MurraysMutts
Well-known member
They've lost a couple. Mostly to roadkill. But some dumbarses dog showed up here a while back and got at least one of the ducks.
Hated that for em. The kids loved those dang ducks!
What to do?
- Thread starter Ky hills
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Hated that for em. The kids loved those dang ducks!
OP
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Ky hills
Well-known member
The wild turkeys, and town pigeons are all time doing that here.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
Stray and feral dogs will do more damage to them than any pack of coyotes ever could. Somebody told me once, I don't know if it's true, that once their prey instincts are activated you can't break them of it. My sister had a Catahoula that got too rough with a duck and couldn't be around them anymore, so I guess maybe that's possible.
MurraysMutts
Well-known member
I'd still like to get some yardburds. Stay entirely too busy to even get started with em. Have chicken prices went up proportional to egg prices?
Used to be some Amish up north of here that raised em and sold em. Think they got 8 or 10 bucks per bird. Nice young laying hens.
Used to be some Amish up north of here that raised em and sold em. Think they got 8 or 10 bucks per bird. Nice young laying hens.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
Around here chicken prices aren't too bad. I used to raise buff orpington x Rhode island red hens and I sold them for 12 each. The real ruse on chickens, if you don't care about breed, is to scour around and find some that somebody just can't keep anymore that are being given away or going for very cheap. As far as fooling with them, a few landscape timbers or the high fence posts work pretty okay with some chicken wire and a tarp or some tin sheets for a shelter. They can be trained to go in and out. Then you just keep up on feed and water, it's a ten minute chore if you keep your feed close by.
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Ky hills
Well-known member
That's how it is here, I know a couple hunters that probably get around 50 coyotes between them a year, in this area of the county, and it ain't a dent in them.
One guy got 3 coyotes and 2 bobcats of his farm in two weeks time .
Since most have quit coon hunting they are thick too. Then minks, weasels, hawks, owls. Chickens ain't got much chance of living through a day or night without a secure pen with a cover over it and a even more secure coop at night.
Back in the fall our neighbors lost all their chickens. Something tore into the coop which was apparently one of those prefabricated deals.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
There's ways to proof a basic pen, but it's still an added extra chore to keep up with shooting, trapping, and spooking off critters for sure. It's part of it, you can thank the F&W geniuses for a lot of it.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
You reminded me. We always stop by my great uncle's place when we deer hunt, he lives just up the road. He's an old horse trader and team roper and he also keeps an excessive (very excessive) number of chickens. He has definitely done some things with some hawks over the years, and with no real bother with the process of the law. He one time called me over to his fence, a chicken thief had mysteriously perished in the airspace over the property and he couldn't identify it. Sure as crap, it was a peregrine falcon pretty far out of its home range. Still leaves me curious.
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Ky hills
Well-known member
I just ordered 26, time you add on vaccinations and shipping it looks like a little over $5.00 per bird.
I order mine from a Hatchery in Iowa.
There's one in Texas that I've considered too,
They are a little extra work, but once you get set up it ain't too bad. We sure enjoy having our eggs. Makes for a quick meal a lot of times. But like I said in a post earlier it ain't real cost effective you just have to like it to justify it.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
I think it's like anything else, there's ways to make it more cost effective but they take more time and therein lies the trade. The big thing to remember is that they're an asset. They can eat a lot of stuff and you'll always have eggs and chickens (if you have a rooster) from them. I still firmly believe that we've yet to see our hardest times as a nation, and having a renewable food source may just come to be as valuable again as it was in the Great Depression.
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Ky hills
Well-known member
Yep, F&W are a smart bunch for sure. Oh there aren't any bears in the county, despite the fact they have been in surrounding counties for years. Then when they can't deny it they say oh it's just a young male wandering out of its range, there aren't any females or any bears living here. That same summer our neighbor's game camera showed mother and two cubs. The young male was probably on our place looking for her. Since then pretty common to see them or evidence of where they been.
Red Tail hawks are about as common as starlings here too. Maybe the eagles that have moved in will be competition for them.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
Man, don't even get me started on their "it's a young male" or "it's a transient population" BS. They used to do that with mountain lions in many places, including my home state. They'd deny it on any phone call. Even though you have tracks and an injured animal (horse in this case) they're like "Oh it's probably just a transient animal" and they will do almost nothing for you.
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Ky hills
Well-known member
Yeah, that's their story. There have been two mountain lions confirmed here in the state, a young one hit on a road and one shot out of a tree by one of their own officers.
They spun it like that the dna matched a mountain lion population in South Dakota and were not living here.
The concerning thing to me is that a lot of people in this and surrounding counties have stories of them some in vivid detail and credible people. Mountain lions are not something to take lightly. People need to be made aware of their presence if there is even a remote possibility of them passing through they are a danger.
50/50Farms
Well-known member
Yeah, well, what can you say? It doesn't matter that your family has been there since the 1880s, they have a degree.
Dave
Well-known member
I have lived my life in the out of doors in areas with high mountain lion population. This year we have found 2 cat killed deer within 200 yards of the house. Several years ago we found 5 kills within 400 yards of the house. And that is just the ones we have found. About a year ago I shot one 50 yards from the end of my driveway. People here who live around them don't give them a second thought. You are in much more danger walking down the street in most cities.
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Ky hills
Well-known member
That's good to know, I try to avoid cities as much as possible. We've always been a little concerned with all the trees and cover especially in the summer that a big cat could be close by and you'd never see it.
We've had several black bear encounters where they've been close to some wooded areas and just got a glimpse, or didn't see them just the commotion of running through the brush or coming out of tree.
wbvs58
Well-known member
My brother in law had a Cattle dog in suburbia that given the opportunity would duck over to the neighbours and bring a chook home. John would keep some frozen chooks in the freezer and just take a frozen one back to the neighbour, worked well.
Ken
wbvs58
Well-known member
My daughter only has 4 chooks left, they are all good layers and the eggs taste good, she feeds them bagged food made for laying hens and they always have access to shellgrit but I have noticed shells are never as strong as the eggs from the big farms. I think the big farms spend a lot on nutritionists to get the ration right so the eggs present well to the consumer, "designer eggs".
Ken
Ken
Hpacres440p
Well-known member
They ship better with harder shells too. I think in a caged situation, the grit calcium isn't wasted on "weight-bearing" bone structure, since they don't have to run around. I could be wrong.
greybeard
Well-known member
Whole milk in stores is pushing or over $4/gal again. I bet the small dairies aren't getting near that..
