Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

Also if you have plenty of things that they can scamper under, they can hide if an eagle or hawk was circling. They are usually pretty good about looking up.

I understand your anxiety though. Nobody wants to lose a bird to predation

 

[duluthralphie]

Well rumor has it, some of my ancestors were canadian horse thieves. But my dads side were German Jews, so that family tree comes to an abrupt end right around the 1940's.

That's is funny, and not funny at the same time.

My family has a side that is kinda like that... My great Grandma was a "black Irish" from western North Dakota.... When I use to ask my Dad about her and what her last name was, he use to say it was the same as her husbands before she married... Hmmmmm

We found some OLD pictures a few years ago, and I mean OLD.. It was her with her brothers and sisters... They looked very native American. There was even some teepees or wogwams or whatever they are in the background.

In doing the family tree it dies right at her. Her husband my great grand father goes back to 1579, coming here in 1635.. ( he kind of jumped ship and hid in the woods until the ship left.) There was some misunderstanding about my innocent ancestor being accused of a crime and sentence to serve on that ship). I am sure he had to have been framed...



Anyways back to my Great Grandma, She would have lived in the late 1800s. Her brother was hung for "borrowing" a horse. I think mainly Natives were hung for borrowing horse. So we could be related, both having horse "borrowers" in our past..

 

[Cyrus83]

I wonder if they had "bait" horses back then? Ralphie it sounds like you have a case for potentially netting bullheads from Mille Lacs?

 

[duluthralphie]

Oh No ,,, I had my 1st predator today.. i am so bummed i was hoping to not have any.. i was in the house good thing the windows were open . I heard the girls chirping super crazy i knew something was wrong i went out and there was a Eagle sitting on the 2x4 on top of the chicken run. It seen me and flapped its wings and took off...Now what? I was going to let them free range the yard all day but now i cant because of the eagle... this sucks...

I hate to disagree with my Brother/cousin Cyrus... BUT

Eagles are my biggest predator problem. Young one and older ones with chicks. They have caused me more losses than anything else.. They love chick fillets!



I have full size dogs (labs) and force them to spend time with the birds it helps.



Now I have a predator question....... I found two dead guineas this morning (not that it is a big loss). These were half grown They were 150 yards from the pens and coops. I heard them down there yesterday, making guinea noises. I just assumed they were being guineas, so I never went to check on them. The two keets had no visible marks on them and nothing had been eaten.

I am thinking a dog or feral cat, Your thoughts? A hawk or eagle would have left a mark on the head and taken the bird. What would kill and leave it lay? My dogs are muzzled when outside to slow down their poop consumption, besides my dogs are too lazy to go that far from the buildings.

 

[duluthralphie]

I wonder if they had "bait" horses back then? Ralphie it sounds like you have a case for potentially netting bullheads from Mille Lacs?

My game warden buddy thinks I do.... BUT it is the judge I worry about. And the other thing North Dakota was not Ojibwa..... I might be entitled to all the buffalo chips I can pick though..

 

[Cyrus83]

Well can you at least harvest problem eagles for ceremonial rituals?

 

[Bogtown Chick]

KlopKlop Im interested in your forage set up you attempted. It makes sense that the chooks took advantage of the sprouts before they got to fibrous. In the winter sometimes I'll do a tray or two of BOSS sprouts for my chooks. They go nutso...but also they haven't seen green usually in months and they love anything green, then. I just assumed it was for that reason only but the lack of fiber in the greens would make for easier digestion I guess.

In 2006 B.C. ( Before chickens.) DH did a deer plot on a loop we have in the woods. He put it in clover and rye. Rye to grow up fast until the clover took hold. One side of the loop has held the clover but the other hasn't as well due to sun/shade issues I'm assuming or soil acidity. There's a few conifers in there. I think clover needs more basic soil. He should probably get some lime on it. IDK. For certain. anyways the chickens do forage through there...bug/frog hunting and harvesting grass seed heads later in the summer. Its fun to watch their grazing habits as the season progresses.

Theres a portion of our lawn that the grass always grows gang busters and I've been thinking I need to start raking grass and putting it in the run for the birds to have for greens to peck through in the winter. I scythed some longer wild grasses for run bedding along our road and brought those in and they started eating it like crazy in the middle of winter. The longer grasses make me nervous. Short chopped off lawn grass goes through the crop easier.

 

[duluthralphie]

Well can you at least harvest problem eagles for ceremonial rituals?

You are trying to earn extra money for Xmas aren't you?

 

[duluthralphie]

I am planning (read I might or might not get it done) planting winter rye and clover in my field this fall then hand spreading oats in the spring over it.

I want to build the soil with the clover and give the birds a place to eat, without my buying feed. I should have a bumper grasshopper crop. I will then not harvest anything and hope for volunteer rye and oats.

 

[Cyrus83]

You are trying to earn extra money for Xmas aren't you?

For a new menorah