Raptor (I think a Red Tail) vs LF Chickens & WH Ducks?

[tess36]

Oh they are very pretty and I love those ducks.  Are those WH's?  I'm a duck lover but the fox would take everyone I got so I stopped getting ducks for their own safety.  I plan on moving and having ducks again one day. 

Yes, they are Welsh Harlequins and are my first ducks. I was only supposed to start with three but my sister had buyer's remorse with her three, so I took hers when they were less than three weeks. They had all been shipped together, so it was really just rejoining the flock. Here is a more recent pic. They are all silver phase females. I was a little worried a couple may be drakes, then thought they may be gold phase, but no.

Other than the hawk casing the joint so far, I've been very fortunate. I really think part of it is because of the dogs behind us. I think we haven't been 'noticed' yet by most land predators. This is our first year with chickens and ducks, so far the hawk is the only predator I've seen. He/she was here again yesterday, casing. My husband saw it this time too and agreed that by the size it probably was a red tail even though we only only saw it from below in silhouette.

You have goats?!?! Do tell! Goats have been on my 'wish list' longer than ducks. I've been wanting a few goats for about eight years now, but I'm afraid we don't have enough room. We only have about an acre of our property fenced and the rest is either road frontage on a 55mph two lane blacktop or poorly drained soil. I've read that goats do not like wet feet, not to mention it's probably very unhealthy for them. (sigh) So, I figure goats will have to wait a bit. But I'd love to hear about your setup; how many and which breed(s) you have, what you do for housing/ranging, etc. (if I'm not being too nosey)? I really just want to homestead, but it's a process when you're learning as you go and finances are limited. Come to think of it, that may be a good thing. It forces me to do a *lot* of researching and planning before I leap.

 

[tess36]

All summer I had some friendly resident crows that kept the hawks away, but they flew south, and a hen get attacked by a huge red-shouldered hawk. Since the hawks already hate crows (the crows viciously attacked any BoP that came near the yard) I'm getting crow decoys and putting them all over the place. I hope it'll work!

Beautiful flock by the way!

Thank you! They are all hatchery chicks, but I'm happy with all of them, except my roo. There's a whole thread devoted to him.

This is the group at about twelve weeks in mid September. The only one missing is one of New Hamsphires, not sure if it's Frick or Frack!

 

[hayley3]

I originally bought a pregnant nubian to start with so I could have raw milk. Best milk I ever had by the way. But I kept the only boy. She had 4 babies at one time, and 3 were girls. I also bought two pygmy goats. They were for my daughter to play with. We love goats. The nubian is very large, probably the size of a large deer and that must keep a lot of predators away and it worked for 10 years. However, if I let my ducks go to the pond, they didn't last long. Where I lived prior to my current home, it was a lot safer for the ducks to travel back and forth.

Goats have to have some sort of shelter from the rain. They hate rain. And of course wet ground can be a source of hoof rot. Hooves need to be trimmed a lot more on soft ground too. I live on clay ground now so I can go a couple years without hoof trimming cause the ground is so hard esp when there are dry periods. In my opinion, the cutest baby animals on the farm are goats and sheep. Super adorable.
But it depends on what you want to do with the goats and how many as to what you need for them. Goats are hard on fencing otherwise they are easy to keep.