My first Fox attack that ended in a kill

[Mygirls20]

HAHA frigginchi Ya I found some signs that I like we need to start putting some up tired of people from the open space next to us walking on our property. People come out to hike and the walk right over the fence It does not make me happy

lily12 good job on chasing it away be careful though it will be back I have been at war with this one for a week now.

 

[Mygirls20]

We don't have winter here, not really. Just a bit cold at night (cool to some of you) - no snow - grass and weeds thick & green. If you want good egg production in a "real" winter, it's not just bugs & protein - you also must feed greens.


There's an active FODDER thread at byc - just search it. Greens more than bugs give you great eggs, though bugs help. Yogurt may be a cheaper protein sub, tho. You can make yogurt - easy.

Right, Shellz, ducks do have amazing feathers.

Yeah, people don't know what it costs us to get eggs.. I wish they'd pay more - I don't think we should say "oh well.". Look, Whole Paycheck charges almost $5 a doz for "free range omega oil" eggs - what we get from our chickens - but not the $ we get. Think about it.

I know you don't want to do CRx, but they are the benchmark. I'm just pointing out the factors - this is what drives prices. Heritage meat, if people would try it, might one day get its own healthy market or niche in our economy.

Ya we do carrots, cabbage, yogurt, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and a ton of other stuff. lol I cant find fresh corn right now so I buy the frozen stuff and let it thaw for them they love it!! Watching chickens eat yogurt is one of the funniest things I have ever seen you have to stand back or they flick it all over you

 

[Steemroo]

Shellz, yeah that land tax issue is a stinker. Where I grew up, you HAD to do real agri to get the prop tax break - long ago. We ran Brangus cattle. Then a 'native grass' exception came in.

You could, I bet, get an acre or two converted to ag use & keep tax down. Paper work'd be pain I'd bet.

You have a small tractor or rider mower that can till?. One acre makes a LOT of grain.

I wonder how chickens do on hay or silage - or haylage? Hay I bet wouldn't work good. Haylage tho might.. Could you cut the native acres?

Either way in Canada winter you would do well growing flats of grass indoors - wheat grass - weeds even - cuz fresh greens are best. But it'd rock to male your own grain.

 

[Steemroo]

Mygirls, wow - frozen corn - you spoil your chickens! JK!

Watch iceberg lettuce - as you prolly know,it has almost no nutrition.. Other lettuces are great.

I trimmed fat off a roast this week - our birds love suet - in small amounts tho. In real cold you can feed more. Look into that - suet can be very cheap..

 

[dolphinlvr4]

Oh I'm so sry for u and so frustrated too. I had 4 beautiful golden buffs and last week we lost one. My 11 yr old daughter runs to the coop ev morning too see her 3 mo chickens and one was dead. She was in years n my husband went out to find only 1/2 of a hen and her head was missing. I live in Ga so thought raccoons were the only threat ( our entire outside run is chain link n chicken wire) so we felt we had a great hen house. After alot of research it turns out it was a weasel, they decapitate first cuz the head is where all the fatty brains r and that's what they want. I felt like I had failed cuz they couldn't get away from it... Suffice it to say our coop is now basically ft knox! I did read that some run razor wire around the outer coop. Some also have used electric fencing because they just could stop predators ;-(. I wish u better luck!

 

[dolphinlvr4]

I also have alot of hawks n larger prey birds so my outside run is covered on top as well as the chain link is also 8 in in the ground

 

[dolphinlvr4]

Has anyone else had any issues w/ weasels?

 

[ocap]

i had dead chickens with head and neck missing nothing else, we never found out what killed them, neighbor thought it might have been a skunk

 

[Steemroo]

Probably a weasel & not a skunk - have read that skunks are mostly just a threat to eggs & chicks (could be wrong).

Also, I knew people who had ducks - but had to keep em outdoors at night. All was fine - til they started losing a duck a night. Something was taking off a duck's head - and leaving the rest.

It was a Great Horned Owl. I guess it hit with such force that it could take off a duck head - and that's all it would take away - something it could swallow, I Guess. IIRC they had to buy nets.

 

[littlechick1005]

A large skunk did a number on our rooster :-/...caught him red handed (bloody footprings)...I had noticed a skunk stalking my rooster but wasnt aware a skunk would harm him...then a week a later my favorite and last rooster was gone, bloody mess all over the barn. Thought it must be a raccoon or fox, but the tracks were deffinitely skunk. He was a big mighty rooster too with full spurs...must of been a pretty ballsy skunk :-/ poor King...We actually found his body with no head in the skunk den under our neighbors woodshed...traditional skunk kill.
A few years later we had 2 beautiful ducks, a couple months into having them, skunk #2 took our handsome boy out...raccoon took the killed the remaining duck a bit later...fox issues off and on too...oh the joys. Im glad we've been able to see the tracks after the kills, helps in identifying the predator.