The Middle Tennessee Thread

[HBuehler]

Happy Birthday

It could be worse...Just tell everyone it's the new perfume you got for your Birthday

I'm ready for the FL show lets go now so were not late but FL has been getting more rain than us...CA maybe? I'm sick of winter and it hasn't started yet.
22 days and counting until the Christmas Season is upon us

 

[emmalynn]

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Happy Birthday... Stinky!!!!!

 

[emmalynn]

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You had to go there?!?!?!

Anyone wanting to get a handmade scarf as a gift, let me know. I have them running out my ears and if you are at any local shows....they are going to everywhere!!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Thanks for the b'day wishes, y'all! The stink has mostly vanished from the yard and from me. At least my coworkers said they couldn't smell me. It is entirely possible that they were just being nice though.

I am rethinking the use of traps. I may move them into the runs. If something gets caught in there I can safely assume that it was up to no good. I'm feeling pretty guilty about the cute little skunk...

 

[DMRippy]

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He was a killer

they are kinda cute... but they got to go!

 

[HBuehler]

We let everything live from Coyote to opossum as long as they stay in the fields...once they try to get into the runs they must die..but so far this year nothing is causing trouble.We had my Partridge Wyandotte sleep out somewhere and he returned then the other night I got home real late and one of the EE hens had roosted someplace other than the coop and I didn't see her until morning when she was very mad about being left out all night...dumb birdie!

Yes...must go there the sooner it gets here the sooner Spring will return I'm done with winter already and it's not officially here yet

If anyone wants a baby bunny for Christmas I'm not going to sell them around Christmas week but we will have some available..some are ready now as well..No chicks though unless my broodies get lucky and hatch what they are sitting on..nothing else laying is worth hatching right now.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

That has been my philosophy until this week when I got the traps. The rule is if you are in my space (the area where I mow) you are fair game. I don't mow the other half of the yard and that is wildlife central. I don't go over there. They don't come over here. That peace treaty was violated by the possum this summer in the coop. I had left the coop open (but locked the runs) since it was so hot and since I hadn't had any predator problems. Thankfully I was awake and heard the chickens going crazy. That was Dead Possum #1. Dead Possum #2 was on top of the silkie coop trying to get in. I think I saw Dead Possum #3 running around on top of the pens one night this week. I never could get a clear shot. Thus the traps and Dead Possum #3. And the hole in the trap. The skunk feels different though. I had the traps on the ground next to the coops and had it baited with apple and cat food. It feels like entrapment. Sigh.

 

[SimplySplendidSilkies]

Anne I don't mess with the stuff in the fields but like you said in the area I mow good as gone and heaven forbid I can't do the deed myself I have lots around here who will step up for me. The neighbors 2 boys will take just about anything out.

 

[robin416]

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One of the things I've done is keep everything mowed that is any where near the coops. I have about 100 ft as the minimum of short grass any where around my buildings. That way the wild life has to come out in to the open, which they don't want to do. All of my birds are in secure buildings. What I call the Dutch coop is mostly wire but built in a way that they would have two areas to penetrate before they can get to the birds.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

The coops are in a mowed area. There is at least 25' mowed on all sides. They are about 25' from the house and backyard as well. The part that isn't regularly mowed gets bushhogged once a year and is about knee high at most. That's one of their favorite places to free range actually.
The coops themselves are secure. One of the runs is like fort knox, but the other runs just have netting on top of 7' wire/wood walls. The bottom 3' is hardware cloth. The top 4' is chicken wire. The netting is just fruit tree netting. I would love to wire over the top, but haven't figured out a great way to support it. The possums are scaling the walls and running around on top of the whole deal.

I think putting the traps inside the run will keep me from catching random animals and limit it to the ones that are actually troublemakers. At least that is the plan I'm going with.