Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[Beekissed]

 

[BCMaraniac]

We have turkey vultures, crows, hawks, barred and horned owls and some odd looking "water birds" here (including herons). We have had two hawks killed on the highway right here at the house in the past two years. One was killed just a few months ago and has already been replaced with another.

@Bee... can you post the pic of that bird you posted a few weeks ago, a loon I think...?

We have buzzards and the owls too.....and the herons. I guess my biggest concern here are the hawks.

 

[Beekissed]

So far, mine don't seem to really pay a lot of attention to my Roo when he sounds the alarm. They just stand there. No running for cover. Nothing...Is that something they will start to learn to do? (without there being a huge problem that makes them get the point of his alarm) I mean THAT is why I have a Rooster! (and I want some chicks too) Duh girls..He's not just eye candy!

They'll have to have a perceived threat that goes along with his warning before they put two and two together. My young birds learn it from the old birds and that just keeps on going with each generation. Which is one reason my chicks are put out on range at 2 wks of age. Everyone says that's too early so they keep their young birds confined until they are much older....then they put out these totally unwary birds that are just the right size for picking up and carrying off and then cry on this forum about it happening. A little chick is too small for a hawk to even take notice of with the thought of a meal in mind, so that's the best time to teach them how to forage in survival mode, IMO. By the time they are big enough to make a good meal for a raptor, they are much too quick and wary to be picked off.

 

[Triple Willow]

I am 99% sure a baby one of those (about a foot tall) ran across the lumber pile when we were working on the coop a few weeks ago. My Australian Shepherd was hot on his heels but oddly not really trying to catch it. I tried to catch it and take it back to the pond but it went into a huge honeysuckle thicket. Hope it survived!

 

[Triple Willow]

We  have buzzards and the owls too.....and the herons.  I guess my biggest concern here are the hawks.

Yeah the hawks and the owls are not a good thought either.

 

[Beekissed]

Maybe yours was a grebe?

Though they can only run for short distances without falling over... do you live near water?

These loons are really helpless on land and can't really run all that well, which is how we got this one in the first place. Found it one rainy Sunday morning when we were on the way to church, right along the highway. We thought maybe a car had hit it but all that was wounded was the knuckles of its toes...just scraped up a bit. But it couldn't seem to stand up straight or walk much...then I found out why. Seems these birds can only take off or land on water and sometimes they mistake a wet road for a creek and try to land on it, then cannot take off again due to lack of water.

We had to dump it out of that basket and then it wouldn't move..when it did move it kind of hopped with its wings spread out and finally made it into the creek where we released it. Once on water it was very graceful, but on land it is not too mobile. Very pretty, very pretty and haunting sound...sort of a ghostly laughing sound.

 

[JesNflock]

They'll have to have a perceived threat that goes along with his warning before they put two and two together. My young birds learn it from the old birds and that just keeps on going with each generation. Which is one reason my chicks are put out on range at 2 wks of age. Everyone says that's too early so they keep their young birds confined until they are much older....then they put out these totally unwary birds that are just the right size for picking up and carrying off and then cry on this forum about it happening. A little chick is too small for a hawk to even take notice of with the thought of a meal in mind, so that's the best time to teach them how to forage in survival mode, IMO. By the time they are big enough to make a good meal for a raptor, they are much too quick and wary to be picked off.

Makes a lot of sense to me, and if you have only lost one then obviously you are doing it right!

 

[Triple Willow]

Maybe yours was a grebe? Though they can only run for short distances without falling over... do you live near water? These loons are really helpless on land and can't really run all that well, which is how we got this one in the first place. Found it one rainy Sunday morning when we were on the way to church, right along the highway. We thought maybe a car had hit it but all that was wounded was the knuckles of its toes...just scraped up a bit. But it couldn't seem to stand up straight or walk much...then I found out why. Seems these birds can only take off or land on water and sometimes they mistake a wet road for a creek and try to land on it, then cannot take off again due to lack of water. We had to dump it out of that basket and then it wouldn't move..when it did move it kind of hopped with its wings spread out and finally made it into the creek where we released it. Once on water it was very graceful, but on land it is not too mobile. Very pretty, very pretty and haunting sound...sort of a ghostly laughing sound.

Ohhh nooo, that is what this bird was doing -trying to run but very clumsy and couldn't and couldn't fly either. We have a pond that is somewhere around 1-2 acres. My dog was chasing it (well not running, just following it) FROM the pond. I was hoping it would make its way out of the honeysuckle thicket and back to the pond if left alone. I hope it didn't but I bet it died. It looked just like the bird in your first picture and probably close to the same size. I thought it was a baby because of how it was getting around - clumsy and couldn't fly. The bird on the water is cute but I've never seen one of those.

 

[Triple Willow]

We do have some very weird sounds come from the pond! Some will make you think about going in the house. LOL

 

[TexasLisa]

They'll have to have a perceived threat that goes along with his warning before they put two and two together. My young birds learn it from the old birds and that just keeps on going with each generation. Which is one reason my chicks are put out on range at 2 wks of age. Everyone says that's too early so they keep their young birds confined until they are much older....then they put out these totally unwary birds that are just the right size for picking up and carrying off and then cry on this forum about it happening. A little chick is too small for a hawk to even take notice of with the thought of a meal in mind, so that's the best time to teach them how to forage in survival mode, IMO. By the time they are big enough to make a good meal for a raptor, they are much too quick and wary to be picked off.

I like your idea of letting the little ones out early. When Stretch hatched her chicks this summer, she kept them in the coop for a couple of days. By Day 3, she wanted out of the coop! (I had her fenced off from the rest of the girls). She took the little ones right outside the door of the coop the first day. Each day it was a little farther. By the end of the 2nd week, she had them out of the outer pen into the yard. Mama (this includes Bee) knows best!

Lisa