INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[kanina]

I guess it's going around.
Yesterday we lost 1/2 our quail to this visitor:
View attachment 1297952 View attachment 1297953

BTW- Does anyone know what kind this is. I've always been calling them Coopers hawks because they're not as big as the red-taileds.

Had a rough day trying to deal with plumbing and a water bill that was 4 times greater than it should be. We can't afford the huge water bill, so there's certainly no money for a plumber!) After trouble-shooting I discovered problems with both of our toilets, researched how to repair, got the parts (& my dad for help), and finally fixed the toilets....... and then had to replace a shut off valve that broke after the repair. I walked into the house from the 2nd trip to the hardware store, the kids came home, one was crying, the other was stressed, and our elderly dog pooped on the floor. As I carried the mess outside to the trash, a hawk came flying at me from deep inside the garage. The garage door was open and the hawk was helping itself to our quail. A total of 5 quail were brutally killed and another 4 were too injured to save. The hawk grabbed what it could & pulled the pieces through the bars. (Thankfully DD’s silkie & the chicks were safe – also caged in the garage only 24" away.) The poor poultry survivors were all in shock as they witnessed the carnage.

I ended up putting the surviving quail into their big summer cage condo. (Mostly because the garage cages were bloody.) The hawk continued to attack them until I put a tarp over the whole cage. Then the hawk kept walking around the perimeter of the chicken run searching for an entry point. It also sat on the window flower box & staring at the chickens inside the coop. Every time we opened the garage, the hawk flew back inside looking for dessert. What was even more scary was how close the kids could get to the wild bird.

The flock was locked up all day and the quail must be covered or they will not come out of their hiding hutch.

It looks like a Red-Shouldered Hawk.
"Identification: Brown above with reddish barring across light breast. Brownish-red shoulders. The dark tail is crossed by narrow white bands. "

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I'm in a quandary, and would appreciate some other's opinions.

We live in the city (Indianapolis), 6 miles from downtown. We also live 3 blocks from the river in a mature, semi-wooded area. We get many creatures-foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, woodchuck, beaver, hawks, etc.

Our coop run is smallish. It's 5' chain link on all sides, including the top, and buried 1 ft. We have an automatic coop door. Our indoor/outdoor dogs had notified us that an opossum was somewhere. Went out to find it ON TOP OF our coop run.

Thankfully, the opossum had not gotten inside the coop run and coop door had already closed. I saw the opossum again last night walking through my neighbors yard.

So, here's my quandary. I definitely don't want to kill it. I don't want to trap & relocate right now, because I believe it's baby season. (I don't want any babies to die because I relocated their mom.) Can someone confirm if it IS or IS NOT birthing season for opossums?

I was thinking about putting food out somewhere else to draw it away from our coop yard, but there are so many other creatures, I don't want to attract some other problem.

Old Salt & Hoosier Cheetah would probably tell me to shoot it and be done. I really don't want to harm it, I just don't want it to continue to come around.

Ideally, it's NOT baby season and I can trap and relocate it. I need somebody more astute than I to assure me I won't be killing babies.

Here is a good site in regards to opposums. http://www.animalfactsencyclopedia.com/Opossum-facts.html
They are marsupials so carry those babies in their pouch for a bit anyway.
I wouldn't want any hanging around my property, but I know everyone is different.

 

[Indyshent]

Warning on hawks: juvenile plumage varies between species, and size varies a great deal between sexes.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Faraday40
That's incredibly hard. So sorry.

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but even in your "neighborhood" I'd still recommend bird bangers or screamers. It may just be enough to scare them away from your area - or at least make them more afraid to be there.

Before I got them, I can remember times when a hawk would sit in plain sight and just watch me. I could walk toward it and it would just sit there like it owned the place with no fear whatsoever. After I started using them, they aren't brazen anymore.

They become bold because there's nothing to fear from their natural predator.


ETA: DNR recommended!

 

[Nyla]

Here are two of my 6 nests currently going. I just love how they team up to hatch a ton of ducklings. Tire nest has 26 eggs due to hatch April 15th.


I have no clue as to the due date on the second nest without duck on it. The feather nest was just built a day or two ago. But I don't think the mother is sitting yet. Eggs weren't warm during feeding time. Also have no clue which duck it belongs to. My Chocolate rippled sleeps in that coop so it might be hers. This nest has 18 eggs.

Then I just got a surprise of ducklings a few days ago
10 ducklings : 7 females, 3 males
(Sex-linked! Father to these ones is a chocolate male making all females chocolate and males black and black pied)
@Soon2BChixMom will be the new Mother to some of them come Monday!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Here are two of my 6 nests currently going. I just love how they team up to hatch a ton of ducklings. Tire nest has 26 eggs due to hatch April 15th.
View attachment 1299400 View attachment 1299401

I have no clue as to the due date on the second nest without duck on it. The feather nest was just built a day or two ago. But I don't think the mother is sitting yet. Eggs weren't warm during feeding time. Also have no clue which duck it belongs to. My Chocolate rippled sleeps in that coop so it might be hers. This nest has 18 eggs.
View attachment 1299402 View attachment 1299406
Then I just got a surprise of ducklings a few days ago
10 ducklings : 7 females, 3 males
(Sex-linked! Father to these ones is a chocolate male making all females chocolate and males black and black pied)
@Soon2BChixMom will be the new Mother to some of them come Monday!
View attachment 1299403 View attachment 1299404

Lovely! Your mucovies are beautiful.

 

[Nyla]

Thank you!

Lovely! Your mucovies are beautiful.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'm in a quandary, and would appreciate some other's opinions.

We live in the city (Indianapolis), 6 miles from downtown. We also live 3 blocks from the river in a mature, semi-wooded area. We get many creatures-foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, woodchuck, beaver, hawks, etc.

Our coop run is smallish. It's 5' chain link on all sides, including the top, and buried 1 ft. We have an automatic coop door. Our indoor/outdoor dogs had notified us that an opossum was somewhere. Went out to find it ON TOP OF our coop run.

Thankfully, the opossum had not gotten inside the coop run and coop door had already closed. I saw the opossum again last night walking through my neighbors yard.

So, here's my quandary. I definitely don't want to kill it. I don't want to trap & relocate right now, because I believe it's baby season. (I don't want any babies to die because I relocated their mom.) Can someone confirm if it IS or IS NOT birthing season for opossums?

I was thinking about putting food out somewhere else to draw it away from our coop yard, but there are so many other creatures, I don't want to attract some other problem.

Old Salt & Hoosier Cheetah would probably tell me to shoot it and be done. I really don't want to harm it, I just don't want it to continue to come around.

Ideally, it's NOT baby season and I can trap and relocate it. I need somebody more astute than I to assure me I won't be killing babies.

Possum relocate a bit better than other predators due to their eating habits. I won't relocate personally, but its got a much better chance than other species. The babies will be fine.

Cinnamon keeps mold away? How could I use it with Fodders Grass? @jchny2000

I'm not finding anything on fodder using cinnamon. I also did some looking, and appears cinnamon is a coccidiostat. It would be interesting to try a tray and see how it goes.

 

[Finnie]

I guess it's going around.
Yesterday we lost 1/2 our quail to this visitor:
View attachment 1297952 View attachment 1297953

BTW- Does anyone know what kind this is. I've always been calling them Coopers hawks because they're not as big as the red-taileds.

Had a rough day trying to deal with plumbing and a water bill that was 4 times greater than it should be. We can't afford the huge water bill, so there's certainly no money for a plumber!) After trouble-shooting I discovered problems with both of our toilets, researched how to repair, got the parts (& my dad for help), and finally fixed the toilets....... and then had to replace a shut off valve that broke after the repair. I walked into the house from the 2nd trip to the hardware store, the kids came home, one was crying, the other was stressed, and our elderly dog pooped on the floor. As I carried the mess outside to the trash, a hawk came flying at me from deep inside the garage. The garage door was open and the hawk was helping itself to our quail. A total of 5 quail were brutally killed and another 4 were too injured to save. The hawk grabbed what it could & pulled the pieces through the bars. (Thankfully DD’s silkie & the chicks were safe – also caged in the garage only 24" away.) The poor poultry survivors were all in shock as they witnessed the carnage.

I ended up putting the surviving quail into their big summer cage condo. (Mostly because the garage cages were bloody.) The hawk continued to attack them until I put a tarp over the whole cage. Then the hawk kept walking around the perimeter of the chicken run searching for an entry point. It also sat on the window flower box & staring at the chickens inside the coop. Every time we opened the garage, the hawk flew back inside looking for dessert. What was even more scary was how close the kids could get to the wild bird.

The flock was locked up all day and the quail must be covered or they will not come out of their hiding hutch.

I'm so sorry. What a sad loss, and a bad day.

 

[hbrown322]

From what I understand the moms carry the babies on them until they are too big & go off on their own. So if it doesn’t have babies on it you should be fine. I had a young opossum squeeze through the wiring on our run to get into the chicken feed. It was too young to attack the hens, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I put on some work gloves, grabbed it and put him in a trap (probably not the smartest thing, but it was rather small). I relocated it about 5 miles away from our house.

I'm in a quandary, and would appreciate some other's opinions.

We live in the city (Indianapolis), 6 miles from downtown. We also live 3 blocks from the river in a mature, semi-wooded area. We get many creatures-foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, woodchuck, beaver, hawks, etc.

Our coop run is smallish. It's 5' chain link on all sides, including the top, and buried 1 ft. We have an automatic coop door. Our indoor/outdoor dogs had notified us that an opossum was somewhere. Went out to find it ON TOP OF our coop run.

Thankfully, the opossum had not gotten inside the coop run and coop door had already closed. I saw the opossum again last night walking through my neighbors yard.

So, here's my quandary. I definitely don't want to kill it. I don't want to trap & relocate right now, because I believe it's baby season. (I don't want any babies to die because I relocated their mom.) Can someone confirm if it IS or IS NOT birthing season for opossums?

I was thinking about putting food out somewhere else to draw it away from our coop yard, but there are so many other creatures, I don't want to attract some other problem.

Old Salt & Hoosier Cheetah would probably tell me to shoot it and be done. I really don't want to harm it, I just don't want it to continue to come around.

Ideally, it's NOT baby season and I can trap and relocate it. I need somebody more astute than I to assure me I won't be killing babies.