Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[beverly evans]

I understood how you meant to hang them. I'm just conversing, mentioning my option for caging out here. Occasional high winds and predators make a setup like that a luxury I can't afford.

Your bears must be tame.

We live between the mountain range, and the river the bears go to for fish. On top of what you have, we also have grizzlies, cougar, and a couple others I haven't seen yet out here but know they can pop up to include wolverine.

Wow! What kinds of dogs do you have to help keep the predators at bay?

 

[Bitterroot]

I don't have dogs. It's not financially feasible for me to fence our property to contain them to keep them from roaming (we use smooth 5 strand and electric, and live right on a major highway where a dog could be hit and killed), and I'm horribly allergic to them. A friend up the road lost an entire flock of ducks when a bear tore in for their feed, just about a month ago. Didn't eat them, just killed them because they were in the way.

I don't suppose anyone has any ideas for alternate guard animals? I've considered a donkey or a couple llamas to roam the acre that comprises our "yard" and where the small stock is most often situated. It would mean I need to fence around the house to keep them out of my rose beds and herb gardens, but that's much more do-able.

 

[Bitterroot]

Darn double posts. >.<

 

[hellbender]

Black bears are by nature, a bit timid and are taught by their moms to run and climb...as much for protection form adult males as anything else. A good tough dog of just about any breed can run them off.

When you start talking about grizzly bears and wolverines....that a whole 'nother universe!

I have a very powerful Kiwi fence charger that is used to fence in some very large exotic animal like elephants and

rhinos. Five strands of high tinsel wire should keep out the really bad things.

I haven't even had the thing plugged in since I sold off the cattle because the goats don't wander off too far and are back for milking, just like clockwork.

 

[AletaG]

I don't suppose anyone has any ideas for alternate guard animals? I've considered a donkey or a couple llamas to roam the acre that comprises our "yard" and where the small stock is most often situated. It would mean I need to fence around the house to keep them out of my rose beds and herb gardens, but that's much more do-able.

I know a couple about 15miles N of us that have 10acres and 2 African donkeys of some kind. They apparently sleep only 2 or 3 hours a day in shifts, so they're always 'on' and very good defenders. Of course, I don't think they've ever had a bear problem. They will fight off cougars and such, but those are smaller, one nicely aimed kick usually sends them either to kitty heaven or stops them cold. Not sure if they'd be ok in your climate, but I know they are just fine with very sparse forage, since they are from a desert area.

Darn double posts. >.<

Been seeing this all over the place lately, is it an Iphone or Android thing?

 

[Bitterroot]

I'll look into the donkeys. Sounds perfect. Bonus that it wouldn't be just another pile of crap I have to go out and scoop. The birds would be happy rooting around in that and scattering it to fertilize what little grass we have. There's not much I can do to stop bear aside from just trying to make my fences as unappealing to climb over/through as possible, so as long as I can find something that will chase off the smaller animals I'd be happy. Forage can be incredibly sparse here - I don't even have green grass in my yard year round unless I dump water on it daily. We are incredibly arid in this spot. The tradeoff for less water in the form of rain is less snow and warmer winter temps in this semi-protected valley. I'm working on a new irrigation system for the property, as the flood irrigation most are using just doesn't get it done on my land. I think a lot of people that have never lived here misunderstand this climate and the native animals. They're not like anywhere else.

RE : double posts, I'm posting from a desktop. Tried to send the post earlier, got a popup message asking me if I was sure I wanted to leave the page. I clicked cancel, then clicked send again and got the double post. I figure one of the admins must have tripped on a power cord out back.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I'll look into the donkeys. Sounds perfect. Bonus that it wouldn't be just another pile of crap I have to go out and scoop. The birds would be happy rooting around in that and scattering it to fertilize what little grass we have. There's not much I can do to stop bear aside from just trying to make my fences as unappealing to climb over/through as possible, so as long as I can find something that will chase off the smaller animals I'd be happy. Forage can be incredibly sparse here - I don't even have green grass in my yard year round unless I dump water on it daily. We are incredibly arid in this spot. The tradeoff for less water in the form of rain is less snow and warmer winter temps in this semi-protected valley. I'm working on a new irrigation system for the property, as the flood irrigation most are using just doesn't get it done on my land. I think a lot of people that have never lived here misunderstand this climate and the native animals. They're not like anywhere else.

RE : double posts, I'm posting from a desktop. Tried to send the post earlier, got a popup message asking me if I was sure I wanted to leave the page. I clicked cancel, then clicked send again and got the double post. I figure one of the admins must have tripped on a power cord out back.

I got that same popup, did the same thing, then got a double post(only problem was that I edited that post I thought hadn't been posted, and then sent it, so I got two versions of the "same" post.

From everything I have read, a donkey is a good choice. I have considered that because I have a large pasture that used to house horses that I am converting to meat chicken pasture, and my dog can't be two places at once, because he watches my layers. Logistically, I can't put the two groups of chickens together.

 

[hellbender]

A couple good donkeys might be hard to beat! They are easy keepers, and extremely territorial.

 

[BCMaraniac]

A couple good donkeys might be hard to beat! They are easy keepers, and extremely territorial.

What is the life expectancy of donkeys? I found a four year old jack for $75.....seller said he has killed 2 coyotes this year. He is moving his cattle, and has to sell the donkey.

 

[hellbender]

What is the life expectancy of donkeys? I found a four year old jack for $75.....seller said he has killed 2 coyotes this year. He is moving his cattle, and has to sell the donkey.

Well cared for, they may live to be 30 or 35 years old. Well cared for means good food but not over fed, especially too much grain because they founder easily. Semi-good pasture, worming and good hay, water and hoof trimming should stand them in good stead for a very long time.