Washingtonians

[Rare Feathers Farm]

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I covered all of my runs except for the geese & ducks...we have golden & bald eagles, lots of hawks (a few different kinds), lots of owls and osprey....so far, no areial predation, though....

 

[Illia]

Yeesh, I guess I have to just live the risk of Eagles being around. . . I couldn't possibly eagle-proof a few acres.

At least my future roosters should make enough warning calls, and there will be enough for the birds to hide in. Also, they seem to camouflage REALLY well in the pasture.

At least my Tolbunts will be penned in and safe. . . I don't even want the rain to hit those.

 

[Eagle2026]

I fear no Hawk, Eagle, Owl, Raccoon, Coyote, possum only my mother in law!!!

 

[Illia]

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That always inspired me, but the money. . . yeesh. I'd love get some netting like that in the front areas and in the rooster pen, but wow. . . I have no clue how much money that will take.

 

[Odette]

Ok - so this will have to count towards the new member introduction - I'll eventually get around to filling in one of those

We are out in Belfair, not far from Bremerton on the Kitsap Peninsula. We just celebrated our 1 year chicken anniversary, and have added some new babies to our small flock of hens. The 3 big girls are Eva (Black Star), Ruffles (Brown Leghorn), and Peaches (Rhode Island Red). Of the 3 babies we've added, 2 are Dominiques (Lucky and Cuddles), and the third is a White Rock (Snowflake). I'm looking forward to getting a couple more babies this Spring, most particularly the Auracanas - but don't tell, my husband thinks we're maxed out already!

Looking forward to sharing our common passions and adventures. Best of luck to you all.

Best wishes,
Odette

PS. If you are really worried about the hawks and eagles, try keeping some homing pigeons, they breed prolifically and act as a great decoy for the flying predators.

 

[Nyrial]

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I think it depends on the teenager. While I don't have a farm, I WAS a teenager who worked on a (horse) farm, and I certainly never had any complaints. My parents raised me to have a good work ethic (please disregard the fact that I'm on BYC at work

). I (personally) think that a teen who has had to work more for what they want will be more reliable than one who have had mommy and daddy hand them everything, my parents encouraged me to work from the time I was 11 or 12 to save my money for what I wanted, babysitting, odd jobs, paper route, bagging groceries, etc. At one point during high school I held 3 jobs to pay for gas just to go where I wanted. I wish I still had that energy.

I know that's little help, but you need to use your own judgment on a case by case basis.


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My White Rock is named Snowball

And

 

[pips&peeps]

Looking for an incubator.......

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/grd/1652839120.html

 

[RonB]

Greg
Great idea with the CD's and DVD's I 'll have to try that. Great idea cutting the fence too. I just ran an electric wire 10 " off the ground, 10" from the top and then one strand right in the middle . It goe's all around my run. You need a GOOD power box. One that says 15 miles or more !!it gives out 7,000 volts. Haven't seen a bocat or coyote arounf it

 

[BlackWatchLady]

Got directed to this thread,

I am new to the boards, and relatively new to WA. We moved here in January. Somewhere near Lacey, lol, But also near Spanaway, Graham etc.....
I have one full grown Americauna (easter egger) hen that came with the place we are living at. I bought 10 silver lace wyandottes that are I think 6 weeks old now, minus one,

and bought 10 more americauna's ho are about 4 weeks old (minus 2 now, and a possible 3rd one is going)

They are kept in my house in my makeshift "brooders" lol... (all but the old hen, she gets to be in the barn...)

I am hoping to add a couple roosters...one silver lace and one americana....
I also would love to have a black australorp roo and 2 or 3 hens for him.

We have 2 horses, 2 dogs, 3 house cats, a ferret, 4 goats, one nubian cross and her nearly full nubian doeling, and two boer/kiko crosses, one doeling, one buckling, and one house bunny to round out my "petting zoo" as my DH's co workers are calling it...lol...

Tara

 

[L0rraine]

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Thanks! I'm seeing some real possibilities here. I love your 'ladder' center post. My husband has this love/HATE relationship with a similar ladder that came with our property when we bought it (takes three full grown men to move the darn thing). I'll have to show him this picture and tell him it should just be 'retired'. But ... where does one find the rope netting? I suppose you wouldn't put much faith in the nylon stuff used to surround vegetable gardens, but that's what I may have to start with.

Our main chicken coop run is 'mostly' covered with chicken wire and we haven't lost any hens from it since our first eagle experience two years ago. My Runner duck pen is adjacent to a large shed (~ 25' high). The fence surrounding it is 6' so if I run something about 8 or 9' up the side of the shed and drape the netting down to the fence I should be good there (my husband worries we could end up with some wood rot on the wall of the shed depending on what I do tho', so it will take some convincing). The other pens are adjacent to a four foot fence with wooden posts on one side and those metal things you pound into the ground on the other. The neighbor and I think we could extend the height of the wood posts (by attaching some wood frames to them) to about six feet and draping netting down from there. It would still make moving around in the pens doable for us. So we'll see what transpires today. Thanks again for sharing those pics - I wasn't sure where I was going to find them but remembered they were out there.

I'm feeling more hopeful. AND thanks for the recipe!