Raising chickens. Advice, comments, do's and don'ts wanted.

[Jeff-C175 7,195]

22 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Black bears

 

I'm expecting to see them here soon.

 

We had coyote (at least one that I saw, maybe more) last year.  Not seen again though.

[WHX?? 47,009]

27 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

Just the head....probably a weasel.

I wouldn't have thought a coon would have the audacity to go after a whole chicken. Lest he was really really hungry which I guess isn't impossible given the time of year. 

[ebinmaine 63,441]

We have every kind of predator and pray that you could imagine going through our yard on a regular basis.

There's a strong comma active, coyote population here. Interestingly, I don't think I remember seeing their tracks in the immediate area of the house and that may be because of the dog. .

 

Bears are nice enough to come through an empty out our bird feeders at least once or twice a year. 

 

[Pullstart 60,071]

36 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

Just the head....probably a weasel.

I was surprised, but the tracks surely look like a raccoon.  

[Pullstart 60,071]

Just the other day, we were pointed out as “would you take our two huskies?”  As much as we travel, we have chosen to not commit to a dog or two.  I much prefer dogs over cats, but our two felines can take care of themselves quite well.  Man, if a dog was here it would’ve surely been an alarm at night!

[squonk 39,110]

If you want a good laugh! 

 

https://www.facebook.com/RadioBanovina/videos/252153069310587

[DennisThornton 4,769]

Weasels won't eat much but they will do their darndest to kill everything they can with a bite to the head or neck.

[Jeff-C175 7,195]

1 hour ago, WHX24 said:

I wouldn't have thought a coon would have the audacity to go after a whole chicken.

 

They sure do ...  one night I heard a chilling 'scream' from next door.  Harry would put the birds inside the coop for the night but he missed one Duck.  I looked out and there was a racoon mauling the poor bird.  When it was dead, he dragged it off somewhere.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Maxwell-8 4,271]

our hens can only go out after 9 AM and go back in 30 minutes before dark starts settling. We learned the hard way that buzzards like our chickens only in the morning. 

And they can free range all day but we have made some more sheltering options. where they now sit under all the time.

[Pullstart 60,071]

We’ve had this flock of 16 since spring of 2018.  Now 15... I’ll be sure to close the coop door while the trapping is active outside the fence.

[Jeff-C175 7,195]

9 minutes ago, Maxwell-8 said:

buzzards

 

[Pullstart 60,071]

Just to report, still 15 chickens this morning and nothing in my trap.  Traveling soldier?  Not sure how far coons venture out for a snack.

[953 nut 52,133]

41 minutes ago, pullstart said:

Just to report, still 15 chickens this morning and nothing in my trap.  Traveling soldier?  Not sure how far coons venture out for a snack.

Coons love peanut butter, they can sniff it out for miles.

[Pullstart 60,071]

Just now, 953 nut said:

Coons love peanut butter, they can sniff it out for miles.

And typically marshmallows!  3 = 1 coon.

[Ed Kennell 36,023]

1 hour ago, 953 nut said:

Coons love peanut butter, they can sniff it out for miles.

 

My go to bait for coon when I ran a trap line was as a youngster was cracklins.       After the lard was pressed, the skins were fried and stored in the smoke house in burlap bags.  They were eaten daily in lunches until they turned rancid, then were used for coon bait. 

BTW, I checked my trap line on my walk to grade school every day and carried a .22 cat rifle to dispatch  the coon.    The rifle was stored in the corner of the one room school while I was in class.

  I can still see and smell the the hog butcher days some 70+ years ago.   Mother, Aunts, and Grandmother slicing fat on the skins in a checkerboard pattern,

for lard pressing,  scrubbing intestines for sausage casing on a wash board.  Father, Uncles and Grandfather hoisting hogs for scalding and hair scraping.  Cooking puddin meat and cracklins  in the iron kettles over the wood fire.     The butcher hogs were killed at the pen and dragged by horse  to the butcher site.    I always enjoyed the hog rides.

 

 

 

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

3 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

My go to bait for coon when I ran a trap line was as a youngster was cracklins.       After the lard was pressed, the skins were fried and stored in the smoke house in burlap bags.  They were eaten daily in lunches until they turned rancid, then were used for coon bait. 

BTW, I checked my trap line on my walk to grade school every day and carried a .22 cat rifle to dispatch  the coon.    The rifle was stored in the corner of the one room school while I was in class.

  I can still see and smell the the hog butcher days some 70+ years ago.   Mother, Aunts, and Grandmother slicing fat on the skins in a checkerboard pattern,

for lard pressing,  scrubbing intestines for sausage casing on a wash board.  Father, Uncles and Grandfather hoisting hogs for scalding and hair scraping.  Cooking puddin meat and cracklins  in the iron kettles over the wood fire.     The butcher hogs were killed at the pen and dragged by horse  to the butcher site.    I always enjoyed the hog rides.

 

 

 

 

One of my fondest memories!  We cooked laundry tubs of sausage the next day.  Took all day or more!  Good times!  Great eating!  Stuff very few get to experience now days!  Their loss...

[Ed Kennell 36,023]

Here are a couple chicken Head Hunters that visited my hen house once too often.      They come in summer and winter colors.

 

They have the equipment to surgically remove a chicken head.

 

 

 

[formariz 11,872]

3 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

  I can still see and smell the the hog butcher days some 70+ years ago.   Mother, Aunts, and Grandmother slicing fat on the skins in a checkerboard pattern,

for lard pressing,  scrubbing intestines for sausage casing on a wash board.  Father, Uncles and Grandfather hoisting hogs for scalding and hair scraping.  Cooking puddin meat and cracklins  in the iron kettles over the wood fire.     The butcher hogs were killed at the pen and dragged by horse  to the butcher site.    I always enjoyed the hog rides.

Brings back great memories. Here is some of the family working on one on top of oxen cart as it was typically done.

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by formariz

[DennisThornton 4,769]

3 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Here are a couple chicken Head Hunters that visited my hen house once too often.      They come in summer and winter colors.

 

They have the equipment to surgically remove a chicken head.

 

 

 

I picked up 6 pullets with little pin holes in their skull!  I saw nothing eaten!  Vicious killers!

[DennisThornton 4,769]

3 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Here are a couple chicken Head Hunters that visited my hen house once too often.      They come in summer and winter colors.

 

They have the equipment to surgically remove a chicken head.

 

 

 

You?  Or did you send them out?

[Pullstart 60,071]

@Ed Kennell and @formariz, awesome stories and thank you for sharing the pictures!  So many experiences that’ll never happen in today’s world for so many!  I am not the best surgeon, but much prefer to process my own meat.  A hog costs as much to raise it as it does to slaughter and process it.  I’d love to some day have the skills and time to raise and process my own pig meat!

[Ed Kennell 36,023]

2 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

You?  Or did you send them out?

I do my own Dennis.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

4 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

I do my own Dennis.

Wow!  I tanned a black angus hide once but I've never stuffed or mounted anything.  I've thought that if I ever shot a black squirrel I'd try it.

[Ed Kennell 36,023]

Here's a few of the dust collectors I've created.

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

9 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Here's a few of the dust collectors I've created.

 

 

Oh my goodness!  I'm speechless!