Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[sharron]

for those interested in cows.....http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/grd/3941392219.html

i would love to have them but husband would kill me if i told him i wanted that little herd

 

[tweetr1979]

hawks are a problem. it is federal law not to kill a hawk. wink wink. so with that said. keep them penned for a while with netting over top. easy pray is easy pray in the hawks eyes.

Yeah I figured as much, spoke to the lady I got my coop off when I went to the gas station, her hubby is a vet and I was asking her about the hawk, she said that her hubby used to "defuse" the situation lol they live up on the mountain where they are everywhere, she also gets bears all the time too. I didn't have a thing to do with what happened to it but I did see it - not nearly as impressive as I had them to be in my mind lol

Technically ALL raptors (birds of prey) are protected by federal law, and it is illegal to kill or even harass them (like using non-lethal rounds or blanks). That being said, I have no love for b.s. laws that protect an animal that has a high enough population to be a nuisance. The PAGC will only tell you to put up netting and stuff that flashes to protect against diurnal raptors and to lock the birds up at night and motion sensor lights for nocturnal raptors. I emailed them a while ago because we have three red-tail hawk families, and at least three great horned owls up here, along with other predators. The motion sensor lights will supposedly help with other nocturnal predators, although we've had all kinds of PIA animals show up over the years even with our lights.

Speaking of predators, I still haven't gotten the coyote, but Ginger is feisty as ever. The score so far this summer Ginger-5, opossums-0, and skunks-0.

Yeah they are a PIA - no one would see anything where we are if something were/were not to happen

was just really unexpected for the young guy to go after it - guess they must like my chickens lol he looked so sad when he was telling me he thought it was one of mine.

Hopefully that coyote will slip up soon enough and then it will be toast!!

My patient is eating some food this morning! YAY!!!! I am hoping this is a good sign..... Vet said to only give her canned food so that is what she has. Still looking for name options for the kitty....


Oh thank you

So far so good. She is resting alot, which is to be expected. She is a fighter though, she hobbled out on to my bed this morning so she could cuddle with me for a little, laid next to me purring away. I am going to give her some pain meds here in a minute although she has yet to show me much as far as being in pain so i am going on how i would feel and treating accordingly. I hope that is the right thing to do? She ate a little food this morning, i have not seen her drink since last night but i have not been watching her all the time. Should i be watching her more and noting when she eats/drinks?

Yay for her feeling a bit better!!

Finally got started on the long overdue new Coop. 7x11.5 is three plan. Just got the base together.
Tried adding a pic , but mobile is not cooperating.

Also got two eggs from my Swedish flowers today! Guess the next batch is coming of age! Time to fire up the incubator!

Oh yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!! Exciting!!!!



Well the dog is home as of last night, had to take her out on and off all night on the lead to go to the bathroom then had to go to the local hardware store to get some small chain so I can keep her outside. So she is in the shade of a tree out the back with her little bed, water/food dish and I am probably going to be making her a little dog house later today ... IF it cools down, it is so **** hot outside it is nuts!! I am so counting down the days till the pool arrives, I am daydreaming that it arrives early lol but I am not holding my breath, after all it is being shipped from walmart lol

Hope you are all having a good day & aren't melting in the heat!!

 

[rdilbarova]

I know at one time multiple raptor speicies were legally hunted. I honestly am not sure why they were included in an amendment to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. All I know is we have too many around my house. There are hardly any rabbits or squirrels anymore, even compared to 3 years ago. At that time I could have a sunrise cup of coffee and see between 10-15 rabbits in the yard, now I'm lucky to see two. Now we get bear in the bird feeders instead of squirrels. I lost kittens to a hawk last year, and one full grown cat to an owl this year (I only know because I saw them get taken, had others disappear). It sucks and when I've asked the PAGC to do something about them I've been told there's nothing they can do (according to the officials I've talked to)... Just so frustrating

I think one of the reasons is because in the 60s, birds of prey nearly went extinct due to the pesticide DDT which caused thinning of eggshells and they took a pretty bad blow, worse then other birds did. Now, they are recovering after DDT was banned in 1972.

Thanks for this info. Sorry you lost your chooks. Do you have guinnea fowl? Did they take that too? I haven't used Murray mcmurry, but heard good things about them.

No, I didn't. And I am still waiting on salmonella pullorum but my birds did have IB and MG. But the man from the Department who came to get the birds to take them to the lab was astounded that I was getting rid of them, so I am assuming that they only take your birds if they have something serious, such as salmonella. Either way, no big deal was made about it.

 

[Farmer Mike S]

I need to check with my township, my neighbor has a shed that they don't want. I was hoping to get it and convert it into a new coop. But i need to find out if our other buildings that are on the property are grandfathered in, MIL never got permits to put them on the property.
If i am able to get this shed it is going to take some work to turn it in to a coop. The roof is coming apart but they had replacement shingles for the roof and they will give them to me with the shed. Right now my birds are using an oversized dog house that i made that is an A frame. It works but they don't have any actual nest boxes in there due to the shape of the building. Really need to get my but in gear and find out about the other buildings....

For my first shed they made me put it on a cement foundation, and for my second shed I went with no permits. Get the permit if that's what you want to do but you can probably get away without one as long as no one complains about it. By the way they might not say anything about your other buildings because when I got permits for my deck the guy never even questioned my shed that didn't have a permit.

 

[stake]

For all:

A question about Marans....I know there is no formal APA standards, but should Marans have feathered feet? I have a lead on some pullets and when I checked the UK standard says this is a defect....the folks selling the birds cited it as a (+)....I dunno....

 

[stake]

For my first shed they made me put it on a cement foundation, and for my second shed I went with no permits. Get the permit if that's what you want to do but you can probably get away without one as long as no one complains about it. By the way they might not say anything about your other buildings because when I got permits for my deck the guy never even questioned my shed that didn't have a permit.

My limited experience is that if its not attached to the house....they really don't care.....my two cents....though somebody might howl if the shed was as big as the house.....

 

[nbenevento]

For all:

A question about Marans....I know there is no formal APA standards, but should Marans have feathered feet? I have a lead on some pullets and when I checked the UK standard says this is a defect....the folks selling the birds cited it as a (+)....I dunno....

I don't know a whole lot about Mrans as I am raising my first flock. I have never heard of anyone in the US checking the UK standard though. Most people try to go by the French Standard and the US Standard. I believe French standard is one leg feathered??? And the US standard is no feathered legs. Mine have the feathered legs and I got them from a French Marans standard breeder. There are a couple Marans groups / threads on here.

 

[sharron]

For all:

A question about Marans....I know there is no formal APA standards, but should Marans have feathered feet? I have a lead on some pullets and when I checked the UK standard says this is a defect....the folks selling the birds cited it as a (+)....I dunno....

english have no feathers on legs and feet, the french, where they started out do, its a fault for the black coppers, i believe, not to have them if showing.
i'm no expert so go on to the website for marans, they will tell you

 

[PAchickenlover]

For my first shed they made me put it on a cement foundation, and for my second shed I went with no permits. Get the permit if that's what you want to do but you can probably get away without one as long as no one complains about it. By the way they might not say anything about your other buildings because when I got permits for my deck the guy never even questioned my shed that didn't have a permit.

My limited experience is that if its not attached to the house....they really don't care.....my two cents....though somebody might howl if the shed was as big as the house.....

We live on 10.5 acres our neighbors don't complain about much of anything around here. If our township wasn't such a pain in the *** I would bring the shed here without a permit. But I don't want any trouble from them. They wanted to charge my hubby' s grandfather $500.00/day for having more than one camper on his property! He had only a few days to remove it or the fines started. So yeah, I think I'll go with the permit as long as they don't care about the other buildings. I'll be putting it in the woods anyhow so it's not like many people will see it for the township to worry about.

 

[BirdbyGavin1103]

We live on 10.5 acres our neighbors don't complain about much of anything around here. If our township wasn't such a pain in the *** I would bring the shed here without a permit. But I don't want any trouble from them. They wanted to charge my hubby' s grandfather $500.00/day for having more than one camper on his property! He had only a few days to remove it or the fines started. So yeah, I think I'll go with the permit as long as they don't care about the other buildings. I'll be putting it in the woods anyhow so it's not like many people will see it for the township to worry about.

I can only speak for what my dad told me when they built our sheds (one of which is now the coop) and for what he said about our township, but if it's not a permanent structure (no permanent foundation or attached to the house) it did not require a permit. That may have changed and I need to check since the fiance wants a shed for gunsmithing when he comes home. I would check to see if the township has a website first, mine does and most codes and regs are listed on it.