Gorignak
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Post by Gorignak on Aug 8, 2013 7:53:26 GMT -5
www.cacklehatchery.com for a huge variety.
FIRE ANTS.....don't have any, but I'd sure like an answer to that question also....SO.... I had a dog that could get his jaws around armadillo's backs and crush them...nasty little burrows in the pasture ....problem solved. My neighbors all wanted to borrow the dog to kill theirs. If ANY breed of chicken would eat fire ants....we'd have more hippie cowboys in Texas and Oklahoma. It is funny how culture dictates what we find "proper" or (not to offend) "Macho"....rather drive around in a 40K pickup, spraying and poisoning than find some sissy bird to do the job....
Muscovies are as, or more, suceptible to predation....There is no way to discuss predators without FIRST establishing the impossibility of using Pyrenees or Anatolian LGD's. 35 prime Wyandotte hens @ $14. each = $490. divided by $18. / bag for good dog food = 27 bags........27 bags @ 1 bag/week for 3 Pyrenees = 27 weeks of complete safety. Sorry, but....DUH. Hey, I'm as dumb as they come......I refused to get any of those "huge chow hounds" for years and years......because the hounds I already had were "chow hounds". Pyrenees are misers with food.....BUY WISELY.....LOOK CAREFULLY......25% of LGD puppies WILL NEVER MAKE A GOOD GUARD DOG....NEVER. Don't get stuck with one of them...
"......please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand. For the Times They are a Changin." Bob Dylan....of course.
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Post by cddexter on Aug 8, 2013 9:45:42 GMT -5
ahh,Mike..what I meant but didn't clarify is that if I was out for the day or evening, I knew the henhouse would be locked up when I got back. Runs on a small solar battery pack. I always checked personally on my way into the house, 'just to make sure'. I had a 'house' that was close-able, a fenced in (sides and top) run. and a door from the run to let them free-range. The door to the run was closed manually at night, so in the morning, the chickens could get outside but not outside the run. I would open that myself once I was up and functioning.
My predators were coons and eagles, and the neighbor. the system stopped the coons cold. Nothing I could do about the eagles. Once the chickens were outside, the eagles could pick them off at leisure. In time the survivors learned to stay close to a tree or bushes if they saw any shadows or big blobs in the sky. The neighbor was another story. The chickens didn't figure out the fence between us was a boundary, and would hop through the 6: mesh to check out the interesting stuff on the other side, only to disappear forever. I finally figured out what was going on, ended up having to keep the chickens penned (eggs no where near as good), and finally gave up and now buy eggs from the organic guy down the road who has smaller space and chicken wire as perimeter fencing.
I spot spray the Canada Thistle, which keeps it in abeyance but never really kills it off. Otherwise I'm chemical free. cheers, c.
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Post by midhilldexters on Aug 8, 2013 10:58:04 GMT -5
Hi Mike, I have to challenge you on the $18 a bag dog food you label as "good" ? Have you ever thought of raw feeding you LGD's? With all the meat you produce for yourself it has to be better for them, more of a "full circle" as you call it. Really if you have never looked at what's in dog food, do some research, especially the cheap stuff. Anyway back to flies. Have any idea how to teach chickens to scratch up cow poop that has no grain in it? That's the curse I deal with being grass fed, they just don't bother with it.
Carol K
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Gorignak
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Post by Gorignak on Aug 8, 2013 15:32:38 GMT -5
Well, Gene, show us the headlines from that nights paper...."Ducks Drown at Family Outing"....Muscovies will go in the water, but not for long. They lack enough waterproofing oil to keep them afloat. See how deep a couple of them are in the water....It's Davy Jones for the lot of them if they don't lumber up on shore. AAARRRRGGGH.
Carol K....I harbor no illusions as to what is in dog food....I've been behind a Tyson "gut wagon" when the chute lock broke and the contents emptied on the road......We do grind up all the meat/bones that we don't eat in a 2HP meat grinder, and freeze it in bags for the dogs.... Don't want to gross anyone out....but 2 day old road kill deer in cold weather is fine dog food....and I'm no horse lover....a 1000 lb horse can be bought for $100.- $300. any day of the week here....so, there is no lack of quality bonus meat around our farm...I don't know how many buckaroos could feed Trigger to their dogs, though. GOOD QUESTION...in fact, a million dollar question....How WOULD a person get chickens to paw through manure without the little golden nuggets to attract them. Hey, I do want to say...I've been in this business for 40 years, and I've seen dogma and labeling distractions come and go....and, have seen them be used to great effectiveness and to great detriment. So....kudos to all you "grass fed" folks who use a chemical anti fly treatment...I am captive to a broader scope of reckoning....and I reckon that I'd eat grass fed beef that had 2 cups of whole corn passed through it FAR,FAR, sooner than I'd eat "grass fed" beef that had Cylence or Permethrins, or a pass through larvacide/mineral combo , and feel safe about it. BUT....I am intrigued by the question, and will try and scheme up an idea or two.
Hey C....you movie is waiting for the time to do an unhurried....wine saturated watching. We just got 5 inches of rain in a week and ..... THE FUTURE LOOKS GOOD... Wow, we were just about to put the first bale in the pasture..... a week away. It looks like County Cork now. Thanks, we are all looking forward to seeing it. Chickens are far more trouble than they are worth. As you describe, they are predation prone, eat far too much expensive feed, and are hard to clean easily....force of habit, those wonderful eggs, and at its best....chicken is the universal meat. AND, I just walked over 4 acres with 3 cows on it and could not find one pile of manure...!!! That has to be worth something. AND.....Blast !! those thistles. We are in the middle of a WAR...the 3 dry hot....NO...horribly dry, record heat years...and all that thrived were thistles.....I have seen seas of thistles in the best farmer's pastures. I hate to agree that spray may be the only solution...
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Post by carragheendexters on Aug 20, 2013 20:13:18 GMT -5
Hi Everyone, some useless information for you, did you know that Muscovies are actually a variety of goose and not a duck at all, and they are tree dwellers, they love to get up into the trees. Ours used to love to fly up onto the roof of our house, then slide down and fly off, a great game for them but very noisy on a tin roof.
I've decided your crows over in US are very different to ours here in Oz. We hate them, they kill so may lambs each year, they prey on them while being born or when the ewe is busy with another lamb. We have a pet wether, I saved him and his sister from crows while his mother was having a 3rd lamb. They had eaten out his umbilicus and started on his eyes and his anus. I debated whether to hit him on the head or rush him to the vet. The vet trip won and he had to be all repaired and stitched up. Vet only charge $40, they are so good to me with fees. BTW his name is Chucky, and we should eat him but now he is a pet, so friendly and funny, always pulling on your pants or t-shirt, or chewing on your boots. I lost 4 hens to crows this year, we have a small troop (4 birds) and they pick a target hen and surround and harass her till one gets a good go, then they proceed to disembowel her, and eat her alive. I hate them as much as I hate foxes, they are fair game at our place. The crows also attack the native birds, we have tried to rescue so many galahs (I think you guys call them pink cockatoos)from the crows but by the time we get there they have already done so much damage. We have tried to save them but they always die, now we euthanase them straight up. Our crows (a type of raven) eat meat, they don't eat grain. regards Louise
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Post by wvdexters on Aug 21, 2013 7:08:39 GMT -5
Your crows are true predators. That is something. I have never seen behavior like that in this area. Thankfully. They mainly raid gardens/fields and fruit off the trees. I have seen them take hatchling birds from nests in the spring.
The corn is doing its thing. Not an intact cow pie in the field. It's nice to have them working "for" me for a change. Thanks for the advice.
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Gorignak
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Post by Gorignak on Aug 21, 2013 13:35:20 GMT -5
Our National Public Broadcasting net did a show on crows recently. They SPECIFICALLY used a NZ or New Caledonia crow as...."the smartest creature after primates" The crow went through a 4 or 5 step process, using 2 or 3 different tools to get at a peanut.
Ours can be voracious....they especially like to corner chicks under 4 weeks old and murder them.... .....a flock of crows is called a "murder".
Okay.....I know crows. I've had one in the house for 15 years now.
THEY ARE INTELLIGENT BEYOND YOUR WILDEST IMAGINATION. So, what to do....Buck up....you are a primate....YOU ARE SMARTER THAN THE CROW. So, outsmart them. I can't dictate specifics, but I can make valid observations. ALMOST ALL OF THEIR ACTIVITIES, BOTH GOOD AND BAD ARE LEARNED/ACQUIRED. It is up to you to break the cycle of learning. often, this requires eradication of the BAD "teachers" and much of the flock.
THE TOUGHER THE TIMES GET....THE MORE A CROW WILL APPRECIATE SOME CONSIDERATION. Cold, hard boiled eggs .....in the shell.....tossed a long way from the back door WHILE THE SENTINEL CROW WATCHES YOU is absolutely IRRESISTIBLE. The harsher the weather and the leaner the available pillaging, the more you become appreciated. Soon it is baking powder biscuits and slices of bread out the door to the "student". The bravest will become your friend and will moderate the others behavior.
That murderous behavior is shaped by the conditions around you....IF YOU CONTROL THE CONDITIONS, THE FOOD INPUTS, YOU CONTROL THE CROWS.
Okay ..... first day of class...."Crow 101" will continue as necessary....Just post and we will look for a solution.
WV....you made my day. Glad to hear that the chopped corn worked....You might even be making a friend.
Muscovies ARE ducks....they will cross with several other breeds, though reluctantly. Their flying is a bonus, as it helps with predators. But, the huge Males couldn't bounce up to get a blackberry. I have seen them swallow LARGE mice whole.We replace our males EVERY year...they get too big and damage the females mounting them. AND...I'm not trying to be disagreeable.....the Muscovy Duck IS from South America....it IS flighted, and in fact it is migratory, and it is genetically different than most other ducks. I don't know if a goose/duck....a goose/swan combo is possible. I do know that a Muscovy and Rouen can breed....fitfully, and without much success. I don't know the range of genetic differences between all waterfowl in those similar looking classes.
When you take to shooting crows....don't use a .22 rimfire. that won't last very long, they wise up WAY too fast. There is a .223 bullet that disintegrates when it hits anything. The best route is to get a good bolt action .223 and put a scope on it. Get good out to about 300 yards. that helps remove you from the crow's learning range.Have a "gun nut" friend reload you a couple of boxes of ammo with those bullets in them.
For a very large "murder" of crows......a well thought out road kill carcass put in a field, or a corn scatter and a stick of dynamite in a big lard can filled with pea gravel solves a lot of BIG problems quickly. We have videos of them waiting in the trees for our automatic game feeders to activate and scatter 3 lbs of corn. They are always right on time. Louise, I think our crows are/would be just as bad....but we have a lot more easy stuff for them to forage. I have no doubts that our crows would feast on anything they sensed was helpless.
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Post by cddexter on Aug 21, 2013 22:24:36 GMT -5
round here, the old time farmers shoot a crow, or two, and hang them prominently on the fence. the whole clan gathers round and goes ohm'gawd, that's uncle Bill and young susie. he SHOT them!!!!!!!!! they tend to stay away after that, usually for the rest of the year. Not a gun person myself, so haven't tried it, but others swear by it. cheers, c.
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Post by legendrockranch on Aug 22, 2013 19:46:50 GMT -5
Well I hate to admit it, I did kill 1 crow this year, they were becoming a nuisance. Funny thing was after that the others left the property. I do occasionally see/hear them on my neighbors place but I think they realize to stay away from mine. As for the flies, most of them left also. If there are 5 flies on each animal I would be surprised. It's just too darn dry and hot, the larvae doesn't have a chance at surviving because the cow poops dry up too fast. Barb
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Post by carragheendexters on Aug 27, 2013 6:39:06 GMT -5
Oh Mike, you are lethal! I did smile though visualising a puff of black feathers, just desserts. I agree, crows are very intelligent birds, and they learn the most amazing behaviours. The crows on coastal property for some reason all like wet food. When they find something to eat they take it to a water trough and dip it in the water before pecking at it, then another dip, then a peck etc. We are trying to live trap them, we can't get within cooee of them to do anything else. They see us come out of the back door and their gone. Eggs! Well I wish we could get some, the crows are stealing them all. I have closed off the hen shed to a very small opening and the crows are still getting in. You hear a kerfuffle and on checking the hens, they are being thrown off the nest by the crow which then steal the eggs. I have resorted to collecting eggs every half hour when I have the time. C, I think we should try that. Where we live the local farmers hang foxes off the fences, not sure whether that is to try and frighten off the other foxes or to prove to all the other farmers that they are getting rid of foxes. I'll start another thread on dung beetles here in Australia, the history and success of dung beetles in Australia is interesting. regards Louise
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Gorignak
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Post by Gorignak on Aug 27, 2013 7:13:35 GMT -5
Get some leg banding tools and bands...a local university might have a prof or student interested in the data gathered. I will scan a picture of a live trap and detail some points to consider when you acquaint yourselves with "your" flock. In the beginning...killing them is important. You want to select for the most sociable....they are there. For pets, the runt is always the best choice. Our flock leader..."Uncle Bob" is over 12 years old. When you finally find one or two who seem more interactive.....kill all the rest, and let the selected ones start a "family". Since I'm here, I want to address hanging dead crows.....IT WORKS....FOR A SHORT WHILE. I want everyone reading this to try and outsmart crows for the next year....most will fail. IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SMART... It is because they have the ability to learn, and compound that learning. Little bits, incrementally....they learn that the dead crows are....dead crows, and not a threat. The American Indians respected the crow above all birds....I have NEVER seen any animal having so much fun as a bunch of crows in a 40+ mph wind.....they will fly from the side of the mountain with the updrafts.....across the wind swept top, to the side with the downdrafts. They roll and tumble and play tag like little kids. They are aerial gymnasts...the best flyers in the air. If the Hindus are right....coming back as a crow would be fine with me.
D_mn....they are tough on eggs. They go INTO the coop and rob the nests.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELIEF....FOR ANYONE HAVING TROUBLE.....Get a roll of the 3-4 mil black plastic and start cutting it into 3" strips off one end....unroll but don't unfold it. take the strips and cut them into 3' pieces. Tie the pieces about 3-4 feet apart on hay baling poly rope/twine. Make a 50'.....100'.....200' long string of "flappers".....these move at the slightest breeze...AND THEY TRIGGER EVERY FEAR/CAUTION/FLEE RESPONSE A CROW HAS. We pound in a few T-posts along a garden bed and hang the string about 4' off the ground....so the flappers rustle and move in the slightest breeze about 8" off the ground.....A CROW CANNOT STAND BEING NEAR SOMETHING MOVING IN ITS PERIPHERAL VISION. This works perfect every time.....we have a bunch of them hanging in the chicken coop doors, and around the pig feed dishes, and all over the gardens.
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