Washingtonians

[RedReiner]

Quote:
if that ones to big you can have this one, rescued mini mule with BIG issues, about 34 inches tall. not halter broke
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/71344_jacksonsept2.jpg

I'm not in the market for a mini mule, but I am curious what kind of issues one would have? Like many young girl's I used to dream of having horses, but know now it's not going to happen, (although I do still ask my mother for a pony every birthday. At 54, I till haven't gotten one.) Being a BYCer has not only enlightened me and given me an education in poultry, but made me realize just how MUCH work, horse, or mule, or any kind of livestock owner has to be willing to do to be responsible. I admire you all for doing what you do.

Jackson the mini mule was never halter broke or handled. he was also left intact. mules might be sterile but the testosterone is still there. they are a different animal as it is and an intact mule can be downright viscous. Jackson was left in a pasture with 3 big mares for most of his life and thought he was herd sire. he was also never wormed or had his feet trimmed. when I got him his feet were curled up and they had managed to rope him and cut half of them off before I got him! each foot had 4 or 5 abcess's in them. he could barely walk unless you were trying to catch him...then he could run like hec. you dont even wanna know their excuse for his feet. Anyway I threw some panels up in his pasture, 3 other friends helped, we backed a trailer up to the panels and we made a big sweep and he ran in the pen, looked at us then ran into the trailer. brought him home and had the vet out, cut his feet off, drained the abcess's, wormed him, gave him a shot of antibiotics. the next vet visit I managed to get him tied to a post and we knocked him out and gelded him. he has hated me ever since. He does not lead, does not trust anyone taller than he is, and he paces in his pen. he has issues lol. Jackson has his own page on FB. just search jackson the mini mule.

Prada, you should have her teeth checked. even though young their teeth can still get out of whack. she is ribby to me but not skinny. all are good looking horses,. I love teagan! what a cutie!
Pettec63 your young boy will make someone a nice horse. bet he is happy to have found you!!

 

[Rainwolf]

Quote:
as I recall, you may shoot nuisance birds "in the act of depredation" -- the rondy joke was,
Q= how do you tell when a crow is in the act of depredation?
A= when he turns black ...

starlings are not considered song birds
neither are crows .. but you need to make sure it is a crow and not a raven
"English" or house sparrows are not song birds ... but song sparrows are

we used to call the house finches "purple humming finches" -- because they would flap like mad and bump the hummingbird feeders, then lick up the drops that splattered

I said it before, and I'll say it again. The crows helped me save Roz from the eagles, and they are welcome here. I asked Mr. Hallerlake to paint me a picture for my birthday. He's painting one with the native crow god (image taken from a totem pole) and crows for me. I'm going to polyurethane it and hang it on the fence.

I feed and take care of my crows.. they even have a nest and baby in my tree!
I used to have bad starling and sparrow problems... they would come to my yard and clean out all my fruit trees before I even got 1 fruit! Now with the pair of crows here and 1 pair of Stellar Jays its rare to find more the a odd robin, chickadee or nuthatch in my yard.
The crows are fed in the front yard (tho they will try and sneak food from the chickens when not looking... chickens chase them away)
The chickens are fed in the coop or treats by the back door.
The only ones I have to worry about are the quails and I'll be building a shed for them soon as I get the retaining wall in.

In the front we have humming birds, finches, hatches, some peckers, crows, jays, chickadees, and lord knows what else.

Oh and I get to eat ripe fruit from my trees! no starling/sparrow flocks to kill/peck all the fruit!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
I moved my suet feeder to the front yard, away from the chickens, so the little birds wouldn't attract hawks to the backyard.

Actually, after further consideration and considering the fact that the tweety birds were in a state of hysteria several times today, I suspect what I saw was the female Merlin and not the Sharpie, so I'm even grumpier about missing the shot. I've yet to photograph a wild falcon of any kind, even when I've seen Peregrines blazing across the Oly Farmer's Market parking lot after a Mew Gull: they're just too fast.

Insufficient progress on the chicken coop today, but some; I'm at the point, at least, where I can deal with the sawing of small-dimension wood, and all.

 

[pettec63]

Quote:
I'm not in the market for a mini mule, but I am curious what kind of issues one would have? Like many young girl's I used to dream of having horses, but know now it's not going to happen, (although I do still ask my mother for a pony every birthday. At 54, I till haven't gotten one.) Being a BYCer has not only enlightened me and given me an education in poultry, but made me realize just how MUCH work, horse, or mule, or any kind of livestock owner has to be willing to do to be responsible. I admire you all for doing what you do.

Jackson the mini mule was never halter broke or handled. he was also left intact. mules might be sterile but the testosterone is still there. they are a different animal as it is and an intact mule can be downright viscous. Jackson was left in a pasture with 3 big mares for most of his life and thought he was herd sire. he was also never wormed or had his feet trimmed. when I got him his feet were curled up and they had managed to rope him and cut half of them off before I got him! each foot had 4 or 5 abcess's in them. he could barely walk unless you were trying to catch him...then he could run like hec. you dont even wanna know their excuse for his feet. Anyway I threw some panels up in his pasture, 3 other friends helped, we backed a trailer up to the panels and we made a big sweep and he ran in the pen, looked at us then ran into the trailer. brought him home and had the vet out, cut his feet off, drained the abcess's, wormed him, gave him a shot of antibiotics. the next vet visit I managed to get him tied to a post and we knocked him out and gelded him. he has hated me ever since. He does not lead, does not trust anyone taller than he is, and he paces in his pen. he has issues lol. Jackson has his own page on FB. just search jackson the mini mule.

Prada, you should have her teeth checked. even though young their teeth can still get out of whack. she is ribby to me but not skinny. all are good looking horses,. I love teagan! what a cutie!
Pettec63 your young boy will make someone a nice horse. bet he is happy to have found you!!

Thank you! I hope so, he is a nice boy just a rambuctious teenager! You know I didn't think about the teeth, but, yea.... always good to check! Many years ago, they only floated once in a while, but, now, Equine dentistry has come leaps and bounds! And you just never know at what age they may have a problem!!

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
That is a gorgeous mare. Really very atractive!

lol I just looked out my window, and my daughter is leading her pony through the fence with a handfull of grass! lol She loves her little Teagan. Chloe has her first Lead line show next Saterday! Hopefully she doesnt freak out with all the people around the show grounds.

Im so sick and tired of being sick and tired. Ive had my cousins mare here with me for 5 days now, and I havnt felt well enough to ride.

my sisters horse Lacy, she's a little underweight, as my sister didnt worm her.

I was SO mad at her when I found worms in Lacys poo... she's gaining weight now, thankfully. But even with the weight she lost, she still looked better than when we brought her to my place. I should post before and after photos, all you horse folks would want to slap her previous owners. they cut her feed in half during the winter before she was brought to me. So skinny and sunk up in the loin. No muscle on her withers, or hip area. No saddle would fit without massive padding. But now, she looks SO much better!

No I TOTALLY GET IT!! I rescued a TB colt from my neighbor in Jan that was emaciated and skinny and crapping like a cow!!! The guy fed him corn silage!!! I told him I'd give him 50 bucks for him in Aug last year, cause he was eating weeds!! He wouldn't do it, finally my boyfriend was standing by the fence and they were talkin about something and the guy said he was going to beef him up and send him down the road! My BF said, we told you we'd give you 50 for him!!! So, that's how I got him. I dewormed the crap out him, Ivermectin twice then oxibenizole, anyway, it's because, the first time I hit him with Ivermec, .....I'm not kidding you, he had soo many bot larve in EVERY POOO! I was a vet tech for ten years, I've owned horse's over 25 yrs and I have NEVER and I mean NEVER seen a case that bad!! I was ticked!!!

Anyway, he is just a spit fire now and I'm going to rehome him. He's about 15 months old and I have two older horses and he's just harassing the hell out of him. I wasn't sure what I'd do with him when I got him, I just was not going to watch him die, I took an oath!! Anyway, I'm going to see about gelding him here pretty quick! just because you live out in the country and you can have horses, does not mean you know what your doing!! People need to get a clue!!!

You're a good person.

 

[pettec63]

Quote:
No I TOTALLY GET IT!! I rescued a TB colt from my neighbor in Jan that was emaciated and skinny and crapping like a cow!!! The guy fed him corn silage!!! I told him I'd give him 50 bucks for him in Aug last year, cause he was eating weeds!! He wouldn't do it, finally my boyfriend was standing by the fence and they were talkin about something and the guy said he was going to beef him up and send him down the road! My BF said, we told you we'd give you 50 for him!!! So, that's how I got him. I dewormed the crap out him, Ivermectin twice then oxibenizole, anyway, it's because, the first time I hit him with Ivermec, .....I'm not kidding you, he had soo many bot larve in EVERY POOO! I was a vet tech for ten years, I've owned horse's over 25 yrs and I have NEVER and I mean NEVER seen a case that bad!! I was ticked!!!

Anyway, he is just a spit fire now and I'm going to rehome him. He's about 15 months old and I have two older horses and he's just harassing the hell out of him. I wasn't sure what I'd do with him when I got him, I just was not going to watch him die, I took an oath!! Anyway, I'm going to see about gelding him here pretty quick! just because you live out in the country and you can have horses, does not mean you know what your doing!! People need to get a clue!!!

You're a good person.

Thank you!

I hope things go better for your mom! Prayers to your family!

 

[SadieSue]

Quote:
I said it before, and I'll say it again. The crows helped me save Roz from the eagles, and they are welcome here. I asked Mr. Hallerlake to paint me a picture for my birthday. He's painting one with the native crow god (image taken from a totem pole) and crows for me. I'm going to polyurethane it and hang it on the fence.

I feed and take care of my crows.. they even have a nest and baby in my tree!
I used to have bad starling and sparrow problems... they would come to my yard and clean out all my fruit trees before I even got 1 fruit! Now with the pair of crows here and 1 pair of Stellar Jays its rare to find more the a odd robin, chickadee or nuthatch in my yard.
The crows are fed in the front yard (tho they will try and sneak food from the chickens when not looking... chickens chase them away)
The chickens are fed in the coop or treats by the back door.
The only ones I have to worry about are the quails and I'll be building a shed for them soon as I get the retaining wall in.

In the front we have humming birds, finches, hatches, some peckers, crows, jays, chickadees, and lord knows what else.

Oh and I get to eat ripe fruit from my trees! no starling/sparrow flocks to kill/peck all the fruit!

Ohh, so that's what's keeping the starlings/sparrows from our yard as well. We have a great population of crows as well as the steller's jays here. I know we have a few chickadees. A couple of years ago I even saw a Goldfinch in the pussywillow by the front window, but in 20 years that was the only time I saw it. I enjoy watching the HUGE crow migration every twilight over our house. Hundreds and hundreds of crows fly a path straight over on their way back to some nesting grounds towards Pt. Defiance apparently. I don't understand it, or know what's going on, but it's a pretty incredible thing.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
I wonder if my cats are going to be arrested for eating a few birds? And I hope skunks are not protected because have shot approx 10 in one day. Hmmmmm, racoons, are they protected?

I don't allow target practice on small birds either, what we said was (somewhat) in jest. There is also the law to protect your livestock and property. Shoot, shovel, shut up.

I know it was in Jest

SSS is a useful tool when it comes to the rest of the pests. last week there was a golden retriever here and he chased my birds, when I went and chased him off he snarled at me.... if he comes over again he wont be going home. I did follow him and found his owner who immediately said, oh it wasnt him there is another that looks just like him.

I told her I just followed him here it was him! oh well he was probably just playing, he isnt mean...

I just let her know what he was up to, did not tell her he would not be home should he visit again. I have two new foals out there along with a small mini mule and he is not welcome.
the songbird thing, I only know this cause one morning we were shopping at the top foods in Lynnwood, at 2 am lol and all of the sudden 4 people came walking up to the front door with rifles. My DH is a sheriff so that got his attention fast. they all had their hands up quick and when lynnwood pd arrived for back up we found out they were their to shoot the tweety birds with pellet guns (not at the request of top foods) that would go in and out of the stores big open front doors. AT 2 AM!!!!! they thought it great sport to shoot the little birds stuck in the rafters of the store. not really fair if you ask me. anyway they were all cited and told to go home.

OMGosh...and I thought I was a HILLBILLY. I apologize if I sounded gruff. Just grumpy I guess. But actually I asked DH about what birdies we have and we have a lot of finches in our backyard. That and starlings. And I am sorry to anyone who likes Starlings....but we kill them. They are disease carying feathered rats. Nasty birds.

Anyway....coming into a store with guns...what where these idiots thinking of. Ya' let's go to the store and shoot birdies out of the rafters.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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LOL...In all actuality...I feed song birds in my back yard and I am throwing out some chick starter for them to fight over, to maybe help combat any Cocci they may have in their system. My cat (has since lost) but usually wears a bell on a collar to warn the birds. But occasionaly a person needs to spout death threats at something (bird in this iinstance) because they are frustrated with the damage they are doing. I don't care what the RCWs are because I have no intention of killing them....just needed to spout my frustration at them and stick needles in my little birdie voodoo dolls. Actually, I think I have finches for the most part. Are starlings considered song birds? They have a bounty over here on them. I am glad though that some one else is also familiar with the 3 S system. We, unfortunately, have been forced to do this with some meandering dogs over the years. Honestly, we usually use light bird shot and hit them in the rear end so they go home. They have only been a few deaths by us on neighbor dogs....and that was when they anialated an entire flock 10+ years ago and stood their ground (uncornered) when DH confronted them. That 1 shot killed 4 dogs and a galvanized stock tank. Hmmmm, we still have that stock tank, I could put babies in it.

I gotta go and dig that tank out of my mother's barn.

Bye ya' all. I hope I have not offended to many....this is just how my brain works and is my opinion. Hope you all have a nice day.

as I recall, you may shoot nuisance birds "in the act of depredation" -- the rondy joke was,
Q= how do you tell when a crow is in the act of depredation?
A= when he turns black ...

starlings are not considered song birds
neither are crows .. but you need to make sure it is a crow and not a raven
"English" or house sparrows are not song birds ... but song sparrows are

we used to call the house finches "purple humming finches" -- because they would flap like mad and bump the hummingbird feeders, then lick up the drops that splattered

I kinda like crows/ravens. Obnoxious that they are.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
AND lets not forget everyone's favorite MAGPIES!!!!! I HATE those birds!!

I was not familiar with magpies until I saw them all over the campus at WSU. I don't believe we have them on the west side of the mountains. I thought they were pretty but I don't know anything about them. Are they nuisance birds?

We call them "camp robbers" and they live up to this name. Don't leave anything laying around as they will take it, especially if it is shiny - like my hair barrett. But then again, the hot dog buns were yummy for them too. They are a pretty bird, but they are glorified crows...but I kinda like crows too. Whenever I see one it makes me think of the Movie "The Stand".

Okay, here is a photo of a magpie: