Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[sphinxface]

We live on a busy street, with a river and a bird sanctuary nearby. When we first moved in there was a bald eagle in our yard eating a dead possum.. Not too long ago my fiancé was letting the chickens roam our property, he went inside to put something away and when he came back out there was a bald eagle on the ground next to the chickens as they fled in terror. I dunno what it is about our yard that attracts Eagles... We put some pinwheels and bird netting over the run as a precaution, they are also aware and will hide under the covered areas, even at the site of geese flying overhead. They haven't tried anything with the run. And also to the annoyance of my fiancé, I've been feeding the crows, I figure they will scare the Eagles away if they decide they like us enough to stick around

 

[Chickielady]

Well I will start locking them up at night, I did it before when a raccoon was eyeing them but stopped after he disappeared. One of us is usually home at all hours of the day, but I would like to take some more precautions in the run design.

Oh YA, I was also wondering if there were laws against killing minks?

We practice the SSS way of farming here............SHOOT< SHOVEL & SHUT UP.

 

[Chickielady]

What I say is don't tell anyone and no one will ever know.

 

[Chickielady]

My chickens are locked up every night without fail. We used to let the roosters out before work, but one morning at dawn (around 7:00) I saw a coyote run through the yard and our best rooster was gone. Raccoon, coyotes, bobcat, weasels, dogs, etc...the poor chickens just aren't safe. Even when I lived in Seattle there were coyotes in the yard at night looking for cats to eat.

The wildlife is evolving, and learning where to find food, where their natural food is no longer available...so now the wildlife actually LOOKS FOR and desires to LIVE WITH mankind.
I just trapped a HUGE possum in a HAV_A_HEART trap next to my baby chick pen.

 

[Chickielady]

I know the feeling - Our property isn't fully fenced yet, luckily I have our bunch in our small chain linked backyard with them being in a chain linked pens - We've had a coyote come around twice staring at them already, then our neighbors 4 Beagles and I don't know what the other one is come over and harass them. Raccoons so far I haven't seen one, nor anything else... but we have loads of coyotes that hang around the area.

You need the no climb-no dig fence.
It is not really expensive...just requires time, some good wire cutters and a lawn chair..oh, and knee pads.




Above is my chick pen fence.
What you see at the foot of the fence is a section of 6' feild fence that is cut horizontally....ripped is a better word for those who understand how lumber is cut.
So a 6' fence can be ripped in 3 sections of 2'.....................right ?
I have to make sure cuz of my mathematical dislexia...................so I got 1 6' roll...to use as verticle fence, and 1 6' roll to rip for no dig.
The no climb part is cutting 2-4" sections of the fence off at sharp angles.
IT CUTS YOU !!!
We wrapped this around every wooden fence post (which is where terrestrial predators will try to climb (bobcats, mink, raccons, cougars)
AND we ran it along the top of the fence, and tied it with zip ties.
Presto...nasty spikes poke out & we have never had any critters try to make it over the fence.



So, to rip, you get the roll of fencing, a wire cutter, and sit in a lawn chair & cut..and cut & cut.
When you are done you cut the next 2' off.
When that is done, you unroll it at the foot of the outside of the fence, and bend every so many cut ends over so it is attached to the foot of your verticle fence, like you see in photo #1 & 2.
Cutting the fencing in 4" sections & zip tie to the top & posts gives you the "no climb" spikes on top of the fence.
It really is easy to do !
I have bird net over the top of the chick pen and a few coop pens, but not the free range pastures as seen on the left of the chick pens.

 

[Chickielady]

We've had Eagles hover around as well - thank goodness none of them have flown off with a bird either- maybe ours are just too fat and plump for them to even attempt it

No way, an eagle would have no problem with even a LF Cochin, they are far bigger than you realize !

 

[Chickielady]

I'm totally surprised we haven't had more interest in our coop from predators. There have been a few times that the pop-door didn't get closed, but to our relief nothing had bothered them in the night. Maybe the deer in the neighborhood know something we don't, because there is a group of 2-5 that always sleep about 20 feet from our coop. <shrug>

But I've personally witnessed opossoms, raccoon, coyote, stray dogs, eagles, hawks, and even a black bear on our property.

Every few days lately I've seen an eagle circling above; The chickens cluck-cluck and go under the trampoline. On 3 sides of our yard the bird would have to come almost straight down to get them though.. Perhaps that enough to make it not worth it unless they were desperate ... Or perhaps I've just gotten lucky so far..

How is the babies ???? Baby update needed !

 

[Chickielady]

So my friend has 3 hens, all 2 years+
he says they are finished laying & he will eat them or give them away
Would they stilL be broody enough to hatch other eggs?

2 year old hens should still lay eggs just fine.
What breed are they ?
Maybe he needs a light in his coop ?
Or a better diet for them ?

 

[Chickielady]

I had a run in with cocci on the last hatch and lost half the chicks. Only one girl out of the remaining 5. More are due in about a week, then a week and a half from then. I owe two pullets to someone and really need to get replacements grown out for myself as my two best girls are 4 years old. If you only want them for egggs there is no problem getting you a few later after they grow out and I see how good they are. Some always are eliminated early.

I am meeting up with cowgirlgrace on the 3rd & maybe getting eggs from her.

 

[Chickielady]

The 3 S. Shoot shovel shutup. Nonprotected species I don't even sweat at all. You can defend your birds from them.

My prefered methods for everything now has been teaching the dogs to go after them. The word "goose" is enough to get them to look and tear off after geese and ducks. They pretty much will go after anything that they aren't taught is supposed to be here. They are protective of the chickens and take care of the starling vermin that steal food and spread diseaseas well. Funny watching chickens walk over the dogs or steal their food when those same dogs are good at catching and eating the starlings.

My birds know exactly where to go if there is trouble !