Recent content by spiceholler

I've got an "accidental" rooster, about 1 year old and he's pretty good, very docile and respectful of us and most of the flock. I have one hen, "Massachusetts" who was formerly a high ranking hen and the rooster has been singling her out and attacking her. I watched it happen again...

thinking about doing a temporary fence as we've had some more intense predator pressure of late. most likely fox but we have seen a bobcat in a thwarted attack. how long would make sense to cordon them off until the predator (or predators) move along? we know this isn't a certain solution, but...

that is good advice, but i wish we had the time or funds to take on another coop build. we have invested a significant amount into their current coop. i suppose as you say there are no shortcuts. As we are in a rural area with 400+ acres around the property (recently logged which I believe has...

their coop is very very secure. they are getting picked off generally at dusk when they gather near the coop to have a snack before bedtime.

The losses to our flock have recently seen a steep uptick and we lost another hen last night. (We had left for a dinner party and knew we were taking a risk, ugh!) Based on the hunting behavior and pile of feathers, we believe we are dealing with either a fox (from the nearby droppings) or a...

we just tossed a third into our broody pen (our former duck house). we also just found a clutch of 20 eggs under said pen. the third broody was sitting on them! the first two have been there for a little over a week so we're considering a slight modification to the setup and we need to make...

interesting. i read that foxes are extremely scared/cautious of dogs. however, any predator would probably easily get over any of their fears if they are hungry enough. we had some fox activity last year, lost two hens over a few weeks. we repeatedly sent the dog into the woods and sprayed some...

Yesterday was quite rainy and our ducks asked to be let out of their pen to free range for a bit. we have 3 ducks and about 20+ chickens (free range during the day). the rule has been that we are supposed to be watching the ducks while they are out, but of course we have loosened that rule as...

i am no hunter, but i have heard they are very hard to hunt. we had some success with a plastic owl and some of that anti fox spray (we free range). also foxes are very smart and learn your habits. we also seemed to have success by making a lot of noise randomly and running into the woods with...

I'm also new to duck ownership. We've been free ranging chickens for about 4 years and are lucky to have minimal predator intervention. We did learn the hard way and lost one of our 4 ducklings that were sunning in an outdoor temporary pen. (migrating hawk). So needless to say we've been...

we grew the black oil sunflowers last year and they are also good for humans! very easy to grow and they are perfect for fence lines! you just have to harvest the heads once you see the squirrels interested. but also fun to watch squirrels run off with a giant sunflower head ;)

I'm in a rural area with no neighbors and used to be concerned about the creatures crawling in the compost, but the snakes also moved into the area and are keeping things in balance. I'm actually right near that youtube guy in North Carolina. I like the idea of a Chinese restaurant and will also...

I was at dinner the other night and was shocked at how much food is wasted! I'd like to do my little part and try to feed this food to my hens, as a supplement and a way to get them to work through my garden compost. I've got about 21 hens and 1/4 acre in farm production with a huge compost...

I can tell you that construction materials have nearly tripled in price. To price out a structure, the easiest way is to find a plan online (you have) and take a look at the lumber needed, then put those items in a spreadsheet, then go online some place like Lowes or Home Depot and fill in the...

We've had the best success when we've successfully blocked all nesting boxes at night. But we've also had trouble successfully blocking them consistently as those broody hens will do anything to break in to their favorite nest box