Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

. I can’t remember if I’ve shared these before but. Turkey Vultures...View attachment 2024728View attachment 2024729View attachment 2024730View attachment 2024731View attachment 2024732View attachment 2024733View attachment 2024734
I really like the last one... sunning myself on this here fence.

I get lots of turkey vultures. After I have been burning wood in the fireplace they all sit on the chimney top warming their toes. They are very big birds and they pack tight on the chimney cap.

 

[Kris5902]

You do indeed have a different experience of and opinion of the bald eagle than I do. I live with the pair that owns this bend of the river, and I can tell you their song thrills me. I'm in tune with their life style all year long. All January they are together, happiest time of year for them. They do their sky dance and sing all month long. Then, come the end of the month or early February, I wont see them together again until about May. They have a nest every year and rear a couple babies every year. I have actually watched them making the transition, as they both sit on the nest. I can't see the nest from here but they spend a great deal of time in my tree that leans out over the river and in the slough across the river.

Right now the solo call of the eagle is on the air and I know that the other one is on the nest. I watched one just this morning overlooking the slough for fish. Unfortunately with the river so high, fishing is nearly non-existent even for the human fishermen.

Neighbors have video of them descending on a calf at the moment of birth. We know it's not a stillborn, and yes the mom is right there. This is what any wildlife will do when they are desperate. My neighbor had one of them come and take a chicken from him while he was standing 10 feet away.

Normally, like I said, they eat salmon, trout, ducks and baby geese, and yes, they are Canadian Geese. But the river is high, and we just got through duck hunting season, so the ducks are hiding somewhere else.

They are fabulous birds. I just need to keep my chickens protected from them. And the hatcheries and dam operators need to be more responsible.

Agree they are beautiful birds in their own way, and they behave very differently in groups and pairs, and at different times of the year. Actually attacking a calf, not doubting you that it happened at all, is strange though. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with the reasons, which are from the sounds of it very much due to human activities. And I like their call, I just find it funny when their images get dubbed over with hawk calls, because it makes me wonder, like @BY Bob said “how many people think that’s the sound they make?” Especially as most people (city dwellers) have no experience with them. As I said, some of our eagles behavior is very much influenced by human activities as well. The goats here are introduced and feral, and I doubt “goat dropping” is a common eagle hunting technique throughout the whole of North America. They adapt to their environment, which is fascinating in itself.

 

[Kris5902]

No Potential Predators for a While

If you discount cats, all I've seen have been skunks and no sign of them for several nights now. I'm not sure what to do now.

I never set the weasel trap. I've not seen him come back.

I've tightened up security all I can.

Do I set the weasel trap and see?

I'm stumped. I would expect a predator to keep coming back night after night? Should I have the skunks trapped?

What does everyone think?

So glad you’ve got everything tightened up. If I were going to set the trap, I would do it in the run, as that was where Mal was killed. I think that you can probably skip it now though. I wouldn’t personally bother with the skunks if they aren’t trying to get in. They are good at rodent control, fairly nocturnal, and I don’t think will be too interested in breaking in. Cats shouldn’t be a bother either. I now believe that the attack was just a opportunistic thing, as she wasn’t in the coop. A tragic perfect storm of bad timing, illness, and opportunity.

 

[Shadrach]

And those are FAST!

They are quite incredible hawks. I've had them hammer past me a couple of feet off the ground. The females are quite large.
Below is Mel after she fought off a Goshawk and saved her chick.

 

[Kris5902]

And those are FAST!

And these guys are terrifying, beautiful but terrifying.

I get lots of turkey vultures. After I have been burning wood in the fireplace they all sit on the chimney top warming their toes. They are very big birds and they pack tight on the chimney cap.

I’m quite fond of them, they are seasonal here arriving around the spring equinox and leaving about the fall equinox, and they co-exist with the eagles and Ravens without fuss.

 

[BY Bob]

I now believe that the attack was just a opportunistic thing, as she wasn’t in the coop. A tragic perfect storm of bad timing, illness, and opportunity.

If this is really what happened, it doesn't make me feel any better. I mean it's just so tragic that is how my bestie is gone.

It's good news for everyone else but just so wasteful, so wasteful.

 

[Shadrach]

Final Gap Closed

I took lunch and completed the final bit of construction needed to secure all of the run at Fluffy Butt Acres. I needed to frame out the lower door to match the upper coop door.

You can see how the plywood had warped and created gaps.

View attachment 2024746

I then framed it out and moved the latches to either end. I raised the hinges and I now have room under it for the pavers as well.

View attachment 2024748View attachment 2024749

I should be able to rest better knowing that it is very hard to break into my run complex now and nearly impossible to break into the coops.

I'm just about to change over the wire mesh I have on Tribe 2 and 3's coop to louvered vent covers.

 

[Shadrach]

No Potential Predators for a While

If you discount cats, all I've seen have been skunks and no sign of them for several nights now. I'm not sure what to do now.

I never set the weasel trap. I've not seen him come back.

I've tightened up security all I can.

Do I set the weasel trap and see?

I'm stumped. I would expect a predator to keep coming back night after night? Should I have the skunks trapped?

What does everyone think?

If you are okay with trapping set the trap. Only the Park Wardens are allowed to trap here.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

I like the idea of a chicken guild. That's cool. @CrazyChookChookLady Have you heard of anything like that around here?

Hmm I have not. I have heard the my local Tractor Supply was thinking of allowing a livestock swap meet happen there.

My personal plan with my chicks is to offer them locally for sale. We have a lot of folks with chickens in the county and they prefer not to buy from the big box stores. Almost everyone in Perry County will support a local business over a national one.

Both of my silkie hens are broody as well. Dot went first, her eggs appear to be about 5 days ahead of Mama, but between them they have about a dozen eggs. Plus the 10 in the incubator at school, I'll likely have a nice number of chicks for sale.

 

[Shadrach]

If this is really what happened, it doesn't make me feel any better. I mean it's just so tragic that is how my bestie is gone.

It's good news for everyone else but just so wasteful, so wasteful.

It's the waste that grinds my gears with the Goshawk. They just eat a few of the internal organs. A goshawk can't even manage one quarter of a chicken.