G'day all Strange weather caused much confusion and fits and starts by broody poultry. Spring started early in February after a very mild winter - only one day of snow, and the ground didn't even freeze, everything went right on growing, though very slowly. But then it got cold again, March and April were as cold as ever, with temps often dipping below freezing at night. The birds kept getting the wrong signals, broody chickens failed to hatch any eggs, and the geese are still toying with the idea, they sit, and then they don't. I guess they'll figure it out once the weather figures itself out, if it ever does.
Three Muscovies have been sitting on their eggs very religiously though, and Marilyn finally hatched her first duckling today, and more to come, with any luck, other eggs are cracking. The new one's a cute little guy, as Muscovy ducklings always are, blond and blue-eyed like its mum (hence Marilyn), but with signs of a black tail. So now, with the help of much low cunning gleaned from the Biofuel list, I'll have to kill a crow, else the crows will definitely get a duckling or two or more. Marilyn didn't do all that hard work sitting there for weeks keeping each egg just right only for her ducklings to be murdered by crows, else I'd be failing in my duty. I'll try a variation of Jason's suggestion, the "E-Z" Catch Bird Trap: http://www.critterridders.com/pigeon_trap.htm Just been talking with Mike DuPree about the joys of the dawn chorus and here I'm after killing a crow. :-( On the other hand crows don't exactly contribute much to the dawn chorus either. I was chatting offlist with Kirk about traps and stuff, and decided to bring it back onlist: >> >... we'll have anything from 100 to >> >150 baby birds scooting around here soon, and the predators are >> >gathering. Apart from the crows, I've just been watching a couple of >> >raccoons carrying off a feeder full of grain so they can skarf it >> >among the trees. Here's a pic: >> >http://journeytoforever.org/bflpics/raccoon2-1.jpg >> > >> >Nice animal. Been watching them for awhile, so far (this time round) >> >they only come at night when the birds are all safely shut up in >> >their hutches, but of course they'll get more daring. Given some good >> >rubber I can catch one of them and, probably, educate it a little, >> >they're smart, they can learn. Then let it go. Worth a try anyway. >> >Otherwise I'll have to kill one (again), and I really don't want to. >> > >>Raccoons - major PITA. Here they shoot them. They roost in trees at night. >> >>Not these ones, they can climb, but they prefer being on the ground. >>More burrowers than climbers. Japanese variety, somewhat different. >> >> >Just like the birds. Spotlight them and bang. >> >They are very destructive given half a chance. >> >>Yes, but you can negotiate with them. This is the third wave of them. >>The first ones killed a chicken and I killed a raccoon, then I had a >>long talk with an old raccoon, both of us sitting on the drive about >>two yards apart, amazing. We didn't have any further problems with >>raccoons for two years. They were around, but they kept away from the >>birds. But they were old, and died off, and the second wave arrived >>in late autumn to fill the niche, young and strong and brash. They >>held off and sounded me out for a few weeks, then they attacked, >>eight of them altogether, and we lost five chickens before I managed >>to kill another one. They really tested our defences! Formidable! >>Taught me a lot about raccoons in particular (I'd never encountered >>raccoons before I came here) and about predators in general. But the >>dead one hanging from the corner of the chicken shed (as promised in >>the first place) kept them away, until a few weeks ago, when this lot >>arrived. First one, then another, now a third. So, kill on suspicion? >>Or jeopardise the birds? Difficult. >> >>What about this guy? >>http://journeytoforever.org/bflpics/weasel6-4-072.jpg > >>OMG a weasel!!! > >Yup, an itachi, Japanese weasel, like all other weasels, pretty much. > >>Kill a coop of birds in 1 night. > >Yes, that happened to us in England, all chickens killed. Sickening. > >Happened recently to someone on one of the homesteading lists, 15 >dead chickens, one survived. And then it all came out, all the >difficulties other members had had with predators. People usually >don't talk about it much (maybe because when it happens you feel >such a shit), but I think it happens to everybody, there's no doubt >predators are one of the major problems or the major problem with >keeping backyard poultry. > >>I use 1/2 inch mesh to keep them out. >>The floor has to be weasel tight if they are in the area. > >That's what it takes, and it probably still won't be effective if >it's the kind of old shed we have here, like so many people have. > >So what to do? Any thoughts? Best Keith _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
