What took my chicken? Is it going to take my ducks too?

[Learningstill]

Thanks, us too! That goat is one of our newer goats and she is very unsocial. She is getting better. The other one we bought with her is worse. Baby steps....

The snow is getting old! It actually has melted down, so it is not nearly as high as it was. Their pen has paths shoveled throughout, because the goats would not come out of their shed. Spoiled! I hope the snow does not melt all at once. I also wish it would quit snowing

Thanks for responding! Our fingers are crossed

 

[Amiga]

Prayers all is well from here on out. There is a rumor we will see spring. Someday.

 

[Learningstill]

Prayers all is well from here on out.  There is a rumor we will see spring.  Someday.

Thanks! I hope the rumor has validity! Really, I am wondering if we are going to skip spring, I hope not. I love spring and that is the best project tackling weather. We all know my family has a bunch of projects to tackle and the list gets longer by the day!

We were gone all day yesterday and the ducks were okay, yay! We added a few more inches of snow Saturday night, so the ducks have been hiding out in the shed. The hawk probably does not even know they are out yet. We will know more as the weather breaks. When our chicken was taken it was one of the warmest days we had all winter.

Thanks for the support!

 

[Learningstill]

Update.....

We believe we have spotted the hawk in a distance, but zero sign of danger to the ducks and solo-chick aka Busta-move. We still are bringing her in at night; it is really cold out and we were hit with yet another snow storm. If I have to shovel the driveway one more time..... Back to the important stuff. The fishing line, silver and orange ribbon, and goats have seemed to work. Thank you Jesus ! The ducks have finally returned to their carefree selves.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Update.....

We believe we have spotted the hawk in a distance, but zero sign of danger to the ducks and solo-chick aka Busta-move. We still are bringing her in at night; it is really cold out and we were hit with yet another snow storm. If I have to shovel the driveway one more time..... Back to the important stuff. The fishing line, silver and orange ribbon, and goats have seemed to work.

Thank you Jesus

! The ducks have finally returned to their carefree selves.

that's great news!! and sorry about your snow storm. Hoping ya'll see spring soon. us too.

 

[Learningstill]

  that's great news!! and sorry about your snow storm. Hoping ya'll see spring soon. us too. 

Thanks! What state are you from? Have you had a typical winter? Here, winter has a new meaning. I cannot remember a winter as this. It has wreaked havoc! Pretty soon we will be unable to drive through our driveway. There is so much standing water over dirt and the dirt continues to get more muddy. The goat pen has water throughout which is getting muddy with the ducks in there. Ahhhhhh!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks! What state are you from? Have you had a typical winter? Here, winter has a new meaning. I cannot remember a winter as this. It has wreaked havoc! Pretty soon we will be unable to drive through our driveway. There is so much standing water over dirt and the dirt continues to get more muddy. The goat pen has water throughout which is getting muddy with the ducks in there. Ahhhhhh!

We're in NC mountains and it's suppose to be the coldest winter in 10years here, I really don't remember so many days of minus 0's like we had this winter. We didn't have the snow that others did but when we got it we had to deal with the ice. not fun. Not sure how ya'll can deal with the mud probably not much can be done till it begins to dry out, hopefully soon. Can goats handle standing in mud? I think it's not good for cattle but with the winter most have had I don't know how it can be avoided. Where are ya'll located?

 

[Learningstill]

We are in MI. The goats do not like water or mud. We have to clean out their hooves. Our goats do not seem to mind, because they are choosing to be in that area verse the area which does not have the mud or water. Also, they climb up on stuff to stay out of the mud. We have had minus zeros, lots of snow, and ice. It has been rough.
As far as the mud, I periodically use a snow shovel and scoop the water away. It comes back, but I figure it will eventually stop and the dirt can begin to dry.

Were you guys prepared for this type of weather? We have managed, but I will be making modifications this spring and summer.

 

[Miss Lydia]

We are in MI. The goats do not like water or mud. We have to clean out their hooves. Our goats do not seem to mind, because they are choosing to be in that area verse the area which does not have the mud or water. Also, they climb up on stuff to stay out of the mud. We have had minus zeros, lots of snow, and ice. It has been rough.
As far as the mud, I periodically use a snow shovel and scoop the water away. It comes back, but I figure it will eventually stop and the dirt can begin to dry.

Were you guys prepared for this type of weather? We have managed, but I will be making modifications this spring and summer.

No we weren't My houses and coop are not designed to have food and water inside, oh i could do it for the chickens since they are much tidier but the ducks would be in their coop making a mess so I feed outside under feed covers we have built to keep their feed dry and thank goodness I have access to elec. so I can use heated buckets and feed bows since I makes FF for my flock,This year was the first time any of my Scovy's got frost bite and I've had ducks 10 yrs this June. One of my Roosters got it real bad on his wattles and I kept him slathered in bag balm and vaseline. he has recovered. I even had a touch of frost bite on my lil toe, yep never had anything like that and I wear bog boots that are suppose to be -40 which isn't true. I am not sure what I can do differently for this next winter. None of my flock chickens included wanted to be inside out if the weather but I did put up spare lumber wind blocks for those that wanted to could get behind. If these winters are going to be common from now on we'll have to do something different. Another problem I have is having 4 drakes and a gander, they will not tolerate being in the same open space together We have stalls inside our houses for the drakes to have their own bedrooms and some of the girls have their own bedrooms. Everyone does pretty good out in the open but closed up together would be a free for all I'm afraid. What are your plans for this coming winter. Hard to think about isn't it. This coming winter. lol

 

[Learningstill]

Well we have a few. For starters we are building individual enclosed breeding pens inside the bigger pen. We also are building a watering station, so their buckets can be sheltered from the snow. We will be trying the PVC feeders and those will also have a covered station. We also are building a hay/straw and feed storage. Right now, the feed is in the basement and the hay/straw is stored in the opposite side of our yard in my son's workshop. Puke, right? Also we are building rain barrels for each pen, so during the unfrozen months we will have easier access to water for the ducks. I am sure I could add more to the list, but I won't bore you anymore.