The realities of caring for livestock means that you will inevitably butt heads with predators. As homesteaders, we have prepared our hearts to endure losses at times.
Before the attack
But last night was excessive. In one night, a predator stole not one, not three, but ELEVEN chicks, keets, and ducklings from our mobile tractor. We had thought it was safe, but a closer inspection revealed a tiny chink in its armor. Knowing that these tiny, defenseless creatures we had been caring for had been so ruthlessly and greedily destroyed (the predator didn't even eat them all!) made us not just sad, but MAD. That anger has galvanized us into action.
With newfound redneck fire in his eyes, Andrew shares the details of what happened, and what we're going to do about it.
What losses have predators done to your homestead? What are you doing to stop it? Share your plans below, and maybe we can all help each other out.
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Hey brother, Great post. I think we can all relate to this MADNESS you feel!. Im heading over to watch your video now but i also wanted to let you know about our homesteaders group. Its not just for homesteaders but it is mostly homesteader type folk and we are all upvoting eachothers post. Go to thl and check out the post about joining a group. Get in on the community we got growing!
Thanks for watching and reading! Love seeing other homesteaders on SteemIt (and elsewhere on the Internet.) :)
Once we had an ocelot attack, it didn't manage to get in the chicken pen but the chickens slept near the fence. So one morning there sat five beheaded chickens.
An ocelot attack!?!? Where is your homestead that you have to worry about an ocelot attack? I thought feral cats were bad enough.
I lived on a farm in Argentina for a while. No ocelots in Belgium thanks. No mountain lions, no snakes, no locusts, life's good here. Only many ticks.
It's always heartbreaking when that happens. I've got an issue with a neighbor's dog which they refuse to control, or to own up to their responsibilities for.
Eventually, ya just gotta do what ya gotta do.
Our neighbor has about 5 dogs, and I think it is just a matter of time before one of them gets over to my land and bothers my livestock. I hope it never happens as that can really strain a relationship with the neighbors, but as you said, you gotta do what you gotta do to protect your land and the animals that you are steward over.
So sorry to hear about his! Gosh darn it all! I just made a quail pen and I hope to goodness that it's good enough! I am definitely worried!
Ps. Wondering, is it an option for you to choose that YouTube does the closed captions? I often don't have the opportunity to watch videos with the volume on. If you could turn on closed captions in the future, that would be awesome!
It's in-the-field learning, that's for sure. We learned a lot from that attack, and things we could only really learn by seeing the causes and effects of our decisions. We're glad to not be just book-learning homesteaders now, though!
Quail seem adorable to me (Michelle). I love the sounds they make!
Huh! We've never been asked for closed captions before...I will mess around and see if I can change the settings! Thanks for letting us know. :)
I checked our videos, and they all seem to have closed-captions already enabled! The "translations" are often off, but was there something else that would be more helpful to have on?
I just didn't see the option when I wasn't viewing your video. If it's enabled then great! I'll try harder next time! Might have to click thru to view on YT or something. Thanks for checking!!
I've lost over 30 chicks this year to a cat. I'm just about finished with an impenetrable hen house and learned to weld in the process. Our dog had puppies and we kept 1 to live in the chicken yard at night. she can earn her keep LOL.
Following you for more stories.
Cheers
Guhhh, that's so horrible. All to the same cat? Though learning welding is certainly a fantastic skill to finally have (my welding skills leave much to be desired), I'm sad that it had to come to you in such a crummy fashion.
It's all good, reason to take it to the next level. I'll have my work permit soon and need to top up my income. My welding friend is busy every day, so the reason for the welder purchase. Now maybe I can contract myself out or help with his many jobs?
her he is:
Thanks for a great reply
Cheers
Oh yes. The old mask Bandit. I've lost many chickens over the years to raccoons. I've trapped and relocated and made at least seven raccoons disappear in a period of one year. What I found works the best is marshmallows in a live trap. What you do with them after that is up to you.
That's what we heard from a farmer friend down the road--though his method is to soak the marshmallows in cheap syrup, too! In our area, relocating a raccoon is just dropping off your problem onto someone else's property--we had to permanently delete our problem raccoon, and our birds haven't been attacked since (thankfully!).