Homesteaders

[Beekissed]

Two broody hatches so far in the month of May~one on the 1st and one on Mother's Day. Got another broody on eggs in the coop, started May 2nd....plan on moving her to the maternity ward tonight and will give the broody out in the woods, along with her chicks, to the maternity ward maybe Tuesday night. The broody that hatched on the front porch, in the wood pile, has her brood out on range and they are all doing well.

Porch broody, Betty, hatched 14 out of 16 eggs, two eggs were clears. Wood's broody, Clairee, has been sitting on 19 eggs and I still don't know how many she has hatched so far and I can glimpse eggs still unhatched under her. Time will tell how her hatch rate will be...she has been sitting out in torrential rains for most of her brood time, been very rainy here.

Miss Millie, the coop broody, raised her first brood last year as a pullet and will do well, I'm sure, with her even dozen of eggs.

These are all WR or WR/BA mix birds. Porch broody, Betty, mid-hatch on May 1st...

 

[chickendreams24]

Tonight was a bad night. We lost our flock master and only large fowl rooster, Twitch, to a predator tonight around 10 pm. We live in South central WI and if anyone has any suggestions as to what it sounds like I would greatly appreciate it.

What I know. Our flock was out late tonight BC DH2B was in the fields and didn't get home until 9:30 we were out for about a half hour but didn't bring them in BC DH2B was starving, so we were going to eat and then bring them in. Our flock is fooled by our yard light and frequently have to be brought in when the weather is nice BC they think it's still day time. We have never lost an animal to a predator although we've had a couple close calls with hawks. Our roosters do a great job protecting the ladies.

So firstly, we were outside and came inside just long enough for me to pee so less than 5 minutes, when we heard a huge ruckous. I flushed and ran outside thinking DH2B would also run and investigate, he didn't, but he's been in the fields all day so I kind of understand. Okay so I get outside and I see one of the broody's chicks a 4-5 week SLW standing in the middle of the yard cheeping, said broody is laying on her side under a tree. I thought she'd been attacked. She got up when I approached and seemed fine. I looked around and realized I only saw hens and our two bantam roosters. I walked towards the slw chick and found some feathers. Flight feathers, hackle and saddle feathers. Not a lot but enough that I was worried because I didn't see Twitch.

I ran in and grabbed DH2B and flashlights. And we searched and searched and searched. At first we assumed it must have been an owl. But then found a trail of sparse feathers(several of our flock are molting so feathers are in abundance around here but we were sure these were his) leading across the yard to our barn yard where the trail dead ended. We then started to wonder what could have done this and continued our search on foot. Before driving up and down the road to see if we could see anything. (I believe this is when the predator left the barn hard and headed into the field.) We ended up driving the truck out into the field behind out house on a whim. We saw eye shine and followed it. But the field was too rough and we were worried the old truck would get stuck(they redid the irrigator this year so there's some two foot deep ruts from trucks)

We got out and followed the eye shin on foot. Twitch was nearly 12-15 lbs and towards the bigger end of the scale. He was a massive bird and strong as an ox. Great with his ladies but aggressive to my mother and I. He was also quite good at fighting and dodging attacks. I know this from seeing him with our other roosters and from having to kick him when he came at me. His aggression had earned him a spot on a list of birds to cull. That being said I respected him he was a great flock master never started a fight with another roo and even though he would assert dominance and put them in their places he was kind and gentle to the other birds especially the hens.

Okay the point is although we never got a good look at the animal BC it kept it's distance it's eyes were very very close together and it was small very close to the ground. I know some animals can help be distinguished by the color their eyes shine, this animal's were green in the light. The ground is too dry for tracks but it left no blood and no drag marks. It was carrying the huge bird in its mouth. I believe it too small to have been a coyote. It didn't seem to act like a coon.

We followed it into the field and found a place where it was plucking Twitch still no blood or any tracks. It eyes never seemed to change height. It was fast and it went over a half mile carrying the carcass. We followed it to some train tracks near our house before we lost it following it down the tracks.
I'm not 100% sure what all we have around here but I know I have seen skunks, heard coyotes, DH2B saw a fox but it was about a mile in the other direction, racoons, and some people say badgers are around here too. I've no clue what could have taken such a massive bird without leaving more then a couple handfuls of feathers and no blood. We have been seeing a pair of osprey or eagles around but it was clearly on the ground and never took flight. I may have missed some possibilities.
What are the most likely options that it could have been? Should we assume it will try to come back? Hell this is all new and I'm very frustrated and upset. I so wanted answers but the animal was always just out of our lights so all we could see was eye shine and the approximate height.

Over the last month or two there have been several nights where our great dane was frightened to go outside we assumed she was smelling something but had no idea what. Now I wonder if the two things are connected. I have seen her chase racoons and she's been outside when we could hear coyotes without acting scared.

We have also had something trying to dig under our stairs. A pretty sizeable hole too. We have had to fill it in several times but not for about a week, maybe two. We would fill it in and the next morning it would be larger and deeper even after we started putting large rocks and a couple pieces of concrete in it.

I'm leaning towards badger BC they are so low to the ground but are still very large and strong but I've really no clue.

Hope you can help.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Don't grow morning glories.

 

[Beekissed]

Tonight was a bad night. We lost our flock master and only large fowl rooster, Twitch, to a predator tonight around 10 pm. We live in South central WI and if anyone has any suggestions as to what it sounds like I would greatly appreciate it.

What I know. Our flock was out late tonight BC DH2B was in the fields and didn't get home until 9:30 we were out for about a half hour but didn't bring them in BC DH2B was starving, so we were going to eat and then bring them in. Our flock is fooled by our yard light and frequently have to be brought in when the weather is nice BC they think it's still day time. We have never lost an animal to a predator although we've had a couple close calls with hawks. Our roosters do a great job protecting the ladies.

So firstly, we were outside and came inside just long enough for me to pee so less than 5 minutes, when we heard a huge ruckous. I flushed and ran outside thinking DH2B would also run and investigate, he didn't, but he's been in the fields all day so I kind of understand. Okay so I get outside and I see one of the broody's chicks a 4-5 week SLW standing in the middle of the yard cheeping, said broody is laying on her side under a tree. I thought she'd been attacked. She got up when I approached and seemed fine. I looked around and realized I only saw hens and our two bantam roosters. I walked towards the slw chick and found some feathers. Flight feathers, hackle and saddle feathers. Not a lot but enough that I was worried because I didn't see Twitch.

I ran in and grabbed DH2B and flashlights. And we searched and searched and searched. At first we assumed it must have been an owl. But then found a trail of sparse feathers(several of our flock are molting so feathers are in abundance around here but we were sure these were his) leading across the yard to our barn yard where the trail dead ended. We then started to wonder what could have done this and continued our search on foot. Before driving up and down the road to see if we could see anything. (I believe this is when the predator left the barn hard and headed into the field.) We ended up driving the truck out into the field behind out house on a whim. We saw eye shine and followed it. But the field was too rough and we were worried the old truck would get stuck(they redid the irrigator this year so there's some two foot deep ruts from trucks)

We got out and followed the eye shin on foot. Twitch was nearly 12-15 lbs and towards the bigger end of the scale. He was a massive bird and strong as an ox. Great with his ladies but aggressive to my mother and I. He was also quite good at fighting and dodging attacks. I know this from seeing him with our other roosters and from having to kick him when he came at me. His aggression had earned him a spot on a list of birds to cull. That being said I respected him he was a great flock master never started a fight with another roo and even though he would assert dominance and put them in their places he was kind and gentle to the other birds especially the hens.

Okay the point is although we never got a good look at the animal BC it kept it's distance it's eyes were very very close together and it was small very close to the ground. I know some animals can help be distinguished by the color their eyes shine, this animal's were green in the light. The ground is too dry for tracks but it left no blood and no drag marks. It was carrying the huge bird in its mouth. I believe it too small to have been a coyote. It didn't seem to act like a coon.

We followed it into the field and found a place where it was plucking Twitch still no blood or any tracks. It eyes never seemed to change height. It was fast and it went over a half mile carrying the carcass. We followed it to some train tracks near our house before we lost it following it down the tracks.
I'm not 100% sure what all we have around here but I know I have seen skunks, heard coyotes, DH2B saw a fox but it was about a mile in the other direction, racoons, and some people say badgers are around here too. I've no clue what could have taken such a massive bird without leaving more then a couple handfuls of feathers and no blood. We have been seeing a pair of osprey or eagles around but it was clearly on the ground and never took flight. I may have missed some possibilities.
What are the most likely options that it could have been? Should we assume it will try to come back? Hell this is all new and I'm very frustrated and upset. I so wanted answers but the animal was always just out of our lights so all we could see was eye shine and the approximate height.

Over the last month or two there have been several nights where our great dane was frightened to go outside we assumed she was smelling something but had no idea what. Now I wonder if the two things are connected. I have seen her chase racoons and she's been outside when we could hear coyotes without acting scared.

We have also had something trying to dig under our stairs. A pretty sizeable hole too. We have had to fill it in several times but not for about a week, maybe two. We would fill it in and the next morning it would be larger and deeper even after we started putting large rocks and a couple pieces of concrete in it.

I'm leaning towards badger BC they are so low to the ground but are still very large and strong but I've really no clue.

Hope you can help.

I answered you on the hatch thread about this....could be a fisher cat. Your state is apparently crawlin' with these, so much so they are trapping them and taking them to Tennessee for a program to reinstate them there. They are extremely tough and vicious predators and I could see a dog being scared of them. They are low to the ground, eyes are fairly close set...more so than a badger...and they are swift on their feet. Strong too.

They readily take on prey that are almost as large as they are and YT has vids of them attacking grey foxes, groundhogs, etc.

 

[rancher hicks]

Don't grow morning glories.

Why not? I would like to grow something. I've got Scarlet Runners nearer the chickens. The chickens are not penned to the yard that is fenced in. Though the EE's do jump out.

This is the area that will have the chickens. Outside of limits to them. The back coop and side coop will be empty from now on. Unless someone else uses them for chickens, I won't it too much work. I'd like to grow something on the sides of the doors. Sorry I've no summer pictures.




Everyone else:

Frost warning here and I've come upon a great use for those clean plastic tubs I've used for brooders. I'm laying them over my plants. I've also thought they'd make great mini greenhouse/cold frames.

Chickendreams24: I am sorry for your loss. I'm not sure of your situation/set up. I have white Christmas lights run around my garden and inside my runs. Not that I can be sure they help. I do like them when I have to make a trip out in the evening to pray. I also have a chair if I'll be long in bending God's ear.

Too I recommend DH2B start "marking" your area. I staple old jeans to trees in the woods and "mark" them as often as I'm out. I don't recommend ladies doing this. If need be have him use a jug so you can pour it on the jeans.

Again I am sorry for your loss.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Don't grow morning glories.

Why not? I would like to grow something. I've got Scarlet Runners nearer the chickens. The chickens are not penned to the yard that is fenced in. Though the EE's do jump out. This is the area that will have the chickens. Outside of limits to them. The back coop and side coop will be empty from now on. Unless someone else uses them for chickens, I won't it too much work. I'd like to grow something on the sides of the doors. Sorry I've no summer pictures. Everyone else: Frost warning here and I've come upon a great use for those clean plastic tubs I've used for brooders. I'm laying them over my plants. I've also thought they'd make great mini greenhouse/cold frames. Chickendreams24: I am sorry for your loss. I'm not sure of your situation/set up. I have white Christmas lights run around my garden and inside my runs. Not that I can be sure they help. I do like them when I have to make a trip out in the evening to pray. I also have a chair if I'll be long in bending God's ear. Too I recommend DH2B start "marking" your area. I staple old jeans to trees in the woods and "mark" them as often as I'm out. I don't recommend ladies doing this. If need be have him use a jug so you can pour it on the jeans. Again I am sorry for your loss.

No it is a matter of they are terribly prolific, to the point they become invasive. Perhaps they do not get so bad in your area, but here they are a terrible problem. I know they are beautiful, I planted many and they looked lovely on the fence. 20 years later I am still battling those evil things that completely cover my garden. Not my favorite plant at the moment...

 

[limited25]

No it is a matter of they are terribly prolific, to the point they become invasive. Perhaps they do not get so bad in your area, but here they are a terrible problem. I know they are beautiful, I planted many and they looked lovely on the fence. 20 years later I am still battling those evil things that completely cover my garden. Not my favorite plant at the moment...

LOL ... I know the feeling. Not with Morning Glories, but with other such flowers, and spearmint.

 

[chickendreams24]

Tonight was a bad night. We lost our flock master and only large fowl rooster, Twitch, to a predator tonight around 10 pm. We live in South central WI and if anyone has any suggestions as to what it sounds like I would greatly appreciate it. What I know. Our flock was out late tonight BC DH2B was in the fields and didn't get home until 9:30 we were out for about a half hour but didn't bring them in BC DH2B was starving, so we were going to eat and then bring them in. Our flock is fooled by our yard light and frequently have to be brought in when the weather is nice BC they think it's still day time. We have never lost an animal to a predator although we've had a couple close calls with hawks. Our roosters do a great job protecting the ladies. So firstly, we were outside and came inside just long enough for me to pee so less than 5 minutes, when we heard a huge ruckous. I flushed and ran outside thinking DH2B would also run and investigate, he didn't, but he's been in the fields all day so I kind of understand. Okay so I get outside and I see one of the broody's chicks a 4-5 week SLW standing in the middle of the yard cheeping, said broody is laying on her side under a tree. I thought she'd been attacked. She got up when I approached and seemed fine. I looked around and realized I only saw hens and our two bantam roosters. I walked towards the slw chick and found some feathers. Flight feathers, hackle and saddle feathers. Not a lot but enough that I was worried because I didn't see Twitch. I ran in and grabbed DH2B and flashlights. And we searched and searched and searched. At first we assumed it must have been an owl. But then found a trail of sparse feathers(several of our flock are molting so feathers are in abundance around here but we were sure these were his) leading across the yard to our barn yard where the trail dead ended. We then started to wonder what could have done this and continued our search on foot. Before driving up and down the road to see if we could see anything. (I believe this is when the predator left the barn hard and headed into the field.) We ended up driving the truck out into the field behind out house on a whim. We saw eye shine and followed it. But the field was too rough and we were worried the old truck would get stuck(they redid the irrigator this year so there's some two foot deep ruts from trucks) We got out and followed the eye shin on foot. Twitch was nearly 12-15 lbs and towards the bigger end of the scale. He was a massive bird and strong as an ox. Great with his ladies but aggressive to my mother and I. He was also quite good at fighting and dodging attacks. I know this from seeing him with our other roosters and from having to kick him when he came at me. His aggression had earned him a spot on a list of birds to cull. That being said I respected him he was a great flock master never started a fight with another roo and even though he would assert dominance and put them in their places he was kind and gentle to the other birds especially the hens. Okay the point is although we never got a good look at the animal BC it kept it's distance it's eyes were very very close together and it was small very close to the ground. I know some animals can help be distinguished by the color their eyes shine, this animal's were green in the light. The ground is too dry for tracks but it left no blood and no drag marks. It was carrying the huge bird in its mouth. I believe it too small to have been a coyote. It didn't seem to act like a coon. We followed it into the field and found a place where it was plucking Twitch still no blood or any tracks. It eyes never seemed to change height. It was fast and it went over a half mile carrying the carcass. We followed it to some train tracks near our house before we lost it following it down the tracks. I'm not 100% sure what all we have around here but I know I have seen skunks, heard coyotes, DH2B saw a fox but it was about a mile in the other direction, racoons, and some people say badgers are around here too. I've no clue what could have taken such a massive bird without leaving more then a couple handfuls of feathers and no blood. We have been seeing a pair of osprey or eagles around but it was clearly on the ground and never took flight. I may have missed some possibilities. What are the most likely options that it could have been? Should we assume it will try to come back? Hell this is all new and I'm very frustrated and upset. I so wanted answers but the animal was always just out of our lights so all we could see was eye shine and the approximate height. Over the last month or two there have been several nights where our great dane was frightened to go outside we assumed she was smelling something but had no idea what. Now I wonder if the two things are connected. I have seen her chase racoons and she's been outside when we could hear coyotes without acting scared. We have also had something trying to dig under our stairs. A pretty sizeable hole too. We have had to fill it in several times but not for about a week, maybe two. We would fill it in and the next morning it would be larger and deeper even after we started putting large rocks and a couple pieces of concrete in it. I'm leaning towards badger BC they are so low to the ground but are still very large and strong but I've really no clue. Hope you can help.

I answered you on the hatch thread about this....could be a fisher cat. Your state is apparently crawlin' with these, so much so they are trapping them and taking them to Tennessee for a program to reinstate them there. They are extremely tough and vicious predators and I could see a dog being scared of them. They are low to the ground, eyes are fairly close set...more so than a badger...and they are swift on their feet. Strong too. They readily take on prey that are almost as large as they are and YT has vids of them attacking grey foxes, groundhogs, etc.

Why not? I would like to grow something. I've got Scarlet Runners nearer the chickens. The chickens are not penned to the yard that is fenced in. Though the EE's do jump out. This is the area that will have the chickens. Outside of limits to them. The back coop and side coop will be empty from now on. Unless someone else uses them for chickens, I won't it too much work. I'd like to grow something on the sides of the doors. Sorry I've no summer pictures. Chickendreams24: I am sorry for your loss. I'm not sure of your situation/set up. I have white Christmas lights run around my garden and inside my runs. Not that I can be sure they help. I do like them when I have to make a trip out in the evening to pray. I also have a chair if I'll be long in bending God's ear. Too I recommend DH2B start "marking" your area. I staple old jeans to trees in the woods and "mark" them as often as I'm out. I don't recommend ladies doing this. If need be have him use a jug so you can pour it on the jeans. [URL=https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/7148438/] [/URL]

Yes thank you Bee I saw that just trying to post it to any thread I think may be of help. Okay a little more info. but I think most of it was previously stated in the earlier post. Our current "coop" is an old milkhouse with a separate office side. It has concrete floors that also go up about a foot all around. We may have to move the flock as the farm may want to tear down the milkhouse but our other coop isn't done yet. So the two sides are completely divided with a door inside and and we are using one side as a grow out and the larger side is used for the flock. Our main flock consists of a black oegb pair, a partridge silkie roo, a self blue oegb pullet, 4 slw pullets, 4 Isa Brown pullets, 2 black 50% English orps, 1 half orp mix, a golden laced sebright pullet, 2 buff Orpingtons(1 a broody with two chicks), and three silkie pullets of varying colors(1 a broody with two chicks), 4 EE pullets. We had been outside for a half an hour with the flock just before the attack. The "coop" is just across the driveway from our main side yard and directly under a quite bright yard light. This is where the attack took place. Maybe 20-30 feet from the back porch if that far.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

18 hens, 2 roosters, 1 cockerel, 6 chicks at 5 weeks old, 2 dogs and a cat!! Do barn cats add anything to a farm??? Seriously though, my chickens eat the mice, frogs and other such critters. I'm not sure if hubby got the cat as a pet or another farm item. He's already had it in the house once. If that cat keeps getting brought in I'm locking it and hubby in the barn.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quick tips: Save those plastic bags. I used some to cover pots of flowers as danger of frost was nigh. Just pull it down over the plants. Easy peasy.


Instead of filling the bottom of pots with stones or broken up clay pots, just take the "plastic pot" your plants came in and turn it upside down in the bottom of the pot then add you planting soil. IMO it takes up wasted space but also helps with drainage the way your stones do.

If have a "plastic six packet" container? I just crush it up and use that. It's a great way to recycle those plastic pots.

I have seen use of those nasty plastic packing peanuts tied in a nylon stocking but I don't like to encourage use of them for anything. They aren't environment friendly. Though the plastic pots aren't either. I suppose the plastic pots can be recycled.

One more hint: DO NOT put commercial flower pot soil or florist flowers in your compost. They may use chemicals you don't want.