitchen door











they investigated my friend's car and then went up to the front door.
Later around 4 pm my kids came and told me they saw the bear cub in the back yard. Sure enough, it had climbed over the fence. This is the first time the bears have entered our backyard area. The cub was sitting on the ground eating my clover. I ran and grabbed 2 pots and my puppy and went out on the deck. By the time I got there the other bear cub had come over the fence too. I was very worried that the momma bear was about to climb over the fence too. So I started banging the pots together and making a ton of noise. Buttercup and I walked down into the grass, and the cubs got scared and ran back and climbed over the fence out of the yard. At this point I think Buttercup realized her purpose in life and she seemed to get friskier and paced back and forth by the gate. The mommy bear snorted, hissed and charged about 3 feet towards us. Then she meandered away.
This weekend we put up more electric fencing and I bought wolf urine and hung that near the path they like. I want to make sure they don't think my backyard is for them.









They have never bothered the bee hives or the chickens. But I still think this was way too close.

 

[Ashdoes]

Wow. A bear would make me nervous, a mama and her cubs would scare the crap outta me. You are one brave lady!

 

[saellis]

Bears, bears, bears.... when will they go hibernate???
Friday morning I went for a long walk through my neighborhood. Came home and saw the bears around my house. I thought by now they were hibernating. Momma and 2 cubs.

Those are some big bears. I've run across some hiking on Barr Trail in years past but they didn't look quite as filled out. Shortage of picnic baskets, I guess.

 

[Pozees]

I'm with Ashdoes - you wouldn't catch me leaving the house if bears were in my yard!

 

[WendyGeisler]

Yep, my husband is ready to shoot me for being so brave. The chicken run was in the left hand corner photo of our backyard. So far the bears have never bothered the chickens, but the DOW officer told me that they could take down my fence in no time. The run is built with double wire fencing, buried under ground, with electric on top and 3 of the Nite Guards in the middle... BUT if those bears wanted to, I know they could probably get in. And if they ever got a chicken, they would always remember and then come every single night for more.
So thankful that they left.
I am really hoping the wolf urine works as good as it smells

I have bee hives in the front yard, with a 10,000 volt bear fence. Some one did try to get in once, and has never tried again.

Next time I will grab my gun instead of my pressure cookers! Also it was a great experience for my Saint Bernard puppy, who has been basically afraid of everything. She is 9 months old now, and has no protective nature. We got her specifically to help with the bears, we wanted her to patrol the backyard while my 4 and 5 year old play. Friday was the first time I think she got it that we expected her to do something other than be a couch potato!

 

[samsr]

I have seen bears down along the creek bit never that close. My wife would have freaked out and wanted to sell the house. Stay safe. A higher voltage fence for the backyard would work wonders. Dont go too far outside without that gun. A moma and her cubs are a dangerous group to deal with.

 

[ChickenNerd11]

Does anyone know where you can get small farm raised Black/White Silkie chicks near Boulder? I am getting a new coop in the spring and wanted to be ready.