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GoodGuinea said:
Same with mine. I only have a couple acres, but it borders a nature preserve on multiple sides. It's a mixed blessing. I love the privacy, but my neighbors are foxes and coyotes and owls! We learned quickly (and sadly) that the birds need supervision 100% of the time they're out free ranging.
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Yes, us too! Including black bears (knock on wood) they have not bothered the birds but they have ravaged the bird seed, feeders, broke a rail on my porch and my garage (forgot to close the door one night). We love the nature preserve and run the trails quite often, just never know what you will meet along the way 😉 i swear one of the dogs (I have 2 sibes and a lab) is best friends with the coyotes 😎🤦‍♀️
 
Whatthecheep said:
I do not have an interest in owning turkeys or guineas, unless they are rescues and in need of some TLC to live out their lives doing whatever it is they do best - I have been looking into starting an animal sanctuary for animals who make it from the Big Ag or any place that had less than desirable conditions. I understand this can go many ways with many opinions- My dogs are all rescues from very inhumane conditions, and it put the bug into me to help out others as well. I've been bringing home strays my whole life - I should have known this would happen :idunno
But yes, plenty of space to roam, a nice creek and good size forest, they seem very happy 😊. Unfortunately we do have a lot of predators, so the birds are only aloud free range certain times of day when the dogs and I can supervise 😏
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The caution I would offer with taking rescues is that the poultry world has a lot of really nasty diseases with very few effective vaccines and treatments. The current discussions about respiratory diseases makes the point here better than I ever could. Quarantine sounds good, but is, in truth, ineffective, as many diseases can reside in birds with no symptoms for months, years, their entire lives, but still be able to pass those disease agents on to other birds.

I think if you take in enough rescues you will accumulate all the nastiest diseases and they will take out most of the birds you are trying to save.

That is a pretty grim assessment, but in practice, poultry rescues are nothing at all like dog and cat rescues, where pretty much every disease is preventable and treatable. The state of poultry medicine is not even close to that, poultry are usually culled when they get ill as they are regarded as livestock by the vet practices and schools (as a rule). I applaud your intent and hope it works out for you better than my predictions here.
 
It’s 7 PM. Do you know where your Pencil Rocks are?
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:gig They only resumed laying exactly three weeks ago.
 
dheltzel said:
The caution I would offer with taking rescues is that the poultry world has a lot of really nasty diseases with very few effective vaccines and treatments. The current discussions about respiratory diseases makes the point here better than I ever could. Quarantine sounds good, but is, in truth, ineffective, as many diseases can reside in birds with no symptoms for months, years, their entire lives, but still be able to pass those disease agents on to other birds.

I think if you take in enough rescues you will accumulate all the nastiest diseases and they will take out most of the birds you are trying to save.

That is a pretty grim assessment, but in practice, poultry rescues are nothing at all like dog and cat rescues, where pretty much every disease is preventable and treatable. The state of poultry medicine is not even close to that, poultry are usually culled when they get ill as they are regarded as livestock by the vet practices and schools (as a rule). I applaud your intent and hope it works out for you better than my predictions here.
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I agree 100%, mainly the reason I hesitate with any type of poultry. It's like dentists, been around forever yet still using the same old practice 🙃. It may change as more and more people are looking for specific poultry vets and medicine, just need the resources and funding (easy enough, huh? 😕) I am looking more along the lines of large animals. I love my birds to pieces and would be devastated to introduce a death sentence.
 
How much do you worry about your birds when you're out of town? I've never worried much, because they don't need a lot. But we're leaving soon, and this time I'm stressed because we haven't caught that fox yet. We've made things as secure as we can, but I'm still worried he's going to have a lot more time to figure something out while nobody's home to hear the squawking.
 
GoodGuinea said:
How much do you worry about your birds when you're out of town? I've never worried much, because they don't need a lot. But we're leaving soon, and this time I'm stressed because we haven't caught that fox yet. We've made things as secure as we can, but I'm still worried he's going to have a lot more time to figure something out while nobody's home to hear the squawking.
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Get a cheap radio and plug it in somewhere in or near the coop. Leave it on talk radio or a mixed format station (rather loud) so normal people voices are regularly heard.

A few lights on timers flipping on or off at odd hours can help also. Cheap timers are available that plug into the outlet like for Christmas lights.
 

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