Poka_Doodle's journal

[Poka_Doodle]

Those are the BEST kind of friends.

Without a doubt

 

[Poka_Doodle]

This post is about the opposite of my last update.
Every good time must come to an end, and I'm heartbroken to say we had one end tonight. Before I say what it is, I'm going to share some of the back story.
Three years ago, in March my first set of 4h chickens arrived with fifteen healthy future large chicks. Unfortunately 3/4 of the BLRWs were male, one would get rye neck later on, being reasonable for me joining BYC, he would never learn to crow. Also one of the six Speckled Sussex hens was actually a rooster, along with one other rooster that is irrelevant. I also had three naked necked hens.
That summer we butchered the two crowing BLRWs and the other rooster (one of the BLRW roosters was actually a but later). I showed a trio of Speckled Sussex, two naked necks, a BLRW hen, and roo (before he was killed). We went off to family vacation, and when we came home, we'd lost a lot, including older birds, the number reached twelve (although my math is saying it was thirteen or more). Amongst them 2 Naked Necks (including one from fair, thankfully my favorite wasn't killed), the BLRW with rye neck, and four Speckled Sussex hens (including the two that'd been at county fair).

We hatched chicks that fall, and were imagining a mix of Sussex into our breeds, with a couple pure Sussex. To our delight we ended up with all naked necks. Some even with BLRW in them from that roosters final days.

The following summer, all but one of the Naked Neck, then full sized chickens, would be killed. Along with us letting the rooster go.

That brings us to a couple weeks ago. My mom and I's relationship with those remaining three hens has blossomed. Especially with our naked neck (Fancy), but there's been something special to with the BLRW hen (Leah), and the Sussex (Survivor). A couple weeks ago, a coyote brought our relationship with Fancy to an end. Today while I was making cookies, there was a lot of noise outside. In an effort to save the cookies (I partially regret this now) I sent my brother out there. He SAID it was nothing. Unfortunately when I was heading out to feed, I saw some sight of a lot of flower seeds (I don't remember the name), or so I thought, and I went to look. Some girls were acting weird, so it was a little obvious something was up, I just didn't know what that something was. But the seeds weren't seeds, they were Leah's feathers. I looked to see if it was true, and I couldn't find her or survivor. My dad got home, and at that point, I knew that at least Leah was gone, and was pretty disappointed. He then went out and fed (I may have been a little teary), and found Survivor's feathers too.

So like the new name for the journal, every good time must come to an end, and my good time with these amazing girls is over, but as I learned while half way through this post (I started it after being confirmed of Survivor being gone, and then took a dinner and much more break), there's something new and exciting to look forward to next week with some Sussex, Naked Necks, and others, from the same place Leah and Survivor came from.

Side note: like I mentioned, I started this post a while ago, but then did other things and come back and finished. I'm in a better mood now though.

 

[Bruce]

So sorry for your losses @Poka_Doodle !!!!

Can you put up some hot wire fencing to keep the predators away in the future?

 

[Poka_Doodle]

So sorry for your losses @Poka_Doodle !!!!

Can you put up some hot wire fencing to keep the predators away in the future?

Thank you. I'm not sure hot fencing would work. There are other things that we can and do do. Such as being very picky with the color of our birds. Unfortunately coyotes are the hardest to prevent.

 

[TAH]

Sorry poke you lost so many!!!

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Sorry poke you lost so many!!!

Thank you. It's sad, but it happens unfortunately...

 

[Bruce]

I think good hotwire would be more useful against coyotes than bird color. I assume you have field fencing of some sort? You could run hot wire over the top and also about a foot above the ground so they get zapped when they try to go over the fence. I have a 5 joule charger and can tell you it was really painful when I accidently barely touched my upper arm (in a long sleeve shirt) against it.

I know there are theories about well camouflaged being better though the 2 birds I lost to foxes should have been pretty hard to spot, especially the Partridge Chantecler. Then there is the theory about having birds that aren't the same color as the animal's prey so they aren't interested. The same day the PC was taken, a fox snagged a Black Australorp in the backyard by the neck. Black isn't the color of anything a fox would naturally see in the woods or fields. I got lucky, she screamed, I ran outside, fox dropped her and ran. She lost her neck feathers until next moult but no other damage.

We didn't have ANY decent fencing back then. But a fox could still get to where the BA was by going around the front of the barn and between it and the house. The PC was taken farther back in an area that is now fenced with 4' fencing topped with hotwire so it SHOULD be a safer place. And the 2 alpacas we got last October, in theory, wouldn't be too happy with a fox if it did get in. Of course they would only alert if they were outside, not in the barn.

 

[Poka_Doodle]

I think good hotwire would be more useful against coyotes than bird color. I assume you have field fencing of some sort? You could run hot wire over the top and also about a foot above the ground so they get zapped when they try to go over the fence. I have a 5 joule charger and can tell you it was really painful when I accidently barely touched my upper arm (in a long sleeve shirt) against it.

I know there are theories about well camouflaged being better though the 2 birds I lost to foxes should have been pretty hard to spot, especially the Partridge Chantecler. Then there is the theory about having birds that aren't the same color as the animal's prey so they aren't interested. The same day the PC was taken, a fox snagged a Black Australorp in the backyard by the neck. Black isn't the color of anything a fox would naturally see in the woods or fields. I got lucky, she screamed, I ran outside, fox dropped her and ran. She lost her neck feathers until next moult but no other damage.

We didn't have ANY decent fencing back then. But a fox could still get to where the BA was by going around the front of the barn and between it and the house. The PC was taken farther back in an area that is now fenced with 4' fencing topped with hotwire so it SHOULD be a safer place. And the 2 alpacas we got last October, in theory, wouldn't be too happy with a fox if it did get in. Of course they would only alert if they were outside, not in the barn.

Smart idea, I'll have to look into it. My one thing, is that we've had hot wire on in the horse pasture, and a few years ago, the coyote jumped over it, and got in.
Like you said, normally screaming does get a coyote to run, and my brother didn't realize it. Last Friday a coyote came, luckily I was about to start a cake, and saw it. I immediately went out and screamed and yelled, we were lucky that we didn't loose any then.
And with what you said about color, it is only to prevent hawks from seeing something that stands out.

 

[Bruce]

And with what you said about color, it is only to prevent hawks from seeing something that stands out.

Oh, guess I didn't have the full context!

How high was the horse fence? I know deer can jump a 7' fence, don't know how high a coyote can clear cleanly. My hot wire is at 5' with a ground wire running 6" below that and thus 6" above the 4' field fence. If a coyote can clear 5', even if not cleanly, I guess my animals aren't as safe as I would like. If they tap the wire with a foot on the way over, they will likely still be on the inside. Of course one never knows what, if anything, was potentially dissuaded by their efforts.

 

[Poka_Doodle]

Oh, guess I didn't have the full context!

How high was the horse fence? I know deer can jump a 7' fence, don't know how high a coyote can clear cleanly. My hot wire is at 5' with a ground wire running 6" below that and thus 6" above the 4' field fence. If a coyote can clear 5', even if not cleanly, I guess my animals aren't as safe as I would like. If they tap the wire with a foot on the way over, they will likely still be on the inside. Of course one never knows what, if anything, was potentially dissuaded by their efforts.

I'm not entirely sure. It's that same height as the rest of our fence out there. Maybe six feet at best guess.