Sounds like you need a nifty dog zapper of some
kind! I would be so angry if other's animals caused
me grief. Maybe a tazer that shoots out the wires.
Then you could call the neighbors to come pick up
their dog because it's paralyzed on your drive with a
hen in it's mouth.
Quail Quail Everywhere!
BOY, THAT IS A PICTURE! I see that 1500 dollar GS pup in that condition after repeatedly coming over for lunch...
I know how greiving it is to see the deed done. We have taken shots at dogs but not shot one yet. Sometimes they still come back.
Last night a hoot owl was out in the neihgborhood. I was concerned for the guineas that didn't go in. But they have a nice shelter so they made it fine. The nieghbor's guineas are a much easier catch.
Then this AM there was evidence of a coyote checking things out. So glad i put a fence around the goose on her nest. And i heard the other geese screaming so they must have run it off. I would guess having moved the barred rocks out attracted the coyote~ new noises, plus puppies were moved AWAY from the chickens after attacking Jaco the Giant.
Some losses are always expected. But losing the little bantys seems so un-necessary, they are so small and defenseless! Stripes did not like his night in the extra chicken pen LOL. I hope someone comes to get him soon, he is such a beautiful and good cat...
OK, back to quail, WAY TO GO POINTY!
and looks like a nice day out, i will try for some pics during lunchtime.
tf
DH and I heard coyotes 2 weeks ago for the first
time in a long time. Maybe new pups- I am letting the
dogs out in the back more often to do their business.
Some old timers here say the scent helps keep them
away. I have never seen a track or a coyote on our
property- but they do come right to the fenceline.
Maybe you could trade your hard to catch guineas with
the easy to catch guineas, and the neighbors would be
none the wiser.LOL
Smart giving your goose a fence to keep her safe.
I started with 4 small and 3 large MQ eggs. The
3 large include the TAC that was clear. They are
also the iffy ones. The 4 small are my fertile and growing.
I suppose if you reshaped the pointy one, it would be
considered a large. I am to be flogged, as I let the
water run dry, and the RH was down to 21% for a number
of hours. I am so glad it is still early on, and I will accept
my flogging without complaint. Hope for no leg problems!
i think it is early enough to not worry, but flog away!
i meant on the guineas, that she does not provide shelter for her's, and she complains when the owls come and knock them off the fence then swoop them up to eat...so hers are EASY PREY. even when mine don't go IN the henhouse, they hide under the eaves.... so mine are hard for the OWL to catch. we have NEVER lost anything to a predator, not ONE bird... only to the neighbor's dogs and to poison...
i have seen a coyote come within 20 feet of my flock, stand and study them, then run over to the neighbor's to get her birds. that was the fir5st summer we had chickens, so it was a larger flock. haven't seen many coyotes, they may have been killed off eating the poisoned quail and dove. we kept our cats fat so they wouldn't, but still lost a few to poison. i never thought i would be so glad to look over and see a fence!
well, enough venting... i took pics of the small ones inside... i will take outside pics later, then start a bantam pic thread...
i wonder, if your chick in the pointy egg will ahve a pointy bottom?
Why are the quail and dove poisoned? Vent away,
Tamara. I just drove by the vet's sign in J.C., it states
Coyote Found Rabies Positive. They have been air
dropping vaccine laced baits a couple counties over.
I bet they start making the circle wider, now. My 2 dogs
and 1 of my cats are due.
The pointy egg quail will be able to fly aerodynamically
backward and forward. LOL
oh, when the neighbor put out the poison i started trying to keep my chickens out of it. but it was everywhere! all winter long the dove and quail fed on it, it was milo and corn... we also have a lot less rabbits and squirrels. and i noticed her guineas were disappearing. after they filed suit against me, they bought new guineas... anyhow, they didn't get a cent from the lawsuit, and i still have a few of my origianl chickens to try and breed from.
the last case of rabies we had was two years ago, and it was a bat who bit our county extension agent! poor guy...
may be haivng a pic download problem. i only took a few, but it said 406/572.... weird...
Oh truest that is bad! We have coyotes here too. Hope they don't catch the rabies. That stuff spreads fast. btw we have dogs, they use the great outdoors for a bathroom and it doesn't seem to keep the coyotes away. Wish it would cause I'm worried for the new goats. Decided to add an electric wire at the top of their fence.
MollyD
Is it legal in Texas to put bait out like that? It is very illegal here in CA.---I always worry about bait with my dogs--but you have to put it out in such a way that no non-target animal can get it. Hard to do--I think it is one of the reasons farmers started using livestock protection dogs. Not that people don't put out poison--but they are asking for a huge lawsuit and fines.
We can't either.
MollyD
Poison bait is illegal here also. There are quite a lot of coyotes around. They have gotten into my garden area when I left the drive thru gate open. But I don't think they got any of the neighbors cats. When they aren't up here they hide out in a large old barn on neighbors property.
DonnaS
There's a huge bat colony in Round Rock under
the McNeil bridge, not far from where I used to live.
They routinely test for rabies. Last test I knew of
before I moved, 9 of 11 bats tested were positive.
There is also a huge colony under the Congress St.
bridge in Austin, but I don't know the ratio of positive
there. Bats are found very often dead in school yards,
tested, and often are rabies positive. I was fishing in
Georgetown, saw 2 bats awake sitting on the ground at
the base of a tree. Bats on the ground is a very bad
thing relative to rabies, they usually are sick. Woke up
one morning when I lived in Cibolo, found 2 bats
sleeping between my front door and the screen door-
I guess it's something we have learned to live with, and
very proactive about teaching kids about the danger.
I worry a lot about when they are found on school yards,
and would a kid always tell you if they touched the bat or
not? Yikes, very scary.
We had one get into the basement last week. Couldn't get it out so we shut the door and it seems to have found it's way out on it's own. Yuck! I don't mind them in the garden cause they eat a lot of bugs but I sure don't want them inside the house!
MollyD
I could easily see unvaccinated ferel cats finding
one with rabies- not much different than a mouse.
Though, I have never seen a cat with a bat.
Truest I think the bat would have to be sick for the cat to get ahold of it. Even then I'm not sure the cat would think of it as food.
MollyD
Well, that's what I was meaning, it would have to
be sick to be on the ground for a cat to get it. I have
one cat that thinks everything is food. But, he's well
vetted so I don't worry too much. I know cats get
rabies, I've just never heard of one, or seen one ever.
The quail chickies are getting so big! They will be 2
weeks tomorrow.
holy cow they are huge! looking good ^_^
This order of chicks are JUMBO coturnix!
You know they have a very skeptical expression in their eyes!
MollyD
"But, you said I was going on vacation, and I would
get some really good food, and go to the spa and
soak in the hot tub or steam room"
Maybe that was soak in a hot pot and Make some very good food ;-)
MollyD
Good one, Molly...LOL
GG
☼^_^☼
^_^
LOL Molly! Sick sick puppy. LOL
Here is the new improved hatching basket DH made
this evening. It's for the pointy egg. I like it!
Okay I'll bite! What is a hatching basket and what does it do?
MollyD
Ha ha ha, you make me laugh so hard Molly! tank U.
I have eggs from 7 bloodlines for the mountain
quail. One of them is the pointy ended egg, and
since the breeder didn't label the eggs, I only need
one basket this time, for pointy. I want to keep
track of who lays what- was it wierd? Did it hatch ok?
Who are it's parents? When hopefully the others
hatch, I will pair them, and then need to put the eggs
from those matings in marked baskets, so I can later
make sure my breeding is diverse. They go in when I
take out the egg turner. As of now, I had 3 clear eggs, so
I am only working with 4 bloodlines, now.
Oh so it's just so you know what chick came from what egg? ^_^
MollyD
Yes'm. That's what it'll do for me.
^_^ for a minute there I thought the egg was going to hatch in just that basket (no incubator!) LOL I thought Wow what am I missing here!
MollyD
ROFLMAO. I am getting a good dose of what's
going around this evening! Thanks!!!
I'm sorry- did I forget to offer you one of these
nifty babies for just $49.95? It can be your's!!!
LOL I think I'll wait till it comes out in rainbow colors thanks! ^_^
MollyD
Joni, can I order one in sky blue pink with purple polka dots and yellow stripes? I want one so I can put it on a steeeeeeeek..
GG
☼^_^☼
We can custom order it for you On A Steeeeek!!!
Only $19.95 more! Granny, too funny. We haven't
seen the second DVD yet..chuckle...
truest, neat box for pointy when hatches. Very nice curious quail. I hope the native Calif quail don't have too much trouble with their nests, it is snowing again this morning. Ground is white but warm enough it won't last long.
DonnaS
Thank you, Donna. DH wanted to make sure there
were no sharp edges inside.
The MQ eggs are at day 16 today. I candled last night,
and I can see development, but not really any movement.
Blanca's embryo's were very active, flipping all over the
place. One looks like it is stuck to the side- it hasn't
moved from that spot since last candle. Even though
I have an automatic turner. It could be that the one day
I let the RH get too low, it drew the embryo to the side
and it is indeed stuck. Will have to wait and see. Only 9
days left!
Well, at the end of today, it's time to put the
pointy egg in it's hatching basket and raise the
humidity as well as stopping turning of the MQ
eggs. We are almost there! I also have a word
in for 12 more MQ hatching eggs from a different
part of the country. I have found, that depending
from what part of the country you get them, you get
varying degrees of gentle handling- not just speed of
delivery. I guess a lot 'rides' on the condition of the
roads, what weather is doing, etc. Gosh, I can't help
but drool big time when I look at the egg auctions.
And the attitude of the postal employees in that area truest!
MollyD
Wulp, things went down the drain, literally. The last
few days I have been deluding myself, thinking "MQ
are different, maybe they won't look just like chickens
eggs, or coturnix, that take much less time to incubate".
I just was not seeing the growth and movement that
should have been there, and back on the 18th was when
I reported that I had let the humidity drop dramatically.
Sure enough, I got up the courage to crack a MQ egg,
and it looks to have stopped developing at about day 10,
which would have been around the same time as the RH
drop. My thermo/hygro unit has a min/max temp recall
feature, I recalled a 103.4* in the bator at some time
during the process, I can only guess as to when this
occured. Soooo, good thing I have a bid going on 12 MQ
eggs, I'm going to need them. They are from a Ca. breeder,
but still halfway across the country as were these from Pa.
I have already cleaned & disinfected the bator, and it will
be ready to go when the new arrive. A very expensive
lesson, if my RH and the erroneous? temp are to blame.
I had one temp spike recorded like that with the previous
incubation, but it didn't have a negative effect.
About the coturnix, now 3+ weeks old:
The females are a bit larger than the males, and have darker speckles on their breast, and a few males have started the
'big boy' calls. They are healthy and active, and they can
get stinky pretty quick. I am having to clean and replace litter
every 2 days. It's time to finish their 'outside' cage!
Wow sorry that happened. Seems like eggs are real risky way to get the chicks you want. Maybe things will go better with the next batch.
MollyD