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- #11
- Jan 20, 2014
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Thanks, ridgerunner, good to know. So since introducing a mature rooster to hens is easier than introducing an immature one, I will definitely wait until summer.
cafarmgirl - Will the chickens will be safe from the nocturnal predators (coyote, fox, coon) if I keep them in a secure coop at night?
If the chickens will stay in the horse pastures - as I hope they will, to eat bugs - then they should be OK since two of my horses will run off dogs. Right now, we don't have any free-roaming dogs within a few miles, although I did see a lab and a pointer running for their lives out of my pasture the other morning. Never saw them before or since. But I take this issue very seriously and immediately confine the dog and contact the owner when I catch them on my property. I have a 31 yr old gelding that no.dog.shall.chase if I have anything to say about it!
Snakes and hawks - again I would think, but have no experience - shouldn't take grown-up birds, right? I don't care if the snakes take the occasional egg. They more than repay me by eating up mice.
The thing I'm most worried about is the feral cats. It's a colony that lives in an old abandoned house about a half-mile away. Horses, of course, adore cats and would I'm sure be happy for them to eat my chickens! I don't have a perimeter fence, plus my climate is too hot, for a dog to be outside all the time. I'm figuring on some attrition from these beasties, but they don't run in packs and I don't guess they can pick off more than one at a time. Anybody have any suggestions for discouraging feral cats? I know this is straying OT - I'll peruse the predator and pest forum and see if I can glean any info.
cafarmgirl - Will the chickens will be safe from the nocturnal predators (coyote, fox, coon) if I keep them in a secure coop at night?
If the chickens will stay in the horse pastures - as I hope they will, to eat bugs - then they should be OK since two of my horses will run off dogs. Right now, we don't have any free-roaming dogs within a few miles, although I did see a lab and a pointer running for their lives out of my pasture the other morning. Never saw them before or since. But I take this issue very seriously and immediately confine the dog and contact the owner when I catch them on my property. I have a 31 yr old gelding that no.dog.shall.chase if I have anything to say about it!
Snakes and hawks - again I would think, but have no experience - shouldn't take grown-up birds, right? I don't care if the snakes take the occasional egg. They more than repay me by eating up mice.
The thing I'm most worried about is the feral cats. It's a colony that lives in an old abandoned house about a half-mile away. Horses, of course, adore cats and would I'm sure be happy for them to eat my chickens! I don't have a perimeter fence, plus my climate is too hot, for a dog to be outside all the time. I'm figuring on some attrition from these beasties, but they don't run in packs and I don't guess they can pick off more than one at a time. Anybody have any suggestions for discouraging feral cats? I know this is straying OT - I'll peruse the predator and pest forum and see if I can glean any info.