Minnesota!

[Bogtown Chick]

Well I weighed Tootsie. He's 8 lbs. He's fine. I can't remember what he weighed this spring when I put him on the scale 9 lbs. and the buckeye was 8? Or 8 lbs and the buckeye hen was 7? That's the thing about getting older. Nonetheless. it's the lack of feathers that has him looking smaller. His thighs were a mass of blood feathers and his fluff has pins all over it. He's going through the worst of it right now. He's a makin' feathers. He was a good sport about the weigh in...but he was ornery when Sadie came to watch. He must be bashful about his weight like his mother.

Nikon those ducks look like a domesticated deal to me. I would plump them up and don't forget to render the fat for cooking American fries. (keeps the taters extra crispy longer) Mmmm. I would not keep them either. Poo and keeping open water is a whole other can of worms.

 

[Cyrus83]

No kidding, the Black Cayuga ducks I raised a few years ago were nasty. they were worse for my lawn than the mole problem I have now

 

[Cyrus83]

They kinda look like magpie ducks

 

[duluthralphie]

Nikkon, if you should decide to keep them, I think you should think twice... I had geese once, for about 3 months before I sold them at a loss just to get rid of them.


Here is a copy of a post I made after the geese left the cute stage.... I repost it to help Nikkon decide to give the ducks to an unknown online friend ( or at least make that the official story) Remember, as human we can become attached to almost anything. Which explains why there are so many battered people in the world. If you take them with the intent of finding them a good home, you will become attached to them,

I still liked my geese when I wrote this, but they were wearing on me. I debated whether I should post it here or not, but decided too, because we sometimes need levity.


I bought 6 geese this spring from a young, and I mean young girl. She advertised on craigslist. She was very polite. She was about 10 years old. I am guessing. I called her to buy some Guineas. She sweet talked me into the geese.

She said they were white Embden geese. 4 are white. 1 is white with grey tips on the feathers, the other is grey.

I hate the geese! But they are fun to watch. They bully the turkey chicks. They bully the chickens. The Poop everywhere and all the time. They have eaten every shred of lettuce in the garden. They wander all over the farm.

I even stuck my hand in a wad of goose poop when crawling out from under my truck.

When did they start going into my sheds? They can turn a waterer into brackish slime in 4 minutes. They drank a gallon of milk in about 4 minutes!

I need to know what is wrong with me?

Why do I keep them around?

Will I like them better if they reside in my freezer?

Will my wife ever forgive me for the flowers and veggies of hers they have ruined?

Do they have to sit at the bottom of my steps and poop?

Does anyone know of any redeeming qualities they might have?

Did the little girl know the geese would do these things?

Did she know I would become attached to the lil ********

 

[scandiafowl]

I seem to never be there, but am also here..  I wish I could be there just once.

I just returned from over there, the time warp messed with my atoms and now I'm all over the place.

 

[scandiafowl]

Superb sarcasm Blooie.

I hope I can say that without rekindling the great wolf debate of 2015.

The government needs to practice good canine ownership like we do with our dogs..... ( said tongue in cheek)!!!

Stop ;-)
I'm restraining my fingers as I write.

 

[Cyrus83]

I bought two geese a couple years ago because my daughter batted her blue eyes at me and asked please daddy. They dug six inch holes in the yard and ate my screen door. I finally couldn't take it anymore and shot them. But they did not die in vein, I zip tied them to some trees and set conibear traps in a circle around them, which lead to the elimination of 4 or 5 potential chicken killers.

 

[AlezaJ]

I use a combo of netting ( a pain in the neck because it loads down with snow, leaves, etc) for about a third of my run, and wire fencing laid on top of a frame of 8' tall 2x4s linked with 14' 2x4's. The sides are up against the run of the fence, where the fence is not that tall I have supplemented wth chicken wire.  I have electric wire on the fence, so am not worried about a coon climbing the fence and messing with the chicken wire.  The chicken wire is there to keep haws, owls and eagles from a side flight into the run.  My run is a large run, a little larger than you about 25'x45'.  

The wood frame is super easy , and you could use shorter 2x4's depending on your own height.

The netting is fast, but more temporary.  The wood framed "roof" of wire fencing costs more but is more long term, requires no maintenance.  I suppose at some point the wood will go but it has been there for a bunch of years and is fine.   If it is hard to visualize, think of it as a table with the legs and frame out of wood, and the "table" being wire fencing.

since I built it, I haven't lost a chicken inside the run to anything.  Outside, free ranging, have lost two recently in two separate attacks.

Thank you for the advice on the top. I forgot to mention there are fully grown trees in the area I will be putting the run so I'm really more worried about coons and other climbing critters than birds. At what height do you put the electric wire on your run? I hadn't thought of that before. I was just considering using a bunch of 1/4" hardware cloth.

This is a picture of the area my coop and run will be. There is a concrete slab(16'x10') where that deer blind is sitting and the run will be behind it. We thinned out the trees about 4 yrs ago and haven't mowed it at all this year.

 

[lalaland]

yeah, I have 5 full grown pines in the run.

Entire run is surrounded by wire fencing, with an electric wire (to stop coons climbing over).
All of that fence is topped by floppy chicken wire (to deter foxes and coons from climbing over when electric wire isn't on).
Entire perimeter is surrounded by wire fencing laid on the ground (to keep dogs from diggin under).
About 1/3 of the run has netting, to keep hawks/owls etc out.
About 1/3 of the run has wire fencing as a roof, to keep hawks owls out.

I have 5 full grown gigantic pines in the run.

During the spring and summer, the pines and other trees provide some protection from aerial attacks.
During the fall, I lose birds to hawks and owls. To stop that, I added the netting to part of the run and the wire fence roof .
About October, I use snow fence to restrict the flock to the areas that have the netting or wire fence roof because of the high hawk migrations. It closes off the areas with the trees. They are not happy, there is still plenty of room, but they miss roosting during the day in the pines.

That doesn't matter much once the snow falls, because they aren't going into snow unless it is only a few inches.

If you are worried about critters climbing, I'd do 2 things:
First, make sure the fence goes far enough around the trees that there are no overhanging limbs - so nothing can use the tree to get into the run. I would not use hardware cloth, because it is so expensive. There is wire fencing that will keep chickens in. I have had to tie a 2' high chicken wire fence on the interior so any chicks don't get out through the fence, though.
2nd, I would use electric wire (about 6 inches off the ground).

Problems with the electric wire:
1. Pullets that fly over will come home and nest against the run if they can't get in. Feathers insulate against shock, but....I've had a pullet electrocuted, so I tend to keep the fence off. Grown ups seem to have better feathers?
2. You have to be religious about keeping weeds down or the fence shorts out.
3. The fence shorts out sometimes when it electrocutes squirrels, etc.
4. I keep bluebird houses and once electrocuted a bluebird who was straddling the fence, and the electric wire.
5. I hate hate hate getting shocked.

Because of the wire fence on the ground to keep things from digging under, my electric wire probably electrocutes more than a fence only set up.
I am too lazy to dig that much to dig the fencing into the ground to prevent digging under, but that is an option. Once you lay it on the ground, the grass just grows up over it and you can't see it, and can mow right over it.

I haven't had the electric fence on since last fall. The floppy chicken wire keeps things from coming over . So, you could try the floppy wire topping instead of the electric fence, if you have protected against digging under. The floppy fence....hard to explain. Think of it like a collar on a shirt, it is fastened to the shirt, but it kind of flops over...have it flop on the outside of the run, not to the inside of the run.

Hawks are very good at maneuvering through dense pine and tree branches to get your birds.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

So before winter hits. I'm going to be doing a fall cleaning and painting of the coop on the inside. And touch ups on the outside too. But I just saw a a coop on a popular blog and the walls were lined with TekFoil or Reflectix (after some major googling). It's like bubble wrap with tin foil. I just ordered a 100' roll from home depot. And my hope is that I will have a winter coop with winterized birds and the use of this wall covering to help keep in radiant heat from the birds without over doing it on insulation (mouse nest fodder). It's a little mechanical looking in a rustic coop. But I think it will be easier to clean. And I'm all for strategies on helping my birds deal with -25F without overly pampering them.

What do you guys think about this stuff?