Colorado

[hispoptart]

Just wanted to say hi from Rangely, CO. I have been lurking on this site for some time. posting a bit here and there. I have 4 now 8 week old chicks. 2 RIR and 2 BR. They just the sweetest things. I got them at 1 week and boy I can't believe how fast they grow. I sure am glad they are outside now, because I also couldn't believe how bad they stink LOL. I have learned so much from this site and can't thank everyone enough for the great advice they give.

 

[Wifezilla]

If the cayugas are honking, they are girls. Did you get sexed ducklings?

 

[coloradochick]

Hi Poptart

welcome

cacky, they say to pick the roos up and carry them around under your arm every chance you get. If you can catch him

 

[cackydoodledoo]

Quote:
Catching him is the tricky part I think. Do I traumatize him or worse yet get pecked to death trying to catch him???

I would try that but he is BIG!! I do need to find one of those big nets to catch them though. Having a hard time finding one.

 

[Vitesse304]

Hello from Parker!

I was just reading about the fox issue...

We just moved down to the front range from Summit County, we had 10 acres up there and plenty of room to shoot guns. This seemed to keep all the predators away. We could hear the coyotes and foxes all around, but they stayed away from our property. I had horses, goats, chickens and ducks roaming our property and never lost an animal.

Then, after getting a new job that required that I travel quite a bit, I wasn't able to spend as much time at home or shoot around the property. This is when we started losing some chickens...nothing left but a wing or little pile of feathers. I drew the line when we lost 2 ducks. I think we even lost our barn cat to a coyote or fox...

these foxes were getting very bold...they would run up our driveway, and sit right in front of our porch and wait for us to leave or go inside, then they would slink around the house and nab a chicken, luckily they never got a goat.

I ended up shooting 2 of them and a coyote this past winter. A silenced .22 or the AR does a wonderful job of dropping them with a well placed shot. Sorry for sounding morbid, but when you raise fainting goats, it's not a good idea to let predators stick around.

If anybody needs some help with predator control, let me know. I know how valuable your animals are to you!

So back to introductions...

In Parker on 3 acres, brought some of our fainting goats, our horse Stewie, 3 ducks, and the chickens! (A hodge-podge of layers that we've accumulated...)
We used to run Boers for the 4-H kids, but man, it's a handful running 30 head and kidding season up in the mountains was tough! Frozen ears and frozen babies were not fun. There have been many a night with 4 or more babies running around in the bathroom!

 

[NoisyNora]

Quote:
Nope we got S/R so I am SUPER pleased if 1 is a female, 2 would just be the icing on the cake

 

[Wifezilla]

Before girls get to their full-fledged quacking, they go through a phase where they sound like "honk honk grunt snort peep snuffle honk".

Boys just go from peeping to raspy.

 

[P-Funk]

Hello Vetesse, from Franktown. You're welcome to come over and blast as many foxes as you possibly can.

 

[NoisyNora]

Quote:
I use cougar urine to keep the cats out of our yard. I imagine it would work REALLY well on foxes too

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Quote:
Catching him is the tricky part I think. Do I traumatize him or worse yet get pecked to death trying to catch him???

I would try that but he is BIG!! I do need to find one of those big nets to catch them though. Having a hard time finding one.

Sorry that Humphrey's not behaving. The last rooster we had that started attacking (Warf, a black australorp we raised from a chick), we just sold with full knowledge to the buyer.

I've heard of following a rooster around and stomping the ground. Keeping it up to bother the heck out of him until he realizes that you're the leader. There might be a thread on this board somewhere that gives more advice. Feel free to do whatever you need to do.