NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

Fisher cats are killing machines. Think of a North american Honey badger. Their favorite food is porcupine, they've learned how to flip them on their back and tear out their throat. A big male is larger than a fox, they look a lot like an otter but are pretty vicious. They typically have a territory they patrol, and it usually takes them 2-3 weeks to cover it all then they do it all over. I grew up trapping them in vermont with my dad, their roaming territory makes them hard to trap, as you can do everything right but miss them because our trapping season was only 2 weeks for fishers. There used to be really good money in fisher hides, a large female hide could fetch upwards of $250-300 20 years ago.

My chicks are getting big, they are 4 weeks old and I noticed one of the ones i think is a roo is starting to grow his wattles. Not really happy that i bought 8 pullets and ended up with 2 of them looking like roo's already. I'm thinking of getting another 8, probably 4 each columbian and golden laced wyandottes so i can tell em apart easier.

there are some good videos of Fisher Cats on the internet.

One a woman got attacked and another a kid waiting for the school bus got attacked.

 

[rancher hicks]

Candled eggs last night. EE hen has one that is peeping but the others aren't near ready. I think I'll move her and her chick to the coop with the other mothering hen and move the other eggs. She's already hatched out one and I don't want to leave her any longer.

She has a couple of Frizzle eggs that I was hoping would get to hatch.

Other hens have nothing yet. I've been pulling any eggs that look newly laid as other hens are getting in and laying. What a pain in the neck not to have enough broody places.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Toomanyroos syndrome over here too Wish I could keep them all, but 10 Roos are just a few too many. :/

They are spitzhaubens: leghorn type, considered LF tho on the small side of LF. Fun birds w lots of energy and personality. Pm me if you need a polka-dotted roo w a Mohawk.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Rancher, a friend recommended a good book to me that u might be interested in: Radical Remission by Kelly Turner. Turner is a psychotherapist who researched and interviewed hundreds of cancer patients who experienced dramatic remission. She focuses on what the patients felt made the difference in their healing. It's a very interesting book. We'll wishes.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

I live in Macedon NY and i am currently looking for a female duck or two. Hopefully Cayuga female.

Hi neighbor! I live in Newark and work in Macedon. I saw that my friend Jim at Natureberry farm has black cayugas in right now.

LOL...car tax, fire tax, sewer assessment (times 2 for us, because our property was split into two lots...one of which couldn't even be built upon....got a fire tax for that property too), etc etc etc. You know....we got nailed with that stupid car tax for an entire extra year after we moved out of RI because I wasn't aware that you actually have to return your license plates when you leave the state, otherwise, they continue to assess car taxes. And no, you can't send in proof of registration out of state.

That made me SO mad. I swore I'd never give another red cent to that state after that one. Crooks.

Wow, and I was getting worked up this am at a networking meeting - the realtor was going over school town and county taxes.

Toomanyroos syndrome over here too Wish I could keep them all, but 10 Roos are just a few too many.

They are spitzhaubens: leghorn type, considered LF tho on the small side of LF. Fun birds w lots of energy and personality. Pm me if you need a polka-dotted roo w a Mohawk.

Very pretty! I'm afraid I have the same syndrome, although not as bad...I think 2/3 of my Ameraucana chicks my broody hatched are roos.

Hope this humidity goes down soon, I'm hoping to get in the garden and keep ahead of the weeds!

 

[Tab's chicken obsession]

I haven't had the time to be on lately. End of school activities with the girls and family functions. Nora ran a fever all day yesterday and her doctor appointment is this afternoon. I think it is teeth coming in. My poor baby!

I managed to plant my garden. I have a bunch of broodies. My pekins managed to hatch out 9 babies. She left two eggs in the nest. One of them was still peeping so I put it under a broody bantam cochin, who is now a proud duckie momma.

Hope everyone has a great summer.

 

[elroddo]

Elroddo .... I have thought I might put out traps on my place if there were signs of a fisher cat - but the neighbor's dogs roam, as well as their cats .... how dangerous are traps for not well supervised domestic animals ?

foothold traps don't really hurt animals, i've released cats and dogs from them before and had no issues, usually the animal runs off with a sore foot. The animals we've shot might go a bit crazy when you get there, but even then its not like they break their leg or anything trying to get away. For fisher cats we typically use a full body trap that strangles them, obviously thats not an option in an area where domestics are a possibility. Not sure how well a live trap would work on them as we trapped them in the winter where smells are less an issue than trapping fox or coyote with foothold traps. Thats the biggest drawback to live traps in my opinion, is the smell of the metal will deter foxes, coyotes and to a lesser extent raccoons. They seem to work just fine on my neighbors cats though, especially when i bait with tuna fish or sardines.

 

[marquisella]

The last duck egg hatched. OMG 19 ducklings? Why do momma ducks decide on such a large number of offspring?

I sold off the ones I wanted gone....now I have TWO more. I don't want 5 MORE ducks. Sigh. But they sure are cute. So very cute. Maybe I can sell the extra after I determine gender and keep only 2 of the hens. Sell the rest to someone for food? Eat them myself? (Ewww...how can I eat something I remember being so cute?)

Are they Pekins...if you want to sell them I might be interested....

 

[rancher hicks]

I haven't had the time to be on lately. End of school activities with the girls and family functions. Nora ran a fever all day yesterday and her doctor appointment is this afternoon. I think it is teeth coming in. My poor baby!

I managed to plant my garden. I have a bunch of broodies. My pekins managed to hatch out 9 babies. She left two eggs in the nest. One of them was still peeping so I put it under a broody bantam cochin, who is now a proud duckie momma.

Hope everyone has a great summer.

How are those orpingtons doing?

 

[marquisella]

Quote: Hope this humidity goes down soon, I'm hoping to get in the garden and keep ahead of the weeds!
All Cayugas start out black, but start to get white feathers as they age. Its normal.