Winter predation?

[Ghosty]

I didn't really have a problem with guineas eating bees, but there aren't many around anymore. The thing I like about guineas is they strip each individual blade of grass. I like guineas until they get older and noisier. You could get them for ticks and get rid of them once they get closer to breeding season.

 

[Folly's place]

Disposable guineas? Do they taste good? I've never seen rave reviews, or recipes, for them...
Mary

 

[aart]

Disposable guineas? Do they taste good? I've never seen rave reviews, or recipes, for them...
Mary

Have seen a few say they are delicious...might harder to process like is explained here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-does-guinea-taste.1339046/#post-21918856

Might find more browsing thru here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/search/83551427/?q=guinea&t=post&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=21

 

[Ghosty]

I've seen the Amish around here raise a 40 x 100 chicken house full of guineas. I guess they couldn't be too bad eating. There is always a demand here for older guineas because of the tick population, and I haven't had any issue selling them quickly.

 

[SueT]

Do you see a decline in raptor risk in winter? My gut says yes because of migration, but we’ll also see an increase in owls a the snowy owl moves in.

I think we have birds of prey that winter here. A small blue raptor attacked on of my hens last week. She got away unhurt. I believe it was a Merlin falcon:

 

[LikeTurkeys]

Lost 5 birds to a coyote in September. My own fault, forgot to close the door. Never would've thought though that a coyote would come so close to the house (he came right through our side yard). For some reason I also thought they picked them off one at a time.

Had a bird killed by neighbors dog (not a true predator I suppose) in late January. Same dogs had killed 5-6 turkeys the year before in October. Overall I would say Fall-Winter? just from that, though it's not enough cases to make a conclusion.

There was a hawk that was observing my birds a few days ago, we've never had any problems with hawks though and he was small.

 

[Throbak]

The spring is the worst for us here in Florida. I lost a very special bird to a fox last spring. I still blame myself but I can't change what happened now. She was taken by a fox during the middle of the day.

My worst bout of depridation was red fox middle of the day 8 birds I nine days and had the 9th bird on the day 10

 

[Al Gerhart]

Winter means fewer mice and rats that are the predator's natural prey and the ones that are still around have moved into your chicken coop where they draw the predators to the coop. The rats and mice can also will breed throughout the winter with the abundant food supply. Get a treadle feeder with a spring loaded load, cut the feed off, make sure the bulk storage feed is in metal cans, and you will force the rodents and the predators elsewhere.