Long story short: still no fox, but we had this little guy who was the nicest skunk I’ve ever met. He didn’t spray me once while I was uncovering the cage of all the hay and sticks we had hidden it with or while I was trying to open the thing. He made a mess of the cage digging up underneath it trying to get out though. Needless to say, he was very happy to be “living free and in the wild.”
Tag Archives: homesteading
Our little visitor.
Tagged homesteading, predators, skunk, visitor, Wildlife
Fox Trap
We lost another. Between the fox now having taken three chickens and us having to deal with the rooster (who according to the butcher had spurs much larger than a normal yearlings), we’re now down to our five laying girls. Needless to say, we called the animal control officer (ACO) last Saturday and are renting a trap from him.
It wasn’t touched for the first three days, but we didn’t have any coverage on it or anything. We decided to amp up our attempts by camouflaging it a bit and adding a few eggs in there. The past two nights something has come and eaten the bait – without setting off the trap. We’ve fought with the trap and I think we finally have it so it will trigger very easily. We’ll be reloading it tonight. Here’s hoping it works.
In the meanwhile, the poor ladies have been coop bound with some supervised out time. If it’s not raining when hubster gets home, I’ll be letting them out some. On the plus side, they’re doing really awesome with letting me usher them in a la rooster style and with the help of a big stick. Small victories, right?
We’re down to eight.
This is a photo from the back stairs this morning around 10ish. That blinding light is what I had to fight through to see an unknown critter run off with one our layers. You’ll notice that the coop is closed now. The remaining seven layers and their man are tucked in for the day. They were all dazed enough to let me put them back in.
I wish I could say I knew exactly what took them. I’m not sure. Any time an animal has come on to the property after the chickens the ladies have sounded the alarm when the critter is on the boundaries. Not today. Apparently, when they sounded the alarm whatever it was had sneaked from around the bulkhead (to the right side of this photo) and almost grabbed Beardie (so nicknamed because of her lovely beard). Apparently I scared it when I tried to open the door. Unfortunately I also scared Minski off the stair as well. She took to the air and before I knew what was happening, had been caught and carried down past the coop, out beyond the two smaller willows. I still couldn’t tell what had her. All I could do was watch until it snapped her neck and went off through the woods. I had to watch. I had to make sure whatever it was had been the only attacker.
The “chicks” as we still lovingly call them, had no idea what to do. The rooster was out front with the older girls, from the best I can tell. Our older ladies – who are definitely pets for us – have survived a raccoon chasing them, a dog attacking them in the back yard, and a fox charging over the tracks at them. They knew what to do. I hope these young girls catch on. They stood there and watched with me. They’ll miss Minski…we all will, but there’s a lesson for all of us in this.
Our little flock of layers are staying warm in the coop for today. I gave them all a thorough look over. Beadie’s missing a patch of feathers the size of the bottom of a coffee cup, but is already back to pecking me when I try to grab the eggs, so I think she’ll be fine.
In the three years that we’ve had chickens, this is the third bird we lost. The other two were last fall, and we’re not entirely sure what happened.
While it’s sad to see this happen, and I’m still trying to process it, I know that the first thing that came to mind was this: I cannot stop free ranging our flock. Even if we lost each and everyone this year to an attack, I feel allowing them to explore and get the best out of their lives is by far better than them living in a coop for their entire lives. (As far as runs go, I tend to think they’re more dangerous as the chickens have no where to go if a predator gets in. At least in this case – and in previous cases – they were able to run.)
Now it’s time to think and see if there is anything that we can do to help protect our flock better. A couple options….
1. A dog that barks. (Diamond, who hasn’t even been with us a year, slept through the whole thing. Even though she’s a rescue and we don’t know her past, I’d bet dollars to doughnuts she’s a city dog who’s used to noise and that’s why it didn’t phase her.)
2. A gander. (We can’t trust Diamond out by herself with the chickens even if she did bark. She likes to play with anything that moves and we’re working really hard with her not “death shake” toys.)
Any other ideas, PLEASE add in the comments!
Posted in House
Tagged animals, attack, chicken, chickens, circle-of-life, homestead, homesteading, nature
Meat Birds – Take 2
Last year we tried our luck at doing meat birds. Things didn’t go so well. We’re at it for take two. If things go well, we’ll be raising 24 birds for ourselves over the course of the season, along with birds of a few friends and family.
We’re currently attempting to find a butcher to use. Once we get the numbers for the cost of butchering, we’ll be able to figure out roughly the cost per bird. This will be a flat rate cost, not per pound. We’re hoping to have final details – including if this is definitely a go or not – and a limit to how many birds out homestead can take by the middle of March.
We can’t call these birds “organic” as the feed we’re using isn’t technically organic. But they will be FREE RANGE, NO HORMONES, HUMANELY treated animals.
Right now it looks like we’ll be going with Murray McMurray for our chicks as they have a great heavy birds assortment that includes Black Australorps; Lt. Brahmas; Dark Cornish; Black and White Giants; Buff and White Orpingtons; New Hampshire, Rhode Island Reds, Barred, White, Partridge, Buff Rocks; Sussex, Turkens; White, Silver Laced, & Columbian Wyandottes, Red Star and Black Stars. We could go with the Cornish X mixes, but the idea of raising an overly breed hybrid doesn’t really strike me as necessary.
If all goes well, we’ll be up to our ears in roasters for the winter!
Seeds and Tubers On the Way!
Here are the seeds that we’ve ordered from FedCo for this year:
- Ireland Creek Annie Bean OG
- Patriot Shell Pea OG
- Green Arrow Shell Pea OG
- Little Leaf H-19 Pickling Cucumber OG
- Tonda di Parigi Carrot
- Atomic Red Carrot OG
- Danvers Carrot OG
- Antares Lettuce OG
- Lollo di Vino Lettuce OG
- Summer Lettuce Mix
- Winter Lettuce Mix
- Czech Black Hot Pepper OG
- Thai Hot Pepper OG
- Oregon Spring Tomato OG
- Principe Borghese Cherry Tomato OG
- Wild Bergamot
- Catnip
- Bodegold Chamomile
- Caribe Cilantro OG
- Bouquet Dill OG
- Greek Oregano
- Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflower
- Plum Purple Radish
We still have pole beans, bush beans, Ireland Creek Annies, radish, spinach, pie pumpkin, cucumber, carrot, Coral shell peas, tomato, and bell pepper seeds as well. We’re picking up a couple different tomatoes this year – Oregon Spring and Principe Borghese Cherry – as the Glaciers and San Diegos didn’t seem to do too well. I’m really excited about growing bergamot, catnip, and chamomile, as it will lower our necessity to buy tea a ton, especially when you consider that we already have a surplus of mint in one herb bed.
For potatoes we decided to be a little more selective this year. Last year we bought the “classic keepers” variety pack which really helped us to take note of what does and doesn’t grow really well for us. Out of the five types we got to try, we’re ordering Kennebecs and German Butter Balls, both late varieties. We’re also going to take a stab at Rose Finn Apple, which is an early fingerling, and Red Golds, which are about a mid season potato.
I’ll update more on what the gardens will look like and such later.
