Dacusville, S.C.- Mary Sue's House

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MarySuesHouse

MarySuesHouse

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Mar 16, 2015
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Hello! Mary Sue here! I'm hail from the city of Easley, S.C. I tried not to have any animals at all because of all the work I had to do "on the farm" when I was young. I don't know how far back in my family the chicken rearing goes, to my personal knowledge, it goes back to my grandfather. All I know how to do is feed, shelter, and gather eggs. I know where a chicken's oil pot is located. That's the sign of a true chicken farmer according to my dad. I decided that my children needed to know how to farm and garden so, in 2010, I quit my job at BMW. The garden lessons, apparently, weren't that interesting so, we bought 8 baby chicks. (At that time, we had 3 chihuahua's, 3 cat's, and 1 rabbit. So much for "no animals". One chihuahua passed away, one cat disappeared, and the rabbit passed away, as well) Later, a neighbor gave me a rooster to go with my 8 hens. He was wildly protective of and passionate with what was left of my hens. Due to a wide assortment of predators, I'm back down to one hen. One very broody hen. I am debating whether to go through the heartbreak, again. Looking forward to our chicken talks! I saw some goat pics and decided to edit. If I get chickens, I want to go "all in" and get some baby goats. I know nothing about goats and I want goat milk.
 
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Welcome to BYC, Mary Sue!
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I'm glad you joined our community.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I am so sorry for all your losses!! I hope you can stable up your coop and run to keep your birds safe in the future.

Good luck with all your goat projects too. I used to keep pygmy's. Funniest goats on the planet.

Make yourself at home here and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to the flock Mary Sue. Have your losses come from free ranging your flock? If so, you can see even a protective rooster isn't much help. Goats are lost to predators as well. The only alternatives I can see are building a coop and run as solid as Ft.Knox,, the keeping lifestock inside the fence. You may even need electrified fencing around runs or pens to persuade predators to move on to someone else's property.
 
Hello all! Thank you for the warm welcome! I look forward to finding some great predator proofing tips. Hopefully, I will get my spark back. After the disappearance/mutilation of my chickens, I'm hesitant. It's heartbreaking to go into your pen and find a chicken that you raised from a chick, splayed open with no head or chest or to only find a clump of feathers in your front yard. I know it goes with the territory but, it's still a bad feeling. Yeah, I had them in a pen until it rained so much, that we were ankle deep in the mire. When I put the concrete and logs on the outside of the pen, the first time it rained, it turned my pen into a hog lot. Plus that, I thought they could use the greens and proteins out in the yard. They were inside, they were getting killed. They were outside during the day and going up at night, getting killed. Then, they were scared to go back so, they started roosting on my back porch with the dog pen between them and the predators. Now, there is only one girl left. Scruffy. This is an old picture. Her most recent photo is my avatar. Anyway, I had found a ton of her feathers (Rock) out in the yard. I just knew she was gone, just like her sister but, I found her. As you can see, her back was stripped of feathers. She had those deep gashes. I used peroxide on her until she was healed. This attack was in broad daylight, in my front yard.




 

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