So, yesterday's jaunt to find the The Peacockery on Buzzard Gulch Road (side note - isn't that a great road name? Lots better than Slug Gulch Rd!) was right after I signed and initialed and signed and initialed and initialed and initialed and initialed ad infinitum all over the paperwork for my offer on the ten acres parcel. I did this at my broker's home. She and her husband chatted with me about my current flock and the neighbor's latest nasty phone message regarding the crowing roosters, plus a bunch of other much more REALLY neighborly things. She told her husband my present property is "like a poultry park, you drive up to it and see chickens of all kinds, pecking and scratching with the turkey, ducks and geese strolling around. Honey, she had a POOL built for the ducks!" (Leedy and her husband have an in-ground swimming pool at their house, by the way.) Many years ago, she and her husband raised turkeys. 50,000 at a time. Right here in River City! (Kidding - right there on land adjacent to their house and fully agricultural zoning in the Mt. Aukum area.) So The Chicken Lady (me) got to meet the former Turkey Man. 
He warned me to expect much bigger predators but not ignore the carnage which "the ****** ground squirrels" can do - "those little rodents are carniverous." However, "Grey squirrels just steal eggs." Fox can climb "no climb" fence material. There will be mountain lions, bear, hawks, owls, and snakes. He also told me peafowl are self-sufficient birds better at raising families than even wild Canada geese. Kevin will probably manage to find a mate in some miraculous peacock fashion and if they feel safe, could raise generations of peas without me doing much more than feeding them and providing them shelter. He and Leedy have been married fifty years. They own about 800 acres, including the lake (large reservoir) across the road from their house. The seasonal creek which marks one boundary of the property I am trying to buy (and many other parcels, as well).feeds their lake. Oh, and this county's Sheriff is their son. (I already knew all this; I'm just sharing minutae with y'all.) One of the things Leedy also told me is the elderly sellers are getting a little hesitant about selling at all. (Extended family member hangers-on are exerting pressure, apparently. Right now they reside there - in TWO of the campers - rent free.). The mature daughter - just a few years older than me - is the one who wants to move her parents and disabled brother closer to medical care; she is continuing to work to "sell" the sale idea. As the listing agent works for my broker's realtor group, she and Leedy reduced their commissions because it's all going back to the same company. The listing agent will deliver the offer today. Just before I departed with my copy of the offer, Leedy asked a very reasonable question: "Linda, with this zoning and all this space, what is going to keep you from ...[pause]...." "Getting emus?" I interrupted cheerily. Her husband started to laugh. "Oh, get some emus - they'll stomp the [heck] out of anything smaller than a bear!"
He warned me to expect much bigger predators but not ignore the carnage which "the ****** ground squirrels" can do - "those little rodents are carniverous." However, "Grey squirrels just steal eggs." Fox can climb "no climb" fence material. There will be mountain lions, bear, hawks, owls, and snakes. He also told me peafowl are self-sufficient birds better at raising families than even wild Canada geese. Kevin will probably manage to find a mate in some miraculous peacock fashion and if they feel safe, could raise generations of peas without me doing much more than feeding them and providing them shelter. He and Leedy have been married fifty years. They own about 800 acres, including the lake (large reservoir) across the road from their house. The seasonal creek which marks one boundary of the property I am trying to buy (and many other parcels, as well).feeds their lake. Oh, and this county's Sheriff is their son. (I already knew all this; I'm just sharing minutae with y'all.) One of the things Leedy also told me is the elderly sellers are getting a little hesitant about selling at all. (Extended family member hangers-on are exerting pressure, apparently. Right now they reside there - in TWO of the campers - rent free.). The mature daughter - just a few years older than me - is the one who wants to move her parents and disabled brother closer to medical care; she is continuing to work to "sell" the sale idea. As the listing agent works for my broker's realtor group, she and Leedy reduced their commissions because it's all going back to the same company. The listing agent will deliver the offer today. Just before I departed with my copy of the offer, Leedy asked a very reasonable question: "Linda, with this zoning and all this space, what is going to keep you from ...[pause]...." "Getting emus?" I interrupted cheerily. Her husband started to laugh. "Oh, get some emus - they'll stomp the [heck] out of anything smaller than a bear!"
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