Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[corewassen87]

smacked a deer last night with the truck on my way to work. When I skinned her out you wouldn't believe the fat on her. Gonna be a mother of a winter it looks like

 

[jvls1942]

good morning,

big day of work planned, I hope my body can keep up with my mind.

GG, where/what do you teach ?
I have a niece and a nephew and his wife who all teach in wausau grade, and everest high schools.

I am guessing you should get about two extra weeks of gardening with your low hoop gardens.

as soon as I get finished with this tiny roof, I am going to hook up the drag on the tractor and experiment digging some potatoes with it. I might damage some, but there are plenty to spare..

.......jiminwisc..........

 

[jvls1942]

smacked a deer last night with the truck on my way to work. When I skinned her out you wouldn't believe the fat on her. Gonna be a mother of a winter it looks like

venison on the grill,, not a good way to start your day.
hope you didn't damage the truck too much.

I am a believer of the fat on a deer for predicting the winter.
there also is a thing about the wooly caterpillar. something to do about the black section. the more black, the worse the winter. well, I saw one yesterday that looked almost all black..

.......jiminwisc.......

 

[corewassen87]

not the worst but enough. Few hundred in parts. Kinda cancels out my overtime this week

 

[Smallfarminwisc]

HI I have posted here before but it has been awhile. I am sorry if this is long but I thought I would get some Wisconsinites opinions on this.

I posted in the predators section as well, but I am having a fox problem. It killed 6 roosters and one hen in 2 days. I free range all day but they are locked up tight at night. And now locked up during the day as well unfortunately.

I understand the risks of free ranging so thats not really my problem as heart broken as I am for my dear chickens. I know my roosters did their jobs and kept the rest of the flock safe.

My issue is the fox. It is acting strange. It is killing 2-3 birds at a time eating part of only one then leaving. It doesnt take any with.

It is attacking in broad daylight think noon to 1-pm I caught site of it today middle of the day on my driveway. My dad was by the barn only about 100 ft away and I was only about 20 feet away from it.

I was outside with 2 dogs!!!! I picked up the smallest dog the other dog (shepard mix) was oblivious...

The fox didnt move it just stood there and stared at me. I shouted to my dad that I saw the fox and still it didnt run. I started walking towards it diagonally to get closer to my dad trying to get my dads attention and it merely turned and sauntered away stopped about 40 feet away behind some tall weeds and just stared at me.

My dad shouted for me to grab the BB gun out of the closet for him. The fox still didnt moved just sat and watched what we were doing. My dad shot at it several times hes not sure if he hit it or not but it would merely move about 10 feet farther back and wait to get shot at again. He eventually got on his 4 wheeler and followed it till it disappeared in teh corn field.

I went inside to text some neighbors who also have chickens about the fox roaming, came out less then 10 min later with my dad talking to a friend outside the barn about the fox, I went into the barn and THERE IT WAS. Not even 10 min later and it was inside the barn! With people outside and the radio playing loudly inside.

It merely walked out the other side of the barn stopped about 20 feet away and just stared at me.

It eventually turned to walk away when it heard my dad and his friend coming. But still a slow walk with it constantly turning around to look at us.

I went to check on the ducks cause their pen is not as secure as the chicken pen. and they said they watched it walk all the way up the road. it stayed right on the side of the road only moved a couple feet off the road when a car went past then went back on the road.

It was thin and looked to be missing half of its tail which looked mangy and I think its legs looked a bit mangy but he was standing in mud so it was hard to tell for certain on the legs.

For me this was not typical fox behavior. But i have never had to deal with a fox before. Do you think it is sick? or do you think that its just struggling to survive since this is the time of year they usually leave their den to learn to hunt on their own.

We have spent most of the day outside making as much noise as possible. But I am worried that it is so bold and unafraid. Is it legal to kill them in Wisconsin? or do we just keep trying to scare it away? Do I report it to someone due to its strange behavior?

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I have 6 more rooosters to donate to that fox.
On a serious note, I got asked today to be the new poultry superintendent for our county fair!

 

[chickendreams24]

BBP bring them down here we'll do them with our next group lol. What kind of roos are they?

While I'm not certain I believe if you catch them actively after your livestock you can shoot them. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Also about coyotes?

Personally we have lost 21-22+ birds to predators since this last May many of them laying and breeding hens and cockerals, that were ready for the freezer. The next predator we see on our land has a date with a bullet. I sold birds for a minimum of 10$ a piece this year for the ages that were killed. We lost over 220$ worth of birds this year.
Not to mention the worth of our breeders, the raising and feed costs it's insane! Also several of the birds that were killed were pets, and none were over a year old so they had a lot of laying left.

It's been a rough year. We started this last spring with 33 birds that came through last winter with us we are now down to 12 of the originals although I sold 6. The rest we lost to predators were juveniles and point of lay pullets.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

They are bantam cochin roosters mostly. One Jersey Giant, and a bantam wyandotte x cochin. There's also a silkie x bantam Ameraucana.

 

[bigzio]

Evening to all... I would get a real gun first of all small farm....even a base ball bat with a attitude would work well.
The bbgun should stay in the closet, its not a weapon.

How nice that APA will be having their 150th anniversary in 2023.....in the meantime they will have silent auctions at their events, with all the proceeds from them going for that event.....the top breeders in the nation will be donating birds for the silent auctions and the dollars given to the APA for the special anniversary celebration....Mark Peterson will be offering his large fowl light brahmas for the auctions....now that is special..... if you are looking for the best birds in the nation...attend one of their APA shows!

bigz

 

[chickendreams24]

Evening to all... I would get a real gun first of all small farm....even a base ball bat with a attitude would work well.
The bbgun should stay in the closet, its not a weapon.

How nice that APA will be having their 150th anniversary in 2023.....in the meantime they will have silent auctions at their events, with all the proceeds from them going for that event.....the top breeders in the nation will be donating birds for the silent auctions and the dollars given to the APA for the special anniversary celebration....Mark Peterson will be offering his large fowl light brahmas for the auctions....now that is special..... if you are looking for the best birds in the nation...attend one  of their APA shows!

  bigz

That would be cool to attend. Any idea how to find out when and where this will start? I would also like to attend an APA show.

They are bantam cochin roosters mostly. One Jersey Giant, and a bantam wyandotte x cochin. There's also a silkie x bantam Ameraucana.

While smaller they could still be eaten. What's the silkie/ameraucana look like? I wish we had Cochin's already but we decided to wait until next spring.