***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Matt in Okla]

 


Found another juvenile bird eaten in one of the outside coops.  This pen has a complete hoop cover and chain link fencing and holds my Columbian Wyandotte breeders and keeper birds.  
We know it is not an owl this time.  
The other two pens where this happened at night, did not have screened covers...so we were thinking an owl.  Now we think this animal is either a possum or a raccoon.  
Going to set up the live trap now too.  We use cat food or tuna and that works for both.
I'm very tempted to sit on guard in one of the pick-ups until midnight for the nighttime raiders and then beginning at 5 am for the early morning raiders.  will see what we get in the next couple of nights first.

They sell inexpensive night vision at Walmart

 

[NanaKat]

Quote:
Caught a HUGE possum in the trap last night! A big fat one that thought she would get another easy chicken dinner. Instead she got a trip to predator heaven.
Will set the trap again tonight too...just to be on the safe side.

 

[Kassaundra]

NanaK, sorry you are having such a time w/ preditors, but glad you are having success in dealing w/ them.

 

[Matt in Okla]

Found me a stump that's always got bugs under and around it and today it had grubworms so I threw them in a bag of raked up leaves and oh boy happy days !

 

[VillamilFarms]

Good to "see" you here, Joe.

Its good to be back online

 

[ashtree]

Caught a HUGE possum in the trap last night! A big fat one that thought she would get another easy chicken dinner. Instead she got a trip to predator heaven. Will set the trap again tonight too...just to be on the safe side.

Wow that's a big possum. We just caught one that made off with a chick the night before. I think our possum was maybe half that size! My kids were really hoping it would play dead. So far, after a year and half back in town the only predators we've dealt with are possums. 2 total, which isn't bad considering how close to the city creek we are. And we set our trap again just in case.

 

[NanaKat]

Found me a stump that's always got bugs under and around it and today it had grubworms so I threw them in a bag of raked up leaves and oh boy happy days !

And watching them go at it is better than television!

 

[dunnmom]

My 2 feather picked Wyandottes are growing their feathers back in. They figured out how to get their hen saddles off the first day, so I decided to let them figure it out. It looks like the picker has slowed down on her picking. I stopped giving them BOSS, instead, I'm letting them take care of the water hyacinths that took over the pond this summer. They eat everything but the roots, have a decent nutritional profile, and shouldn't make them too fat. I had no trouble switching them to pellet feed once I took away their options.

 

[NanaKat]

So far, no more trap able critters at the pens!
Beautiful crisp morning with a new calf in the pasture....only 6 more to calve this fall.
The three hens that are sitting on eggs should hatch their clutch soon...a Serama, a Duckwing Rosecomb and a Cochin/Wyandotte. I gave 8 Delaware Bantam eggs to a persistent Columbian Wyandotte yesterday.
Moving the three ducks out to their outdoor pen today.

With no freezes yet in the garden, my tomatoes are growing nicely. Will have many to ripen thru the next month inside when I strip the garden befor the freeze. In the meantime, they stay on the vines.
There are many peppers as well. I'm going to pot up a couple of candidates to go into the hot tub room.

 

[dunnmom]

Trying the hen saddle again, only this time we stretched the elastic that goes under the wings around to the front and secured them with safety pins, and one pin under the tail. Had one bleeding this morning from the bald spot, so I didn't see a better option. Hope they aren't too tight around them. They are hiding in the coop on the roost trying to get them off right now.