Oh my, you'll be selling eggs.
Sneaky Neighbor Roo!!
LOL @ Myself!!! I'd name the roo Shrapnel.. LOL LOL
I think he packed up and joined the circus because he hated his name LOL
Hope you'll post lots of pics of your new BCM! I just love Marans, am looking forward to getting Marans chicks this month.
Eufaula, don't put to much stock in Wade-Jean lines. That stock is used and abused more so than any when it comes to BCM. We have a lot in this area that make that claim and most of them are just not what you'd think. One thing I would watch for is a single or couple white feather toward the back on either side. Lots of people pluck them out before taking pic's or selling but they always grow back...If if can find my old pic's I'll show you an example...Hay
Thanks for the headsup Haystack! NO white feathers!
the gentleman and his wife are great friends and belong to several well noted Chicken societies and clubs, so Im pretty sure he is very honest about the Roo.
You girls are so funny about what name for that old Demon Roo.....but I do like "Shrapnel" Im gonna use it! thanks ZZ! ;0 )
The Highlander Rooster. "There can be only one". Giggle, giggle =P.
Thats great news Eufaula, I wish you every success...Hay P.S. Is he American, or French standard...
Heeeeheeee, Frenchy! lacy fancy leggins and all!
Thank you Eufaula.. I cracked myself up when I thought of it!!! LOL
Eufaula, what is happening with this rooster? Did you catch anything else in the traps?
Update. Please.
Hi LFJ, Yep "Old Shrapnel" is still hanging around. Wouldnt you just know, Out of a dozen large eggs that I used to get my incubator set up for this years hatches only one hatched and guess WHO was the proud Father!
Congratulations!!! Bet he is proud.
Well the little chick is cute and Ive named it "Tough Ole bird"! Tuffy for Short! Photos this afternoon. Im still trying to figure who its mother was! I think it was My little RIR Hen. Her eggs are so close in color to the Buff Orpingtons but smaller so Im pretty sure it was her!
Now Shrapnel may be a proud Papa but Old RoHo and I are still trying our darndest to keep him from spreadings his genes any farther!
As far as the trapping goes, so far I have trapped 2 cats as well as the one Possum. Since then something has killed only one Hen, ONe of my precious Marans! Whatever it is is trap wary and hasnt attempted to go into the trap! I 've also caught 1 hen, 1 Serama Roo, and 1 Mr. P.P. Chihuahua , so now I have to be very careful when and where I set the trap!
Meci, me!!!! what a strange collection of snared critters. that is the way it goes tho...
Oooooo, poor Mr PP Chihuahua! Hope he and the chicken have now learned to stay away from the trap.
Oh yes, I have to be very careful! I learned the hard way, that even a Hav-a-heart trap can be dangerous for a smaller animal or bird. I actually lost a beautiful Serama Roo when he tripped the trap door some how when he was trying to go back out. It came down on his head and broke his neck. This just tore me up inside to know that I let one of my babies get itself into such a dangerous situation. So NO set trap during the day, and only at night after I have made sure that everyone is safe and secure into their pens and houses.
Mr. Possum number 2! Caught and released Far, far away! Im hoping this is the sneaky critter that has been tearing open the wire from the bottom of the hen house door! he was a heavy ole thing! He let me know that he big ole teeth too! He kept his mouth wide open the whole time I had him in that Hav-a-heart! I was glad to be rid of him!
They have more teeth than any mammal in North America.
I can believe that Caj! EEEEeeeyucky! The damage that I have been finding when one of my Hens are attacked is unbelieveable! those teeth have to be razor sharp! Im hoping that I can keep ahead of the nasty critters now that I know what Im dealing with!
Glad we don`t have them here they are creepy looking
You can say that again! They look like a big ole overgrown rat! But they move like some one on an over dose of ADHD drugs! Sooooooo slow, but dangerously fast mouth action! So I was amazed when I turn it loose and it finally realized it was free........ it turned tail and ran into the bushes super fast!
Congratulations! Great hunting.
They make great pets.
Cajun, I just dont think I would want one! I guess , if I found a motherless little baby one , Id probably take it in until I could find a rescue source. But I just do not think it would be a good pet while trying to raise chickens too! It would think I was raising it very own buffet! LOL!
That is one wicked looking 'possum! Great work getting that one captured.
We kept ours inside just like a cat. She was so much fun and their fur is as soft as anything you can imagine. They are not any trouble either as they will sleep the whole time you are not playing with them.
There are some really cute videos on youtube of baby ones, that people have as pets.
I looked for a video of them in action killing chickens, and couldn't find one. Seems so strange that they are so slow, yet can kill ducks and chickens.
Or is that what it means when people say "playing possum"?
Playing possum is when they pass out. It's a defensive mechanism. They put out a very bad smell when they do and it is supposed to trick the predator into thinking they are dead and rotten.
I think my ex husband did that..
Were you convinced?
Yeah.. it worked. :)
Hmmmmmmm, did we have the same EX?????LOL!!!!
LOL! You guys are so funny =D!
Baked possum and sweet taters!! Yum!!!
I have heard of people eating them. I would guess you'd have to know the trick to demusking them.
LOL I was kidding. Although my mom, who is 95, ate plenty of them growing up. There were 8 kids in the family to feed and they ate anything their father could shoot that day.
We do shoot on site though. Racoons and opossums, skunks, muskrats, porcupines etc. are nuisance animals that can do a lot of damage. We just don't fool with them. We had one raccoon eat nearly every apple on one apple tree. Porcupines will quill your dog and cost you a big vet bill if you don't know how to remove them yourself. Who wants their dogs skunked? We have two nearby farms who trap and keep the nuisance animals to a minimum as well including coyotes. It sounds cruel but if you want or need to survive on your homestead you have to learn how to protect your chickens and gardens. That's my point of view anyway. I know many others differ. Many would rather trap and drive somewhere and dump them out so they can be a nuisance to someone else. We just took in a cat someone dumped out here. It was fixed and declawed and clearly an indoor kitty. For whatever reason someone couldn't keep them and decided to dump it out at a farm rather than take care of it some other way. The sad thing is when you take animals out of their natural habitat and transfer them to another area they usually die.
I trap wild Animals and I take them into the National forest, I live next to, and I release them. I remove them from human and domestic animal habitation and put them back into their natural surroundings. Here in georgia there are so many wonderful protected areas for wild life.
As for catching feral and domesticated cats, I take them to the animal shelter. The shelter then makes the decision whether the animal is adoptable or not! Im happy to say out of 5 that I caught in the past two years , only one had to be euthanized.
I guess if I owned a gun , I probably would shoot a predator if I ever saw it attack my animals , but I dont ever see the attack or the offender, so I Hav-a -heart them. So far, since Ive been using the trap , I havent lost any more chickens.
I used to think like you did till I actually did some research on the subject. Now we shoot or trap and shoot. Here is why.
http://wildcaresolutions.com/?p=228
The Truth About Trapping and Relocating Wildlife
By Maggie SergioPublished: March 4, 2010
By far, the majority of people out there do believe that trapping and relocating wildlife is a humane solution to a problem they are having with a “nuisance animal”.
Young Raccoon Mother Trapped with Her Kit - click on this image to see the full size version. (Photo courtesy of wildlife.pro)
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
When members of the public take matters into their own hands and get a Havaheart trap to capture an animal on their property, they have no idea what they are getting into. Or, the fact that they are going to be contributing to the animal’s suffering and most likely, premature death. And, here in California, it is illegal to trap and relocate wildlife. If an animal is trapped it must be released on site, or killed. That is the law.
Anyone who is considering either trapping themselves or hiring a professional trapper please read through this carefully and call me if you have any questions. WildCare does have licensed trappers on staff. However, we use more humane and less stressful methods that do work. We only resort to trapping if we are trying to capture an injured animal.
The top Reasons why Trapping Wildlife doesn’t work.
1) You have no guarantee that you will trap the offending animal. You may catch something but how will you know it is the animal you are after? The fact is, you don’t.
2) Trapping wildlife creates orphans. There is always the potential you have trapped a mother that has a nest of babies somewhere.
3) It is incredibly stressful for a wild animal to be trapped and often they injure themselves trying to get out. Teeth and claws are often broken in the animal’s frantic effort to escape. Here at WildCare we see many injured raccoons, squirrels and skunks when people taking matters into their own hands, or hire a professional trapper because raccoons are digging up their lawn.
4) Animals dumped in another location have no idea where the food and water sources are. This often leads to starvation and death. Studies done on raccoons that were relocated support this finding. The animal will typically die within 2 weeks of being relocated.
5) Most likely you will be dumping this animal in the territory of another animal and this will lead to territory disputes, and often these fights lead to serious injuries and death.
6) If you capture a sick animal and transfer it to a healthy population, this spreads disease.
7) If you remove an animal out of its territory (by either trapping or killing) you have opened up a territory and another animal will soon show up to take its place.
8) It doesn’t solve the problem. As long as the attractant remains (food, shelter or water) other animals will show up. Removing the source of what is attracting them is the solution.
However, laws regarding this do vary from state to state. Here in California, according to the California Dept of Fish & Game, Section 465, (G) (1), the law states that animals trapped must be released on site or killed. Below I cut and pasted what the law states.
(1) Immediate Dispatch or Release. All furbearing and nongame mammals that are legal to trap must be immediately killed or released. Unless released, trapped animals shall be killed by shooting where local ordinances, landowners, and safety permit. This regulation does not prohibit employees of federal, state, or local government from using chemical euthanasia to dispatch trapped animals.
If you hire a pest control company or wildlife control company and they tell you there are relocating wildlife they are either 1) lying to you or 2) breaking the law.
Trapping wildlife is never the solution when dealing with nuisance wildlife. Please call me if you are considering trapping your wild neighbors. We can talk about solutions that are less stressful on the animals and less stressful on you!
Live Well with Wildlife!
Maggie Sergio
Director, WildCare Solutions
~~~~~~~~~~~
More resources on trapping
http://www.ottawahumane.ca/wildlife/wildlifetrapping.cfm
http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?itemid=72628&smocid=2363
http://californiaoutdoors.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/can-trespassing-wildlife-be-trapped-and-relocated/
http://www.noozhawk.com/article/031611_outdoors_qa_can_trespassing_wildlife_be_trapped_and_relocated/
I agree. It is as Michael, I believe it was, said in another forum. You remove an animal you leave a void to soon be filled by another. Build secure housing and you will have no predator problems. We recently shot two raccoons that were trying to raid our chicken yard in broad daylight as we suspected they were rabid. Other than that it is live and let live around here.