Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[CarolynF]

I see that I have a BYC Friend award.
How did that happen?
I'm flattered!
Thank you!

Oh, look at that! Congratulations!!!

 

[richarddhoward]

I see people talking about coyotes, but has anyone had losses from predator birds?? We used to think, "how wonderful, and eagle!". Until "something" from the sky, killed and consumed one of our beautiful ducks this late spring.

Although we suspect a red tail hawk, eagles are not out of the question. So now, every time one flies over, I think, "**** vulture!"

We used to free range, but no more. They are always flying around our area.... we had to build some tractors, and its more of a pain to be moving everyone around to keep them safe. It was a nice year of free ranging while it lasted!!

I haven't had issues with birds at all, but I know that they are a huge issue to some. I know that I am covering my turkey enclosure soon for this reason, since I see no reason to make them change their ancestoral ways and enter a coup every night, and the chickens have goats that seem to scare off anything that comes after them lol

We have a coyote who wiped out my neighbors laying flock of 20 chickens. When she came home from work, he was trotting down the road with one in his mouth. Last week the chickens were making a huge ruckus. My husband went behind the barn where the noise is and there that coyote was. He wasn't 20 feet from our chickens. Bill chased it down the hill. He has a .22 in the barn now in case he returns but so far not.

I am wondering if there are people you can pay to hunt a coyote in southwestern washington?

I don't know if you can or not, but I know that in the state of Washington if an animal is threatening your herd, flock, etc you can legally shoot and kill any predatory animal legally. If I didn't work full time I'd probably do some of it on the side. The neighbor and I have a mission to get rid of the raccoons right now, as they are pestering his dog and eating food from his porch right now. So we both go out randomly and look for the animals. We don't want to kill them, and he is your typical redneck dude, and a hunter. We both tend to leave them alone, but they are becoming a problem, so they must be dealt with. We are trying his live traps first, and if nothing else, we can permanently end the problem. I think it's a fair way to go about it. Coyotes if they come near though, we would both be actively looking for, the neighbor has a horse that he wants to protect, not to mention our combined collection of cats lol He has a camera up with night vision we monitor to try and get an idea of what goes on at night. So far, we have seen the raccoons on camera, and there is a HUGE buck, I doubt will survive this hunting season, and 2 does, with babies. They are gorgeous creatures. But coyotes won't make it long here.

I think you have to be both proactive and reactive, try and stem off any problems as long as possible and plan for anything and everything, so you have the most choices, but when a threat is perceived, or an attack has been carried out, you are almost out of options. Hawks, eagles, owls, etc are protected from my knowledge of species in the PNW, so I don't know what to do with them, other then to cover what you have, otherwise they are just going to come back. I don't know of any legal lethal means of getting rid of them, and I don't know about how to trap them safely non-lethally or non-harmful to the bird. Maybe Fish and Game can help, but I doubt it.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

I see people talking about coyotes, but has anyone had  losses from predator birds??  We used to think, "how wonderful, and eagle!".  Until "something" from the sky, killed and consumed one of our beautiful ducks this late spring.    Although we suspect a red tail hawk, eagles are not out of the question.  So now, every time one flies over, I think, "**** vulture!"     We used to free range, but no more.  They are always flying around our area.... we had to build some tractors, and its more of a pain to be moving everyone around to keep them safe.   It was a nice year of free ranging while it lasted!! 

I haven't had issues with birds at all, but I know that they are a huge issue to some. I know that I am covering my turkey enclosure soon for this reason, since I see no reason to make them change their ancestoral ways and enter a coup every night, and the chickens have goats that seem to scare off anything that comes after them lol

We have a coyote who wiped out my neighbors laying flock of 20 chickens.  When she came home from work, he was trotting down the road with one in his mouth.  Last week the chickens were making a huge ruckus.  My husband went behind the barn where the noise is and there that coyote was.  He wasn't 20 feet from our chickens.  Bill chased it down the hill.  He has a .22 in the barn now in case he returns but so far not.

I am wondering if there are people you can pay to hunt a coyote in southwestern washington?

I don't know if you can or not, but I know  that in the state of Washington if an animal is threatening your herd, flock, etc you can legally shoot and kill any predatory animal legally. If I didn't work full time I'd probably do some of it on the side. The neighbor and I have a mission to get rid of the raccoons right now, as they are pestering his dog and eating food from his porch right now. So we both go out randomly and look for the animals. We don't want to kill them, and he is your typical redneck dude, and a hunter. We both tend to leave them alone, but they are becoming a problem, so they must be dealt with. We are trying his live traps first, and if nothing else, we can permanently end the problem. I think it's a fair way to go about it. Coyotes if they come near though, we would both be actively looking for, the neighbor has a horse that he wants to protect, not to mention our combined collection of cats lol He has a camera up with night vision we monitor to try and get an idea of what goes on at night. So far, we have seen the raccoons on camera, and there is a HUGE buck, I doubt will survive this hunting season, and 2 does, with babies. They are gorgeous creatures. But coyotes won't make it long here.

I think you have to be both proactive and reactive, try and stem off any problems as long as possible and plan for anything and everything, so you have the most choices, but when a threat is perceived, or an attack has been carried out, you are almost out of options. Hawks, eagles, owls, etc are protected from my knowledge of species in the PNW, so I don't know what to do with them, other then to cover what you have, otherwise they are just going to come back. I don't know of any legal lethal means of getting rid of them, and I don't know about how to trap them safely non-lethally or non-harmful to the bird. Maybe Fish and Game can help, but I doubt it.

While this is true to some extent, you still can do nothing to ANY bird of prey. They are Federally protected. All governments will tell you you need to make your pen/runs more predator proof. You can submit for extreme predation permits, but they will likely get denied and will cost a small fortune. Best bet is to go the secure route and predator proof everything. Loosing birds suck, but is a fact of life.

 

[richarddhoward]

While this is true to some extent, you still can do nothing to ANY bird of prey. They are Federally protected. All governments will tell you you need to make your pen/runs more predator proof. You can submit for extreme predation permits, but they will likely get denied and will cost a small fortune. Best bet is to go the secure route and predator proof everything. Loosing birds suck, but is a fact of life.

Yeah, I didn't think you could do anything about them, so I had just planned ahead here, but I haven't had to deal with any torn up from birds here

 

[Sudsy Chick]

Does anyone have day-old chicks or soon to hatch chicks in the Seattle area? I have a broody that won't quit and would love to purchase two or three day-old chicks, bantams or LF.

Or - plan b - does anyone have four indian runner duck hatching eggs?

 

[hallerlake]

Does anyone have day-old chicks or soon to hatch chicks in the Seattle area? I have a broody that won't quit and would love to purchase two or three day-old chicks, bantams or LF.

Or - plan b - does anyone have four indian runner duck hatching eggs?

If you're talking about Juno, I could let you keep the chicks a while longer.

 

[Sudsy Chick]

Quote:
Thank you! It's not Juno - it's Blueberry.

I cannot break her, she is loud and obnoxious when I put her in the wire box to break her, so I've let her just sit in the coop hoping she'd get over it.

It's been three weeks now, and she's still happy to sit on nothing. So I thought I'd give her some day olds and get it over with

 

[beausonge]

Thank you! It's not Juno - it's Blueberry.

I cannot break her, she is loud and obnoxious when I put her in the wire box to break her, so I've let her just sit in the coop hoping she'd get over it.

It's been three weeks now, and she's still happy to sit on nothing. So I thought I'd give her some day olds and get it over with

I had a Welsummer pullet like that last year. I finally gave her three eggs and she hatched out 2 of them. She was a good Momma until they were 4 weeks old then she wanted out with the flock. She has not been broody this year However, one of my Easter Eggers went broody and she hatched out 2 black JG/Cochin crosses. They are 8 weeks old and she still guides and guards them. They are in with my Araucanas who are pretty small birds. Another week or two and they will be as big as them.

 

[beausonge]

While this is true to some extent, you still can do nothing to ANY bird of prey. They are Federally protected. All governments will tell you you need to make your pen/runs more predator proof. You can submit for extreme predation permits, but they will likely get denied and will cost a small fortune. Best bet is to go the secure route and predator proof everything. Loosing birds suck, but is a fact of life.

I knew you cannot touch a bird of prey. I had about 5 chickens early this spring taken by a Bald Eagle. Those 5 chickens never would scatter when the rooster gave warning. The pullets I have now stay under the trees and when the rooster gives warning, they all immediately hide. I know I am going to lose chickens to predation but I think their lives are better and the eggs healthier when they free range. They do have a very secure coop at night that has concrete floors and is locked up after they go in.

 

[beausonge]

I haven't had issues with birds at all, but I know that they are a huge issue to some. I know that I am covering my turkey enclosure soon for this reason, since I see no reason to make them change their ancestoral ways and enter a coup every night, and the chickens have goats that seem to scare off anything that comes after them lol


I don't know if you can or not, but I know that in the state of Washington if an animal is threatening your herd, flock, etc you can legally shoot and kill any predatory animal legally. If I didn't work full time I'd probably do some of it on the side. The neighbor and I have a mission to get rid of the raccoons right now, as they are pestering his dog and eating food from his porch right now. So we both go out randomly and look for the animals. We don't want to kill them, and he is your typical redneck dude, and a hunter. We both tend to leave them alone, but they are becoming a problem, so they must be dealt with. We are trying his live traps first, and if nothing else, we can permanently end the problem. I think it's a fair way to go about it. Coyotes if they come near though, we would both be actively looking for, the neighbor has a horse that he wants to protect, not to mention our combined collection of cats lol He has a camera up with night vision we monitor to try and get an idea of what goes on at night. So far, we have seen the raccoons on camera, and there is a HUGE buck, I doubt will survive this hunting season, and 2 does, with babies. They are gorgeous creatures. But coyotes won't make it long here.

I think you have to be both proactive and reactive, try and stem off any problems as long as possible and plan for anything and everything, so you have the most choices, but when a threat is perceived, or an attack has been carried out, you are almost out of options. Hawks, eagles, owls, etc are protected from my knowledge of species in the PNW, so I don't know what to do with them, other then to cover what you have, otherwise they are just going to come back. I don't know of any legal lethal means of getting rid of them, and I don't know about how to trap them safely non-lethally or non-harmful to the bird. Maybe Fish and Game can help, but I doubt it.

I know you can shoot coyotes and normally I could care less about them. Unfortunately, this one has gotten some pretty easy chicken dinners and he is out in daylight hours. I talked to my husband and he has a fellow at work who hunts coyotes and he is going to talk to him. The other problem is that this is all privately owned. I spoke to two neighbors and because of other animals on their properties they do not want hunters on their land. *Sigh* and the one neighbor is the one that lost a flock of 20 chickens.

People!