interested in Red jungle fowl

[Zach123]

The weather is better in most places outside of the Mountain West, except when I lived in Hawaii. When I lived in Arizona they used to joke “we got 6 inches of rain today, one raindrop every six inches!” I would tell them that it only rained once the entire two years I lived in Hawaii, it just didn’t stop. At least it never snowed though.

We surprisingly have very few tree swallows at the house. We have them all over the Front Range but mostly just cliff swallows around the house. At least it used to be until they tore down the bridge they nested on this past summer when they rebuilt the road. Not sure how that’s going turn out this summer for them. We mostly only get migrating bluebirds rather than breeding ones. We’re too low in elevation for the mountain bb’s, too far west for eastern, and while we could theoretically have western blue birds, I have only ever seen them just a bit further west, closer to the mountains. We don’t have purple martins at all in northern Colorado, though I believe they are found in low numbers in the far south part of the state.

A slough is really just a shallow lake or backwater often formed off the old river channel. Ours is an old oxbow off the South Platte river that now flows about a 1/2 mile west of us but long ago flowed across the east side of the property. Since it is mostly fed by groundwater, it doesn’t freeze.

If you could, I would suggest you allow the wetland to remain rather than drain and farm it. The draining of wetlands to create farmland have wrecked havoc on ecosystems and natural processes that benefit not only wildlife but us, too. Wetlands provide flood control, water purification and recharge aquifers and provide resiliency during droughts. A massive number of wetlands have been lost in North America over the past two centuries to make way for farm land and urban development and its really detrimental in a lot of ways.(Sorry for the soapbox, but I work in conservation and habitat restoration so it’s kinda my “thing” haha.)

 

[Don 27]

The weather is better in most places outside of the Mountain West, except when I lived in Hawaii. When I lived in Arizona they used to joke “we got 6 inches of rain today, one raindrop every six inches!” I would tell them that it only rained once the entire two years I lived in Hawaii, it just didn’t stop. At least it never snowed though.

We surprisingly have very few tree swallows at the house. We have them all over the Front Range but mostly just cliff swallows around the house. At least it used to be until they tore down the bridge they nested on this past summer when they rebuilt the road. Not sure how that’s going turn out this summer for them. We mostly only get migrating bluebirds rather than breeding ones. We’re too low in elevation for the mountain bb’s, too far west for eastern, and while we could theoretically have western blue birds, I have only ever seen them just a bit further west, closer to the mountains. We don’t have purple martins at all in northern Colorado, though I believe they are found in low numbers in the far south part of the state.

A slough is really just a shallow lake or backwater often formed off the old river channel. Ours is an old oxbow off the South Platte river that now flows about a 1/2 mile west of us but long ago flowed across the east side of the property. Since it is mostly fed by groundwater, it doesn’t freeze.

If you could, I would suggest you allow the wetland to remain rather than drain and farm it. The draining of wetlands to create farmland have wrecked havoc on ecosystems and natural processes that benefit not only wildlife but us, too. Wetlands provide flood control, water purification and recharge aquifers and provide resiliency during droughts. A massive number of wetlands have been lost in North America over the past two centuries to make way for farm land and urban development and its really detrimental in a lot of ways.(Sorry for the soapbox, but I work in conservation and habitat restoration so it’s kinda my “thing” haha.)

Ya .


What kinda habitat do you restore. Do you Just buy farm land and let it go to woods? Well if I wasn't trying to run a business and paying taxes I might consider letting it go to woods but we have to think vary practical when it comes to living on a farm. Plus I know this sounds stupid but I hate watching farm land get all grown up. When you only have simple tools and you are on a budget it's a lot of work clearing land, if I let it grow up To a woods my lifestyle would be over. And I wouldn't really like watching it happen ether. But if I was like you and I liked to preserve nature than I would do the same thing that you are doing. It all depends on what you are into and what you like to do. If there wasn't people like you we would not have nature to enjoy for those who like to enjoy it. here's the field. she will need some work!

 

[Don 27]

The weather is better in most places outside of the Mountain West, except when I lived in Hawaii. When I lived in Arizona they used to joke “we got 6 inches of rain today, one raindrop every six inches!” I would tell them that it only rained once the entire two years I lived in Hawaii, it just didn’t stop. At least it never snowed though.

We surprisingly have very few tree swallows at the house. We have them all over the Front Range but mostly just cliff swallows around the house. At least it used to be until they tore down the bridge they nested on this past summer when they rebuilt the road. Not sure how that’s going turn out this summer for them. We mostly only get migrating bluebirds rather than breeding ones. We’re too low in elevation for the mountain bb’s, too far west for eastern, and while we could theoretically have western blue birds, I have only ever seen them just a bit further west, closer to the mountains. We don’t have purple martins at all in northern Colorado, though I believe they are found in low numbers in the far south part of the state.

A slough is really just a shallow lake or backwater often formed off the old river channel. Ours is an old oxbow off the South Platte river that now flows about a 1/2 mile west of us but long ago flowed across the east side of the property. Since it is mostly fed by groundwater, it doesn’t freeze.

If you could, I would suggest you allow the wetland to remain rather than drain and farm it. The draining of wetlands to create farmland have wrecked havoc on ecosystems and natural processes that benefit not only wildlife but us, too. Wetlands provide flood control, water purification and recharge aquifers and provide resiliency during droughts. A massive number of wetlands have been lost in North America over the past two centuries to make way for farm land and urban development and its really detrimental in a lot of ways.(Sorry for the soapbox, but I work in conservation and habitat restoration so it’s kinda my “thing” haha.)

makes me sad but we have had a lot of the historical barns torn down in the area . These barns are vary heavy duty and have been made with horses pulleys and simple hand held saws. Now we have huge flocks of barn swallows hanging around with no place to nest. So I build a couple nesting platforms with rough surfaces so the barn swallows could attach their nests to the platforms. then I hung the nesters under the eaves of my house. I had to close up my barn from the swallows too. The reason why is because when the baby's would drop their droppings out of the nest it would cause hols to rot in my tractor. So now I just place nesters on the side of my barn. .

 

[Zach123]

I actually work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a refuge. I could bore you with details of the place but long story short it was a former Army chemical weapons manufacturing facility during WWII and the Cold war and afterwards was leased to Shell oil to manufacture pesticides. It had a lot of contamination and it was declared a superfund site in the 90's. Now we are trying to restore it back to shortgrass prairie. We also manage another refuge nearby that has a similar history, but it was where the DoE manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. It was also highly contaminated and went through a superfund clean up phase. There the prairie was largely left intact but we are trying to reverse 150 years of poor land management practices such as overgrazing by homesteaders and ranchers and the introduction of exotic/invasive weeds that have severely degraded the habitat.

It doesn't sound stupid at all. I hate watching farmland and open space being turned into suburbs more than almost anything. I would rather see farms than subdivisions and all the mess and hassle and people they bring with them. Sadly, while we live on 400 acres, it's starting to feel more and more like I live in downtown Denver rather than an hour and a half away in what used to be nothing but corn fields, ranches, and prairie. Now it's constant noise and traffic and crowds.

Wow. Are those stumps a pain? We don't have a lot of trees out here and clearing a field just takes dragging a plow or disc over it once. For our restoration plantings all we do is disc, then harrow, then seed. I cant imagine having to contend with all those stumps. I have lived out on the plains for pretty much all my life. I don't think I could live somewhere where you are so closed in (my dad used to say you could watch a dog run away from you for about four days out here). Forests make me feel claustrophobic.

 

[Don 27]

I actually work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a refuge. I could bore you with details of the place but long story short it was a former Army chemical weapons manufacturing facility during WWII and the Cold war and afterwards was leased to Shell oil to manufacture pesticides. It had a lot of contamination and it was declared a superfund site in the 90's. Now we are trying to restore it back to shortgrass prairie. We also manage another refuge nearby that has a similar history, but it was where the DoE manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons. It was also highly contaminated and went through a superfund clean up phase. There the prairie was largely left intact but we are trying to reverse 150 years of poor land management practices such as overgrazing by homesteaders and ranchers and the introduction of exotic/invasive weeds that have severely degraded the habitat.

It doesn't sound stupid at all. I hate watching farmland and open space being turned into suburbs more than almost anything. I would rather see farms than subdivisions and all the mess and hassle and people they bring with them. Sadly, while we live on 400 acres, it's starting to feel more and more like I live in downtown Denver rather than an hour and a half away in what used to be nothing but corn fields, ranches, and prairie. Now it's constant noise and traffic and crowds.

Wow. Are those stumps a pain? We don't have a lot of trees out here and clearing a field just takes dragging a plow or disc over it once. For our restoration plantings all we do is disc, then harrow, then seed. I cant imagine having to contend with all those stumps. I have lived out on the plains for pretty much all my life. I don't think I could live somewhere where you are so closed in (my dad used to say you could watch a dog run away from you for about four days out here). Forests make me feel claustrophobic.

that's interesting I always wondered where the government gets all their war weapons. That place sounds very toxic probably would give you cancer . I bet there's not much left to the factory any more. I think war is stupid you just kill thousands of people too bad people can't just get along.
Oh ya it's tough digging .getting those stumps out. I don't like the feeling of being surrounded either.. That's why I'm so amazed by what our forefathers did. They pulled these 12 to 24 inch stumps out of the ground with horse and shovel. The roots spread 30 ft in all directions. And they cleared up to 60 acres of land. !!! If i could just leave a field alone for years then disc it without running into a tree I would not be worried about it at all. The wetland field I have hasnt been touched for ten years and its full of little tree stumps and it's almost un plowable now I have to go out there with a backhow and dig them all out. Not to mention all the brush. Each piece of brush is a few inches thick and stuck in the ground like a rock .Here's another field that hasn't been mowed in 30 + years..

] the trees weren't their and it use to be all open and plowable . And if you continue to let it go the trees just keep improching further and further into your field. So I'm going to clean this up as best I can. 100 years ago they farmed all this and dident have to use pesticides. Or any chemical. so I'm trying to work towards not having to spray anything in my fields . The wife won t eat anything that isn't organic any way.

the farmer use to own all this but he died and gave it to his kids who farmed it for as long as they could. but they got to old and had to give it to their kids who didn't want to farm so they parceled it all off. The green part is what's still being farmed .the rest is parceled but the buyers heaven build houses on it yet. this place was cleared by the kids great great grandfather back in the 1800 hundreds. Each generation cleared a certain amount of land . So back in the 1800s the fields weren't as big . If I ever get the money, I will try and buy back all the parcels. Before it grows into a woods.