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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 11, 2023 10:40:09 GMT -6
Those poor quail. I think if it were not for the avid quail enthusiasts (domesticated), those poor babies would all go extinct. I checked out the songs of the sparrow hawk. Didn’t seem familiar to me, but Goober heard and became eager for a treat. I guess they come around sometimes. The red tailed and the Cooper’s hawks are infrequent but present My poor chickens. Hiccup deserves an award.
After all the broohaha with the local kites and when things settled down mentally, little Miss and I noticed that we have not seen a squirrel since spring. I forgot about the 110 coni’s. I’ll need to make sure they’re loaded with fresh bait come late September.
I am now extremely appreciative of this annoying migratory bird. I’ve changed my focus and will concentrate on a very good run for my ladies so the kites can rule next summer. They can eat all the squirrels they like.
The sparrow hawk? Not so much as I like my native birdies. ____
Since free ranging, the ladies have chosen to make a nest right beneath the metal steps at the back door. We love it. After clearing the coop, I couldn’t figure out why the lice came back with a vengeance until ewww, I thot about their nesting spot. (I haven’t been able to pick up any powdered sulfur, yet.) I’ve cleared the area, doused it with permethrin and built a new nest for them with clean hay sprayed with permethrin. We’ve resorted to dusting them with Sevin and it doesn’t seem to help much. Spinosad works better but it’s too hot. We’re considering dunking them in SPINOSAD indoors at night. Think that might help tremendously.
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Post by amyinowasso on Aug 11, 2023 10:58:54 GMT -6
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 11, 2023 18:28:47 GMT -6
Frosty,
I forgot you have tame chickens there. Washing them is definitely an option. My daughter used to have a pet red rooster that we bathed all the time. He liked it. We'd just run a sink full of warm water, put some dawn dishwashing liquid in there, and submerge him up to his neck, then start washing him off. He'd dry himself off while running around playing with the kids.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 12, 2023 23:13:00 GMT -6
The story of the rooster made me smile. They’re so much fun when they’re tame. They could definite use a bath. Their white barring is starting to come back, suggesting they’re not dirt bathing as often. Something we’re doing is at least helping.
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Post by macmex on Aug 13, 2023 3:55:17 GMT -6
We have a tiny raptor who sits on the power line right outside the back side of the College of Optometry. He's hardly larger than a pigeon yet I've noticed he does a fine job of running the pigeons off. Not so much with squirrels. They don't appear to fear him at all.
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Post by amyinowasso on Aug 13, 2023 10:22:52 GMT -6
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 13, 2023 14:11:45 GMT -6
George,
It's entirely likely that NSU 'planted' that small raptor on campus. Back in the early 1980s, when the, 'I a told ya, Khomeini' was on the news nearly every evening, NSU had a terrible pigeon problem.
Hoards of pigeons had gotten into the attic of Seminary Hall over the decades and filled the voids between all of the timbers up there so full of pigeon poop that the plaster was beginning to sag and crack off the ceiling on the top floor. The smell of ammonia up there on the 3rd floor was such that in the hot summertime (before the building was air-conditioned) that floor could no longer be used full-time.
At first, they had maintenance very secretly place a platter of poisoned bird feed up there, but that had undesirable results, as a number of pigeons were coming home to roost each evening and waking up dead the following day.
They'd have to send members of the grounds crew up there with litter-gitters to pick up dead pigeons every morning. Let me tell you, that place was plenty ripe after we returned from Fall Break that year. Not to mention the fact that a number of sick pigeons were found to be wandering the sidewalks daily, falling over, and flopping around in a stupor, from ingesting a less than lethal dose.
At the time, it was suggested that the Biology Department adopt a pair of Peregrine Falcons from Boston. (I don't know if they ever really did it though?) www.wickedlocal.com/story/regional/2022/06/29/peregrine-falcon-conservation-program-sees-success-massachusetts-newburyport-gillis-bridge/7710474001/I think Falcons are a little more streamline than hawks. I've only seen one that I know of though and that was a lot of years ago. A guy in Tulsa had it outside, training it to come back when he called to it. www.treehugger.com/difference-between-hawks-and-falcons-6753915
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Post by macmex on Aug 14, 2023 8:32:03 GMT -6
I bet it's a kestrel. At any rate I am fond of the little fellow. One of the guys who held my technician position, some years ago, struggled with pigeons so much that he got unofficial permission to bring a pellet gun to work and shoot them, early in the morning. He also had an extensive campaign, eliminating their nesting places. But when the little raptor moved it, most of the pigeons moved out.
This reminds me of something my son told me, a number of years ago. He and his wife went to Oklahoma State University. There, they also had to deal with pigeons in and around the facilities. Turns out that a pair of Red Tailed Hawks were so smart that they learned to adopt a Peregrine falcon approach to catching pigeons, even though it was not naturally part of their repertoire. They learned to walk along the edge of a flat topped building, looking down, till they spotted a pigeon pecking around on the ground, just below. Then they'd jump off the ledge and allow themselves to drop like a rock until just before they hit bottom, spreading their wings and grabbing their prey at the last moment. OSU folk were very pleased and entertained with these "Einstein Redtails."
Last year, at the College of Optometry, something eliminated all of the squirrels on the grounds. Normally there are quite a few. We have a number of heavy producing white oaks, and the squirrels stick around them year round. Well, 2022 was a heavy year for acorn production and there wasn't a squirrel to be seen there. Whatever it was is not hanging around right now. We have oodles of young squirrels playing in those trees.
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Post by rdback on Sept 1, 2023 7:10:44 GMT -6
@frostyturnip - B, I saw this and for some reason, it made me think of you, lol.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 2, 2023 15:54:57 GMT -6
Spot on! Hahaha
Right now, the hens are parked on the front porch waiting to ambush me should I exit. They want more chicken crack (wheat).
Our cottage is so small, we would not need windows to meet code requirements in the main living and kitchen areas. They lay their eggs beneath the wire steps at the back door and hang out at the front door waiting to ambush me. The wildlife has cut the flock in half and I’m kinda glad because if I had eleven chickens, we’d be swallowed up.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 4, 2023 19:59:42 GMT -6
For us, 3 good laying hens produce more eggs than Margaret and I can eat. Any more hens than that and I begin to feel like I'm running a neighborhood food bank every Sunday morning, trying to give eggs away at Church. Of course, I love doing that, but after a few Sundays, hardly anyone there needs that many more eggs, so I often end up bringing them back home with me to crack for the dogs to eat, which is okay too. Dog food is pretty expensive if you don't grow it yourself.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 5, 2023 1:12:27 GMT -6
You’re right about the dog food. Through the roof!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Sept 20, 2023 9:24:52 GMT -6
It always seems strange when barnyard animals decide to have babies in the fall of the year instead of the Spring. We have baby chicks, baby rabbits, a baby tree frog, and a cockatiel who thinks he rules the world.
Calico bunnies and little red chicks.
This is the baby tree frog I found covered in spider webs. You have to zoom in to see his little googly eyes. It's amazing how God created such a small thing with such detail and complete working features. What tiny fingers!
This is Margaret washing the cobwebs off the baby frog to set it free under our century plant where there are plenty of little bugs to eat.
This is Pretty Boy, taking a ride on top of my hat on the way to feed the critters early in the morning. He things he owns the place.
If his feathers look a little thin, it's because he had a near death experience a few days ago from venturing under the Hoosier cabinet to do a close-up inspection of a bug on a sticky trap. I had to take a heavy pair of quilting shears to trim most of the trap away from his body, then put Vaseline on my fingers and spend the next several minutes slipping greased fingers between his feathers and the bird-shaped sticky trap. That was a close call. If I hadn't been home to hear him struggling he'd have been a goner shorty thereafter. If you enlarge the photo you can see he has a bare goozle.
I told Margaret she ought to knit him a little, " I survived the sticky trap" scarf.
This is a photo of the sticky trap. You can see his little yellow head and neck feathers stuck to it. He's a lucky little bird.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Sept 21, 2023 2:15:27 GMT -6
Ron, Looks to me the cockatiel really does own the place. Lower your pride, man, and own up. You’ve been bamboozled by a cockatiel! Hahaha
I speak from experience. My chickens rule the place.
those bun buns are really pretty. Good job Margaret and Ron! I cannot do prettay bun buns. I’d get too attached. The price of dog food . . .
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Post by rdback on Sept 21, 2023 10:57:55 GMT -6
Interesting bunnies Ron. I don't think I have ever seen a calico bunny. Are they like calico cats, which are almost always female? They sure are cute!
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