Developing the grass in your yard for increasing free ranging nutrition

[LeslieDJoyce]

Labs are great hunters and death on groundhogs, moles, voles, etc.  It would be cool to let him go out there and see if he could do his thang.  But then...you might want to keep the gophers as a natural prey source for predators so they will leave your chooks alone. 

I think that's why folks in the 'burbs are having hawks dive bombing their chickens right in front of them, a lack of natural prey for the raptors in areas of urban sprawl, and that's why, out here in the middle of thousands of acres of forest land and possessing the only chickens for miles, I am not losing chickens to hawks and foxes.  Too many squirrels and other natural game for them to feed upon. 

Gust brings me field mice. Cute to see their little tails sticking out of his lips. I think they keep the hawks and the owls happy. Maybe even they keep the coyotes alive. I'm not sure what Dad's issue is with the dog being dog-like and helping on the farm. Gust seems to have pretty good instincts.

 

[Arielle]

Labs are great hunters and death on groundhogs, moles, voles, etc. It would be cool to let him go out there and see if he could do his thang. But then...you might want to keep the gophers as a natural prey source for predators so they will leave your chooks alone.

I think that's why folks in the 'burbs are having hawks dive bombing their chickens right in front of them, a lack of natural prey for the raptors in areas of urban sprawl, and that's why, out here in the middle of thousands of acres of forest land and possessing the only chickens for miles, I am not losing chickens to hawks and foxes. Too many squirrels and other natural game for them to feed upon.

I totally agree with you-- I abutt state preservation land ( for hunting) and the area is vey large, enough to support turkeys, hawks, coyote , fox, etc. WE don't get much predator damamge-- some but acceptable levels.

 

[BirdsOfAnarchy]

I fancy myself an "excellent googler" My trick is when im googling something I put the EXACT phrasing as I am thinking. I don't paraphrase.

Example:
My jeep makes a squealing noise when I start it up after it rains.

Oppossed to:
Jeep making squealing noise.

Being very specific usually works most of the time.

lol Yeah, it never works out like I want it too...I want to say ok magic screen find EXACTLY what I am looking for! My DH has much better luck with computers than me so I try to get him to help me out from time to time, but as much as I've been on this site and with as many questions I have about chickens I think he would keep walking lol He already laughs at me because I have a bunch of BYC tabs open a lot...I tell him there is so many things I want to read about and I don't want to lose them   I think he thinks I'm nuts!

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I fancy myself an "excellent googler"

My trick is when im googling something I put the EXACT phrasing as I am thinking. I don't paraphrase.

Example:
My jeep makes a squealing noise when I start it up after it rains.

Oppossed to:
Jeep making squealing noise.

Being very specific usually works most of the time.

Yep!!!!!

That's how I do it, too. Ever since the days of Ask Jeeves.

It used to be that the more specific, wordy searches produced primarily porn sites. But google seems to have adjusted that "feature."

 

[LindaB220]

Yep!!!!!

That's how I do it, too. Ever since the days of Ask Jeeves.

It used to be that the more specific, wordy searches produced primarily porn sites. But google seems to have adjusted that "feature."

Bahahahaha, I had not idea. I've only been on google for a year so maybe that's why.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Dandilions-- bitter! Need salad dressing to mask the taste. lol Bough more today.

Turnip greens-- are just strange but doable. Edible.

Broccali leaves-- tase like brocalli!! like Rabi . . . I'm sure the spelling is off, the tiny braccali type greens.

On another noteI did find a source of white clover seeds $6 for 1 #. Tiny seeds so good amt for now!! THe store also had BUckwheat-- DH sais he has only used it as winter cover and then tilled it in. Of course I would never do that if it was edible forage. lol ANyone use buckwheat?? It was fairly cheap $27 for 9#. DH said full sun for sure. I don'thave full sun in most locations.

I've been planting buckwheat every year. It dill die out with a freeze. It can't handle anything below 33. It grows fast though and will be in bloom within a month of sprouting.

I totally agree with you-- I abutt state preservation land ( for hunting) and the area is vey large, enough to support turkeys, hawks, coyote , fox, etc. WE don't get much predator damamge-- some but acceptable levels.

I'm right in the middle of the suburbs in a big metro area. In the course of 24 hours I will have deer, coyotes, foxes, hawks, raccoons, opossums, turtles, turkey, hawks, owls, eagles, vultures passing through. Sometimes midday. I have a good population of snakes and lizards that make their home here. Further into the city they had a bobcat recently and someone caught a mountain lion on a game cam in the SW suburbs. Black bears are moving up from the south and have been sighted about 40 miles away.

Yep!!!!!

That's how I do it, too. Ever since the days of Ask Jeeves.

It used to be that the more specific, wordy searches produced primarily porn sites. But google seems to have adjusted that "feature."

Google technology has transformed the old Boolean search techniques.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Google technology has transformed the old Boolean search techniques.

So true! It has gotten pretty user-friendly.

I used to be a librarian and was charged with helping transition from a card catalog to a computer catalog, and teaching users how to use the computer catalog using boolean searches. Then later I had a boyfriend who tried to dictate to me how to type my google searches on my phone. Ha! Besides the fact that I didn't need his advice for the above mentioned reason, it seemed like a real intrusion into my personal space.

 

[Arielle]

LEslie is the Boolean search still better touse than google search when in the library data base??? Asking cause I can NEVER find the books I am looking for!


Chicken Canoe- I think I am luck that though I do have these occassional wild animals lurking and passing by, they don't need to challenge my fencing as they get plenty to eat in the large tract of land set aside for them. A river runs thru it, and some is kept as fields as well as the open woods with some young thick growth. So little pressure to eat my animals.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

LEslie is the Boolean search still better touse than google search when in the library data base??? Asking cause I can NEVER find the books I am looking for!


Chicken Canoe-   I think I am luck that though I do have these occassional wild animals lurking and passing by, they don't need to challenge my fencing as they get plenty to eat in the large tract of land set aside for them. A river runs thru it, and some is kept as fields as well as the open woods with some young thick growth. So little pressure to eat my animals. 

I don't know. I haven't worked in a library since the early '90s and now mostly use mine for audio books, not research. But I'm guessing librarians are still awesome and available to help.

 

[BirdsOfAnarchy]

I scattered winter rye seeds casually around my pond 3 days ago and they are already 2" sprouts! We had the prefect amt of rain and sun. So excited!