***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[NanaKat]

Thanks NanaK, and everyone else helping my id these plants. I really thought it was a plum thicket, but never have seen a plum in 15 years. ( about 7 years of it being as big and thick as it right now)


I am sooooo hoping that is a mulberry. The only mulberry I know of close doesn't look anything like that one, but mulberry is such a good high protein forage for the rabbits.

I've noticed a few bird or squirrel planted sapling oaks around this year.

You are most welcome/ We had one plum thicket her on the farm that never had plums. So after 10 years, we cut down the trees and they never came back...we think it must have been a very old stand.

Correction on the number of hawks. I actually saw four, then tried really hard to confirm that 4 was the number, then I was able to count 5 closing in on my house!
I quickly shoo'd everyone under the bushes and before I was finished and had a chance to look up, I was down to 2 hawks...
I've noticed that two will work together to distract me while the other comes up the other side of the property. Do hawks really work in "packs" like that when they are faced with adversity and a pretty good payoff if successful?

Some breeds of hawks actually migrate and do hunt in groups.

Quote: Catch the Game, take pictures of your injured bird. Talk to owner.
If he doesn't pen up his bird, then when the game returns to your property, he can go home in a bag.
Or, you could offer him a pullet to house with his rooster.

Did we have a bobcat discussion earlier here? I am pretty sure I have some on a newly leased pasture and have had one calf injured and one calf taken. I know we have dogs too (may explain why there is no carcass on the lost calf). Folks smarter than me on this believe that the injured calf was attacked by a cat. I am looking to live trap and then dispose of predator. Any ideas about traps or other resources? Pasture is in McClain county. Could use some advice on how to do that too!

A top view of the wound is under the spoiler. The hole on the left side was actually two holes when we found her - the center strip of skin died. This photo is about two weeks after initial treatment. There were some scratch marks coming from one of the wounds. Only other damage was a third inch long nick to her ear.

NOT happy!

The heifers name is Malasada. her Mom is called Frosted Cupcake. This is a photo of the mega huge horns that Cupcake likely used to save her daughters life!

The injuries are consistant with a big cat. Bobcats usually don't attempt to take down a 75 - 100 pound calf. A small goat perhaps. You most likely have a mountain lion/cougar. They will carry off a large kill and pull it up into a tree for safe keeping. Sometimes the carcass will be covered with leaves and grass. Dogs would explain a disappearance, but they don't leave cuts in the hide like the spoiler photo displayed.

Hey im new here but i live in eastern oklahoma with my husband 4 little girls our dog and our 3 chickens and 4 baby chicks... we are new chicken owners and are learning as we go. No serious problems yet and we are having tons of fun... anyway thought id pop in on this little group since i live in oklahoma and im interested to see what its all about... i keep reading about this poops... looks like maybe a chicken auction? Lol where does this take place and how often? Interested in learning all i can and ill post more pics of my chickens soon ... so nice to meet yall!

Glad you found the Okie thread..

Don't know if anyone else got rain today, but we sure did. It was absolutely pouring, I look out the back door and find all 7 of our chickens completely soaked and loving it! Haha. Goofy birds.

If they got wet, make sure they have dried out and are comfortable. A chilled bird can be susceptible to respiratory issues.

this was the best pic i could get but i'm a little worried about the new chick it has a bare spot on it belly with a thing dangling from it Dose this mean it is a musshy chick?

it is all dryied up a little red around it.

This is not unusual for an incubator chick. The blood vessels to the inner membrane carry blood to the chick as it begins to hatch. When it pushes out of the shell, they can often still be attached to the egg as that "umbilical cord" dries.
If you are certain it is completely dry, you can clip it off to about 1/4 inch. Like a baby's navel cord, it will drop off like a scab. Because it is not bleeding, the other chicks will leave it alone.

Quote: And there isn't a bander that small....just saying.

We band our calves rather than having them cut.


iPeanut1990...didn't you ask about egg prices? I don't sell my eggs...but supply our family.
A friend of mine sells her eggs. If a buyer brings back the used egg carton, she gives them a little discount on their next dozen.

 

[iPeanut1990]

Good incentive to get the cartons back!

 

[NanaKat]

Today we picked wild plums... It was sprinkling when we got there, but stopped and stayed cool the whole time...thank goodness.
We picked 3 gallons of ripe and ready plums for my sister in law and then picked 5 gallon of turning plums for me to work up over the next several days. Then We will pick more ripe ones when we check cows....a gallon or so each time. Looks like we will have plums for about three weeks. Toger likes to eat green plums...tooo tart for me, but I indulge him.

Ripe and ready to work up...and a few of the yellow plums. The red plums are about 3/4 to 1 inch and the yellow plums are about 1/2 inch.


And set to ripen and work up. A nice inside job during the next few really hot days ahead. The cookie sheets have 2 - 3 layers of plums that will be sorted each day and those that are ready will be cooked, riced and canned as juice. Then I can make jamelly (jelly with the pulp) when we need it.


A stem from the thicket showing the thorns The tile is 4 inch for comparison.

 

[subhanalah]

You are most welcome/  We had one plum thicket her on the farm that never had plums.  So after 10 years, we cut down the trees and they never came back...we think it must have been a very old stand.
Some breeds of hawks actually migrate and do hunt in groups.



Catch the Game, take pictures of your injured bird.  Talk to owner. 
If he doesn't pen up his bird, then when the game returns to your property, he can go home in a bag.  
Or, you could offer him a pullet to house with his rooster. 


The injuries are consistant with a big cat.  Bobcats usually don't attempt to take down a 75 - 100 pound calf.  A small goat perhaps.  You most likely have a mountain lion/cougar.  They will carry off a large kill and pull it up into a tree for safe keeping.  Sometimes the carcass will be covered with leaves and grass.   Dogs would explain a disappearance, but they don't leave cuts in the hide like the spoiler photo displayed.  

  Glad you found the Okie thread..


  If they got wet, make sure they have dried out and are comfortable.  A chilled bird can be susceptible to respiratory issues.

 This is not unusual for an incubator chick.  The blood vessels  to the inner membrane carry blood to the chick as it begins to hatch.  When it pushes out of the shell, they can often still be attached to the egg as that "umbilical cord" dries. 
If you are certain it is completely dry, you can clip it off to about 1/4 inch.  Like a baby's navel cord, it will drop off like a scab.  Because it is not bleeding, the other chicks will leave it alone. 


And there isn't a bander that small....just saying.    
We band our calves rather than having them cut.


iPeanut1990...didn't you ask about egg prices?    I don't sell my eggs...but supply our family. 
A friend of mine sells her eggs.  If a buyer brings back the used egg carton, she gives them a little discount on their next dozen.

rabbit testicles don't lend themselves to banding. They are pretty "in there"
Good to know about the hawks. They are becoming more persistent, bolder today.

 

[ashtree]

rabbit testicles don't lend themselves to banding. They are pretty "in there"
Good to know about the hawks. They are becoming more persistent, bolder today.

So this is not something we could do at home? I hope I'm not offending anyone by asking but my husband has neutered many goats so we are not uncomfortable with the idea, but definitely are/were planning to research it first.

 

[subhanalah]

So this is not something we could do at home? I hope I'm not offending anyone by asking but my husband has neutered many goats so we are not uncomfortable with the idea, but definitely are/were planning to research it first.

I don't wanna be the guy that tries to cut those off a rabbit...they will mess you up!

 

[ashtree]

Today we picked wild plums... It was sprinkling when we got there, but stopped and stayed cool the whole time...thank goodness. We picked 3 gallons of ripe and ready plums for my sister in law and then picked 5 gallon of turning plums for me to work up over the next several days. Then We will pick more ripe ones when we check cows....a gallon or so each time. Looks like we will have plums for about three weeks. Toger likes to eat green plums...tooo tart for me, but I indulge him. Ripe and ready to work up...and a few of the yellow plums. The red plums are about 3/4 to 1 inch and the yellow plums are about 1/2 inch. And set to ripen and work up. A nice inside job during the next few really hot days ahead. The cookie sheets have 2 - 3 layers of plums that will be sorted each day and those that are ready will be cooked, riced and canned as juice. Then I can make jamelly (jelly with the pulp) when we need it. A stem from the thicket showing the thorns The tile is 4 inch for comparison.

What an incredibly full day and full life you have. It must feel good to gather so much from your land.

 

[subhanalah]

What an incredibly full day and full life you have. It must feel good to gather so much from your land.

x2

 

[bardies]

The injuries are consistant with a big cat. Bobcats usually don't attempt to take down a 75 - 100 pound calf. A small goat perhaps. You most likely have a mountain lion/cougar. They will carry off a large kill and pull it up into a tree for safe keeping. Sometimes the carcass will be covered with leaves and grass. Dogs would explain a disappearance, but they don't leave cuts in the hide like the spoiler photo displayed.

I am pretty sure that we would have smelled the carcass if it was still around - I actually caught a whiff of this girl from about 200 yds away (just from the small wounds) but it took another hour or so of searching - I had no idea what I was smelling. Now I do. We have seen bobcat tracks - guestimating a female. No large cat tracks though. Our calves are small - usually more in the range of 50 lbs or so.

Last night I repositioned the game cam so that it would cover the area that the tracks were in, so hopefully we will know more. Would a cougar and bobcat be able to overlap territories?

 

[Kassaundra]

So this is not something we could do at home? I hope I'm not offending anyone by asking but my husband has neutered many goats so we are not uncomfortable with the idea, but definitely are/were planning to research it first.

Sent a pm, I think IF I were going to try instead of wrapping w/ the rubber band like a pony tail, I would cut the rubber band and wrap and tie a few times. I think it would be easier that way, more controllable less likely to "catch" the p###s.