Hawk trouble

Early in the month of December 2009 we started having a problem with a hawk killing our chickens. Now usually the hawks are only a problem if the ground is covered in snow & it's been a hard winter and usually it's toward the end of winter not the beginning. Another oddity is that this hawk was not the usual Red Tailed but likely a Pigeon Hawk. Well, this hawk apparently decided he was hungry and a chicken would do just fine, thank you.

So...I went out to the 'horse barn' about 4 /4:30 one evening in early December to close up the chickens in that barn so they would be safe during the night from such creatures as: coyote, fox, weasel, skunk, racoon, etc and to my surprise I see a hawk eating one of my beautiful Buff Orpington hens. He must have just killed her b/c he really didn't get to eat much when I startled him & he flew off. I was kind of mad at myself for scaring him off b/c this just meant that he'd be back for another b/c he was still hungry. 2 days later sure enough the hawk had come back & killed and ate one of our Plymouth Barred Rock hens. The next day I was on alert watching for him to return....coincidentally I was outside by the egg layers coop doing my late morning chores & all of a sudden w/in 20 ft of me he swooped down and attacked a Black Star hen. She started screaming & managed to pull away from him. She headed into the barn for cover and he followed right behind her. They both flew right past me @ 5 feet away. I followed them into the barn yelling all the while at the hawk to "get out of here!"....he of course ignored me....the hen found a safe spot to hide and then (this is the funny part of the story) the hawk got stuck between the wall & a piece of wood. I walked up to him and when I saw he was stuck I figured I'd teach him a lesson and took off my work glove & started smacking him on the back w/ it! I probably hit him 4 or 5 times and then he got himself free and flew away.

Guess what?! He hasn't been back since! And the hen is just fine....missing a few tail feathers is all.

Have you seen the cows?!

Here is a pic of the 3 Scottish Highlanders when we got them back in early June '09. They gained much needed weight eating all our green grass over the summer/fall. And they're still fat eating on our hay over this winter. No grain for them - grass fed only. We haven't found many treats that they really like - one of them seemed to enjoy some turnip greens that were offered.

When we first got them they were so hungry and enjoyed our grass so much they stayed in the fenced in enclosure and were happy. But then I think they thought they had eaten all the good stuff on their side & wanted to try the green grass on the other side of the fence (you know 'the grass is always greener on the other side' saying?). Well, they found a weak spot in our fence line and climbed over wire fence EARLY one summer morning. I went out to feed them at my usual 6 am and they were NO WHERE to be found. I yelled for Chris....we had no idea where they had gone or what to do. We began to yell for them, got a feed bucket w/ grain in & shook it and then decided to head out into our field to see if maybe they went toward the wood line for shelter from the heat. Even at 6am it was probably 70 degrees already that day. Of course, we did not find the cows so we headed back toward the barns. As we did, we saw a white van pull into our driveway. It was a neighbor who asked if we were missing some cows. He had been driving into town early and found the cows nearly ON 308 so he used his van to herd them to another neighbors horse farm & put them in one of her enclosures until he could find out where they belonged. We got our truck & met him at the neighbors horse farm. Yes indeed, there were our cows - now enjoying her field grass! We decided to use the vehicles to herd the cows back to our place all on the back roads btwn the 2 farms. We looked like a very haphazard parade going by I'm sure. It probably took us about 30 minutes to go 1.5 miles but we got them back where they belonged. I was exhausted! What a way to start a day and it was barely 9am by then! Thank goodness my sister & her boyfriend were here (from MD) and helped us block roads etc and chase the cows home. Shortly after Chris put up a whole new fence line & we haven't had a problem since! phew.

The Yorkshire Pigs

Three Little Pigs....Chris brought these 3 home to the farm on Dec. 22, 09 - my early Christmas present I suppose! We have a great winter setup for them in one of our barns and plan to move them to another barn with outside access as soon as the ground begins to thaw this Spring. They enjoy burrowing into the mound of fresh hay we give them as bedding. They actually make a 'cave' out of the hay to sleep in & stay warm. Usually they sleep head to foot all lined up so they use each others body heat. These 3 are all neutered males. They are a breed called Yorkshire which typically grow to be about 200-250 lbs at maturity. They are now about 3 mos. old and weigh approximately 35 lbs ea. They do a fair amount of grunting, snorting and even squealing if they fight over the food. In this picture they are eating some afternoon treats I brought down the other day.

Driveway: still snowy

FS contents: 4 doz EGGS, mulch HAY

General comments: Enjoying the slightly warmer temp today - wish we didn't have the breeze though...will try to get the dogs out in the field this afternoon if I can get myself motivated!

Angus-Brown Swiss x cows

This is 'Daisy' (standing) and 'Duke' (laying down)-they are Black Angus (beef) crossed with Brown Swiss (dairy/dual purpose). Chris picked them up on the evening of Dec. 15, 09. They were born 5.10.09 in Ulster county. In the winter they get wonderful morning sun in their stall and then go & take the goats stall for the afternoon sun! They LOVE our hay on which we don't use chemical fertilizers or weed sprays. All natural - all the way. Chris plans to fence in a part of the field this Spring for all the cows to graze for the growing season. There will be access to a running stream and to the woods for shelter from the heat. By moving them for the summer it will make space by the barns for the goats, llamas & horses to graze. One big happy family!

Driveway: snowy

F.S. contents: EGGS, mulch HAY

General comments: The sun sure feels good today - it's been nasty cold here for what seems like a long time - but hey, that's winter for you right?!

Sat mid-day

Driveway: snowy
Farm Stand Contents: mulch hay & 3 dozen eggs
General Comments: it's much too cold to be outside today!
stay warm.
Will have pics and stories shortly...

Fri AM

Driveway: Snowy
Farm Stand: is OPEN, 1 doz med eggs in the frig at the moment; more this afternoon
General: let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
Quiet morning so far, but it's still early! more later....

wet chicken

Here is a story from about 2 wks ago....
Chris & I went out to do afternoon chores one Sunday....by the time I caught up to Chris in the 'horse barn' he told me he had just found a rooster floating in the horses water bucket. He pulled the rooster out, dried him off and laid him on some hay. It was COLD that day so I made a bed of hay under a heat lamp and placed the rooster there. He was shivering and not trying to move. In an hour we came to check on him....that side was drying nicely so I moved him so his other side was facing the heat lamp and in another hour he was up & moving about. By the evening he was wanting to rejoin his flock again.
Another crisis averted!
Have no idea what caused him to get in the water bucket but I don't think he'll do it again!

Unless something crazy happens tomorrow I'll post pics of the new cows.