The Front Porch Swing

[lindz8504]

Several captions here....

"Yeh I have friends...."

"Meow...cluck cluck"

"Im a chickie chickie.... Here chickie chickie...."

and finally

"What !?"

Sooo cute...

deb

hahaha! Sydney is so funny... she is always pretty close to where the chickens are.

 

[BCMaraniac]

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I make a "no bake" chocolate peanutbutter oatmeal cookie when I have to have a good chocolate fix. Scraping the pan is my favorite part! LOL Good luck on finding that perfect place AND I hope your hubby is home safe and sound SOON.

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I make those same no bake cookies! Very simple, very satisfying. My family loves them. Cocoa, oatmeal and peanut butter, etc.

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Some folks call them "Novaks". If you don't like chocolate so much you can use just peanut butter.....they're good too!

 

[sarahsunshine]

Hot wire near the top of the fence on the outside. Situate it to where they will still have their hind feet on the ground before they touch the hot wire. Good for bears too. the reason for the placement is to have them complete the ground for a good shock.

Its safe for the kids. It hurts but they wont touch it twice.... LOL. Believe me having had horses 47 years now I have been bit by hot wire on many occasions. the charge is only enough to hurt not kill. Once the bear or cougar touches it once they will realize your fences bite. They may test on occasion but what you are doing is training a predator that this part of his or her territory is off limits.

Also a visual overhang is a good deterrent to cats they have a difficult time judging how high to jump up. They back up and realize there is nothing for them to kick off of. They use this at the San Diego Wild animal park.

Make sure where you place the run and the coop there is no place to drop down on from above. Tree overhang.... other buildings....

For what its worth a Single Mountain lion weighs between 60-140 lbs for females and 80-200 lbs for males. They hunt Deer Elk and Moose. Deer range up to 200 lbs for Mule deer. Elk range up 500-700 ish pounds. Moose range up to 1000 lbs ish. The point is a mountan lion has no issues with hauling off 200 pounds worth of meat to a suitable feeding spot .... even up a tree. We have lost two hiker/joggers up in our mountains over the past forty years.... Found em off trail a good two three hundred feet.

Read up .... talk to wild life management for the area find out what your risks are or will be. I find my most habitual predators are the ones every one els has.... Raccoon, hawks, feral dogs or dogs allowed to run in packs, and coyotes. Hot wire works for them as well. Lock your critters up at night.... Dogs in the fenced yard are an excellent deterrent because they alert to strangers. Though I prefer my dogs to have free access to the house as well. So doggie doors are a must for me.... Then again I dont have snow and even on the rainiest days no mud really.

Gosh I wrote a book.

deb

Thanks deb!!!

I laughed at your post because it made me realize what a goof I am being! I AM the wildlife person here (yep, it's my job!!!), and I frequently give people advice on how to keep bears out of oil camps (with big dumpsters that attract them). We have never had a cougar attack that I know of, but several hundred bear situations a year is not unheard of! So... why am I worried about cougars now???

Likely becaus emy mother is stressing out and I have 3 small children that are making me be irrational!

Actually, a good trick is to hank an open tuna.sardine can on the hot wires. Then the bears/cougars will sniff it and get a shock. Don't like that much!

And, yes, I am used to hot wires... should ask my friend (male) what it feels like to pee on the electric cattle fence! LOL!!!!

 

[lindz8504]

For the most part my biggest predator has been my neighbors' huskies. We have heard coyotes, and there are black bears around, but you rarely see them. Of course we have raccoons, opossums, and hawks. I'm glad I don't have to worry much about any type of big predators like cougars. Especially since we are hoping to get a couple of dairy kids in a month or so! We went to the farm and looked at the nannies yesterday! He's going to call us when he has doelings on the ground! They will be either Nubians, Alpines, or Toggenburgs... depending on what he ends up with! I'm really excited, I haven't had goats since I was in high school....

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

Evening ya'll ! Just wanted to drop by the porch and say hello to you lovely bunch of folks.

It's a chilly evening here with a current temp of 21 F with a windchill of 14 F. The birds are tucked in for the night, the wood fire is stoked and snapping away and I'm sitting here with a hot cup of tea taking it all in.

Just a few photos looking out over the Gulf of Maine from my home... You can see the storm clouds rolling in with the clearer skies in the foreground.

Thought I'd chuck a pic in of the birds hanging out around the coop soaking up some sun yesterday

 

[LindaB220]

Yay!!!!

Linda is here!!!

LA, checkin' in!

Are you going to top this run?

This is so funny because I met a neighbor 1/4 mi down the road that raised chickens and she only has hers in 4 different 6x10 dog kennels. Not covered in hardware cloth, not covered in nothing. No roof. I asked her about predators and she said only once a snake came to a neighbors but not hers. I told her about BYC and deep litter (she only had dirt) but she gave me a doz eggs and loves to talk chickens. Yea!!! So I'm set. But I'm going to proof this set up as best I can. 4 ft wired fence with the strips of tacks that carpet layers use on top. If that doesn't deter the cat I will cover it. Those things are used to deter bears. ha

 

[lovingmyhens]

I've got a rabbit question for all you chicken people: I have a senior citizen bunny and he has been losing weight. I'm trying to fatten him up. I got a bunch of veggie burger patties from school and I was wondering if they would be good for my bunny. We don't have the normal "school cafeteria" food... Since it's a private school we have a legit food company cooking for us! I gave him a few small pieces and he ate them. What are your thoughts?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: bwhaahahah,,,, funny how that momma bear comes out in us when we feel our family is threatened....

When I first moved up to my patch of heaven there was an ongoing massive fire in San Diego.... I had family evacuated from one house to settle in another only to have to move every one back to the other house. .... There were herds of mule deer running in front right up through residential areas.... Up at my place sixty miles away the first two years the mule deer And the predators were concentrating there because they were following the deer.

It has settled down since thank goodness. The only thing I have to really worry about are packs of dogs. URG.... Hey I have a question for you.... My opinion is to not remove a predator unless they become dangerous to people.... but to condition them to leave YOUR stuff alone.... that way you know he is keeping out other predators.... Dos that make sense...
deb

 

[lovingmyhens]

Evening ya'll ! Just wanted to drop by the porch and say hello to you lovely bunch of folks.

It's a chilly evening here with a current temp of 21 F with a windchill of 14 F. The birds are tucked in for the night, the wood fire is stoked and snapping away and I'm sitting here with a hot cup of tea taking it all in.

Just a few photos looking out over the Gulf of Maine from my home... You can see the storm clouds rolling in with the clearer skies in the foreground.

Thought I'd chuck a pic in of the birds hanging out around the coop soaking up some sun yesterday

That is so gorgeous!! I love pics of snow-I just don't like to be in it

 

[Windy Bay Farm]

That is so gorgeous!! I love pics of snow-I just don't like to be in it

I hear ya, LMH ! I'd take pics any day over the real stuff and we have had it non-stop here since December which is rare for us to have it terrible weather wise ! Oh well, Spring is on its way !!