Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

Hey, you guys see the pic of the week on the front page ?
It says it is a "Pumpkin Hulsy" chick.
What is a Pumpkin Hulsey ?
Looks alot like a chipmunk chick to me ~ Awful cute !!!
What is it ?????

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
We have a Cougar that runs our area in the fall / early winter. Has a sceam that just makes your skin crawl! Sounds like a women screaming, with a snarle added in... When my daughter was 4 months old, that darn cat sat outside my house and screamed for an hour or so! Was told by my neighbor, to be carefull, because they are atracted to the smell of babies... Not sure if thats true or not, but it was enough to keep me on alert.

WOW, I think that is an old wives' tale about them smelling babies, but how creepy huh ???!!!
On line here, both cougars and bobcats have territory, up to 5 miles square, and they walk it every day, all year except in the coldest areas, like Quebec...so be careful ALL year !

Living where I live I have to be watchfull year round! We have stray dogs, "dont trust any of them, they are all reservation dogs." Coyotes, pretty sure we have coydogs too, oposumn, bear cougar, Ive seen dead coons, but no live ones yet... With all the kids, my neighbors goats, my chickens, my mothers cats... Im always paying attention to whats going on around here. My neighbors are great, they watch out for us, and we do the same for them. Its really the best way to do it.

So far the we've only had problems with oposumn and coyotes. My horses chase the dogs away from the pastures, and my dogs keep dogs and people they dont know at bay... And there is always someone here watching the animals.

I didnt think that the cougars smelling the baby was real, but having it right outside my bedroom was creepy! And OH so very real. Hopefully I wont have to deal with that, now that the horses pasture runs right next to my house.

 

[cheryl98117]

I just HAVE to share!

Any ideas on what breed this next one is?

The Silkys didnt care for the camera, but the Polish are very friendly!

 

[justbugged]

Quote:
WOW, I think that is an old wives' tale about them smelling babies, but how creepy huh ???!!!
On line here, both cougars and bobcats have territory, up to 5 miles square, and they walk it every day, all year except in the coldest areas, like Quebec...so be careful ALL year !

Living where I live I have to be watchfull year round! We have stray dogs, "dont trust any of them, they are all reservation dogs." Coyotes, pretty sure we have coydogs too, oposumn, bear cougar, Ive seen dead coons, but no live ones yet... With all the kids, my neighbors goats, my chickens, my mothers cats... Im always paying attention to whats going on around here. My neighbors are great, they watch out for us, and we do the same for them. Its really the best way to do it.

So far the we've only had problems with oposumn and coyotes. My horses chase the dogs away from the pastures, and my dogs keep dogs and people they dont know at bay... And there is always someone here watching the animals.

I didnt think that the cougars smelling the baby was real, but having it right outside my bedroom was creepy! And OH so very real. Hopefully I wont have to deal with that, now that the horses pasture runs right next to my house.

I am curious as to what kind of troubles you have had with opossums? We had a mama one have babies under our deck about 2 years ago. It was a real pain after they started toddling around. My first Yorkie hated them, and would bark hysterically at them in what seemed to be the middle of the night. We live right in the middle of a sub-division, and are very close to neighbors, so I have to be careful with barking dogs. (I have to many animals, and I don't want animal control called) We were able to relocate the family of opossums to a less populated area. What I found while researching opossums is that they are fairly safe to have around. Specifically they don't carry rabies, and they are mostly vegetarians. I still didn't want them in my yard. I would rather have opossums than raccoons. At my sister's house in the Ballard area of Seattle she has lost a number of chickens to the raccoons. I saw a Cougar with-in a mile of our house late one night, but I haven't heard any coyotes in a long time. Though no long ago I saw one at my son's home in Buckley. My theory on loose dogs is that you can't trust any of them. If a dog starts working with another one, they will form packs and can kill almost any kind of animal. That is also true about pet dogs. The most trouble I ever had was with someone else's pet dog. I am still sorry I didn't shoot it that night. With cougars as long as there is enough small prey available for them they should for the most part leave humans alone.

I just saw your pictures. Your birdies are really cute. I am going to guess on the red headed chickie is probably a Buff Orpington. I just love the Polish and Silkies.

 

[kristenm1975]

Wow!!! I am so jealous of all you folks with the big cats running around!! I totally forgot for a second that I was reading the WA state thread and just assumed somewhere else. How wonderful to know that there really are majestic wild cats in our state still! I'm sure if I lived where they're appearing from time to time and I had dogs and cats outside, I'd be less than thrilled, but for now I'm comforted by the knowledge that wildlife is still wild in Washington.

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
Living where I live I have to be watchfull year round! We have stray dogs, "dont trust any of them, they are all reservation dogs." Coyotes, pretty sure we have coydogs too, oposumn, bear cougar, Ive seen dead coons, but no live ones yet... With all the kids, my neighbors goats, my chickens, my mothers cats... Im always paying attention to whats going on around here. My neighbors are great, they watch out for us, and we do the same for them. Its really the best way to do it.

So far the we've only had problems with oposumn and coyotes. My horses chase the dogs away from the pastures, and my dogs keep dogs and people they dont know at bay... And there is always someone here watching the animals.

I didnt think that the cougars smelling the baby was real, but having it right outside my bedroom was creepy! And OH so very real. Hopefully I wont have to deal with that, now that the horses pasture runs right next to my house.

I am curious as to what kind of troubles you have had with opossums? We had a mama one have babies under our deck about 2 years ago. It was a real pain after they started toddling around. My first Yorkie hated them, and would bark hysterically at them in what seemed to be the middle of the night. We live right in the middle of a sub-division, and are very close to neighbors, so I have to be careful with barking dogs. (I have to many animals, and I don't want animal control called) We were able to relocate the family of opossums to a less populated area. What I found while researching opossums is that they are fairly safe to have around. Specifically they don't carry rabies, and they are mostly vegetarians. I still didn't want them in my yard. I would rather have opossums than raccoons. At my sister's house in the Ballard area of Seattle she has lost a number of chickens to the raccoons. I saw a Cougar with-in a mile of our house late one night, but I haven't heard any coyotes in a long time. Though no long ago I saw one at my son's home in Buckley. My theory on loose dogs is that you can't trust any of them. If a dog starts working with another one, they will form packs and can kill almost any kind of animal. That is also true about pet dogs. The most trouble I ever had was with someone else's pet dog. I am still sorry I didn't shoot it that night. With cougars as long as there is enough small prey available for them they should for the most part leave humans alone.

I watched an oposumn go into my coop, and steal eggs on many occasions. We've never had an issue with them going after the chickens themselves, but they sure did enjoy the fresh eggs.

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
Oh there is PLENTY of wildlife in Washington state still. Its just a matter of finding them, or in some peoples cases, them finding you.

Go walk the grand forest on Bainbridge Island, look hard enough in those woods, and your find all sorts of large wildlife tracks. And thats only a boat ride away from you.

 

[Jessica Rabbit]

Um, My chicken eggs that went into lockdown this morning are hatching! The temp & humidity were correct all along! Am I missing something?! lol


On a sad note..... My dog got one of my Russian Orloffs yesterday and then a few hours later a Hawk injured my EE Ester.... I was able to get to her in time to have her die in my arms! What a sucky day! The girls stayed in their coop all day today (luckily it is very large) and tomorrow I go down to put some tarps up along with the rest of the bird netting!

And the dog is now permanently tied to our carport! Lucky I didn't shoot him!

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
I'm so sorry to hear that Jessica... That is a sucky day...

And congrats on the hatching of your eggs! Hope everyone comes out ok for you.

 

[Jessica Rabbit]

Quote:
well, The first Ameraucana to hatch brightened my spirits......It is the prettiest blue! And VERY loud! lol oh and I so far have 5 pheasant out of 21! and still some time to go!!! I did good on my first try I think!