Wow Molly, you all have A LOT to watch out for huh? If I was a nervous wreck over chicken hawks, I bet you will be VERY relieved with your netting. I guess we are pretty lucky here then....just chicken hawks and vultures in the sky. We have to worry about cyotes (sp?), coons and opossums here at night, but we lock ours up at night too. We also have 3 dogs......so I think that scares a lot away.
Help!! New turkey poults pecking each other!
ladybug we have to watch out for those, dogs, coyotes, foxes, the odd bear, snakes and people! If these make it to our kitchen (eggs or chickens) it will be a major miracle!!
MollyD
Molly, I didn't know your bears were odd. Mine are the everyday kind of black bear. Ohhhhh, you mean the occasional bear. (chuckle)
Ladybug, we also have what Molly have plus we have Bald Eagles, feral cats, badgers, skunks, and probably a half-dozen other critters to watch out for. Just the fun of living in a state/national forest area. We haven't had any trouble the past few years except for possums. We don't have our pen covered as it would take a whole lot of netting to do so. Our pen is 40ft by 100ft. We do use orange snow fencing and scarecrows to keep the critters out. It seems to be working pretty well.
GG
This message was edited Jun 10, 2008 7:10 AM
Quoting:
Molly, I didn't know your bears were odd. LOL. Mine are the everyday kind of black bear.
those bears have gotten too close to NYC! Makes them very odd! LOL
Eagles here are only a matter of time. They repopulated them and they've been slowly spreading. Right now they live about 20 miles from us but we have never seen them here.
MollyD
Yep, that would make them extremely odd. I don't think I want to get that close to NYC. Too many people. But, then, I'm just country folk.
There are several active nests of eagles within 5 miles of our place. In fact, I think there is a family of them living at the deer ranch next to us. They have 320 acres of woods and swamp, so that is a very good place for them. I do know there is a nest about 18 miles from us. The caretaker showed it to me a couple of years ago. Some years ago one of the eaglets fell out of the nest and he took it into the rangers office to find out what kind of bird it was. They yelled at him that he wasn't supposed to touch it. (They never did tell him what it was) But, it had the beak and talons of an eagle. The nest is in a very tall white pine next to a river and is about 3-4 feet across.
GG
My goodness you all have a lot to watch out for! I don't think I will worry as much, knowing now that we are pretty lucky here. We have had a bob cat or 2 in the area, and I saw one running across the road in the pre dawn hours, but they are just not that common. Thank goodness for only one overhead preditor and good dogs!
I have heard that eagle nests could be huge, that they make them bigger and bigger every year and come back to the same nest every year at mating time. I heard of one in IL being as big as a car.....it was a tourist attraction.
Yep, ladybug, they do. Most of ours are inaccessible because they are either on private property or in the middle of the swamp. You do see them along the road sometimes when there has been a deer hit by a car and left. They are scavengers and will get meals off the carcass.
Once, about 3 years ago, I was coming home from town in February, and there was a dead rabbit just off my drive. There was an immature eagle eating on the carcass with the mama eagle sitting in a tree just across the road. What a sight! They are absolutely stunningly beautiful!!!
GG
The eagles in our area (20 miles away) are also in the middle of a swamp. People come with binoculars to a spot the rangers have cleared. There they can watch them or take pictures.
Last night I heard the coyotes howling. They sounded awfully close to our place :-(
MollyD
mine stopped pecking each other when i started letting them run in my yard during the day
I saw and eagle in captivity about 2 years ago. It was HUGE and not very old at the time. They had a cuff and heavy chain around its ankle.....they must have a lot of power. It was a one time thing, and the people were packed in something awful to get a look at it and take it's picture. What a site! Nothing like being 2 feet from one! My kid's were in total awe!
I hear coyotes all the time and it worries me when they sound closer and closer. Thank goodness for the dogs, or we'd have them right up near the house!
Well, Silly Suzy hasn't done it again since I gave her a little 'thunk'.....I have always heard that turkey's are pretty dumb little critters, and I have seen and heard a lot of not very bright things they do.....but maybe because Silly Suzy looks at me as Mama....she caught on pretty quick that rough treatment of the babies was not ok. She still hollars and calls out something awful when I am out of her site, so maybe out of luck she learned. Crossing my fingers though......
Well, if you figure that eagles have legs about as large around as your wrist and talons as long as your fingers, then you can imagine their size. They stand about 3 ft tall when they are grown.
Once when I was young, I remember someone having an eagle that couldn't be released into the wild because of either a broken wing or leg. That was the first time I saw one close-up. As you say, they are totally awesome.
GG