Rascally Raccoons

Early spring we began losing chickens. Some of them were gone without a trace. Others were found partially eaten. We knew we had a problem, we just weren’t sure what form that problem was taking.

As we have a well fenced run area I felt confident crossing coyotes off the list. They have never made it over the fence before, it is unlikely they learned how now.

That leaves a few possibilities. Ok, tons of possibilities. raccoons, badgers, skunks and weasels to name a few. Raptors were not on our list. We have witnessed great horned owl carnage before and this was nothing like that. There were no holes dug anywhere under the fence so that pretty much crossed badger off the list. I did not think it was a weasel. We had seen a stoat about the property before but it was really small and seemed to be happy killing the ground squirrels we have plenty of. I didn’t think fox because what I understood about foxes is that they’d kill everything just for the pleasure of it. This led me down a raccoon path that was pretty much solidified by a neighbor confirming they had a raccoon family nearby.

So we started baiting a life trap, closing the gate on the barn itself and we bought and placed a trail cam to catch the culprit. The first night we caught a cat. I had wondered if it might have been a cat but I wasn’t confident this cat was our killer. So, after debating it we let the cat go and put the trap out again. The next night we caught…..something. It ripped the door off the trap so we had no real idea what it might have been.

Then we bought the pigs. We were worried, they were small when we purchased them. Still, pigs are ferocious when needed. The killing stopped for a time. I was hoping it had moved on, or the presence of the pigs in the barn was enough to discourage it. It wasn’t to last. Soon we lost a turkey. Our security doubled down. We were trying all different kinds of bait in the trap but never caught anything else. The trail cam never captured any useful photos either.

We went on vacation and I worried we’d come back to nothing. Thankfully everyone was still alive when we returned. We did have some ducks build nests outside of the run though. I had some hog panels I zip tied in a circle around the hens. Everything was going ok. The hens were set to hatch their eggs any day. Then I went out to find a wing and no other trace of the hen. The eggs were also gone. I was devastated but had hopes for the other hen. She was well hidden, it took me weeks to find her myself.

Around this time the peahens also went to brood. I saw them each day as they flew over to eat. Then, one morning, no peahens. My heart dropped and I went in search of them. I found feathers, so many feathers, and eaten eggs. No peahen. She obviously gave her attackers a struggle. We were hoping she was injured and in hiding. We searched everywhere. We’ve never found her. The other duck was also killed the same night. Her body was strewn about in several locations, her eggs eaten. At this point I called game and fish. I didn’t think a raccoon could take a peahen. I’ve seen those girls attack our dogs and win.

Game and fish came out and confirmed it was a coon. They’ve told us to stake it out and shoot it. The chance of trapping it is so slim shooting is our only option. So we have the game cam out, baited, trying to figure out which days and times the coons come around. So far we haven’t caught any pictures of them. We did get an entertaining coyote chase though. You can see the rabbit racing away in one shot and the coyote chasing it in the other.

We are nearly out of chickens at this point. We have a single turkey left. We also only have one peacock left. The male peacock went missing during the night a week ago. The ducks seem ok. Other than the ones who were nesting no ducks have been harmed. I’m guessing it’s their alert state at night that has kept them safe thus far.

 

I’ve been told a line of electric wire at the top and bottom of the fence may be enough to keep them out. That is our next step.

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Sainfoin, a perspective

We are three years into our sainfoin experiment.

The 5 acres directly behind our house is where the former owners kept their horses contained the most. It was highly compacted and had almost 0 vegetation. The sainfoin we planted here is doing well. (pictured above) It’s getting taller and it has been self seeding. It is a wall of pink blossoms we are blessed to stare at every day. It has been an incredible pollinator attractant.

It is slowly breaking through our compacted ground.

Areas that are not compacted, well there it’s flourishing. It is taller, thicker, seeding easier, where it does not have to work as hard.

This is sainfoin in a Krater.

Sainfoin in a swale.

The best growing sainfoin in what I thought was the worst faring krater.

 

I can’t speak to it’s palatability yet. The pigs have wandered through it and didn’t take a bite. The birds don’t seem to be interested in eating it either. I’m undecided on it as a forage. Time will tell.

Farm Scenes

Sometimes there are no words. Pictures are all that I have. There is so much I have not accomplished. So many things yet to be done. In these times of chaos it waters my soul to settle for a minute and photograph what has been done. The beauty that surrounds me but that I don’t notice in my busyness.

Cherry Blossoms

Plum Blossoms

Medlar Blossoms

Radishes

Sparta confused about what I’m doing.

Chicken Adventures

Ducks, Ducks, Ducks! The reason we never have clean water anywhere.

Turkey poults tasting some grass for the first time.

Piggie pics

Jiki found some fresh coyote poop near the barn to roll in. Yay…

Sparta running to catch up to us. Me thinks he’s gotten fat.

Pretty as a peacock.

Sparta peeking around the corner at the bacon bits.

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American Guinea Hogs for the farm

I am excited to announce we have a breeding pair of American Guinea Hogs chomping away on grass as we speak.

Joey is a 7 month old boar. He was calmly walking around the pasture when we first saw him. Meanwhile his brothers were madly humping each other. We picked the calm one. He doesn’t mind pets. Doesn’t seem to mind much of anything. He’s a chill little dude.

Tu-Tu (Can you tell the kids named them) is 11 weeks old. She isn’t too fond of being touched but she’ll tolerate it for brief moments if it means food. Her mom was a calm sow.

I’m hoping for calm pigs with calm kids. It’s rather imperative since our kids help out with chores and do love their piggie pets.

Sparta, our lovely Akbash, is desperate to make friends with the piggies. He stands off to the side whining and wagging his tail and trying to get close enough to sniff.

I have modified the barn and runs so that the pigs are separated, sort of, from the birds. The birds have no problem fitting through the hog panels and the gate slats. The pigs aren’t able to squeeze through quite as successfully. This means I haven’t had to stop allowing the birds to free range.

Size reference for ya. Tiny pigs still!

While the birds have no problem going after the pigs food they aren’t a big fan of quick moving, loud grunting pigs. Enjoy this sequence photo of the birds happily grouped and then scattered to the winds when the pig came back. lol

 

Installing Bees- 2017

We built two top barrel beehives many years ago. I’ve been trying to attract a swarm of bees ever since.

https://peacockorchard.com/2015/07/16/top-bar-bee-hive-construction/

I have finally called it quits and bought a package of bees. Whooo, nerve wracking.

I picked the bees up in their lovely little box. I believed myself fully prepared to install the hive. I’m great at being delusional! You should have been there. It was hysterical in a not so hysterical at the time way.

So I get my opening cover ready and remove the feed, immediately placing a block over it to prevent the bees from escaping. I turn around, place the feed down and bam, package tips over spilling a mass of bees out.

So I quick as lightening get the queen and insert the candy, hanging her on my bars. My husband flees the onslaught of angry insects but not before receiving a few battle wounds. I persevere in my protective gear. I dump some more of the bees out. The tarp is attached to the hive so they can walk right up. I drum on the back a little. I read somewhere they’d march right up if I did that. Bloody liars. So I decide I’ll just wait until after lunch and see what they are doing.

Well, miracle of miracles it did work. They walked themselves up and into the hive, mostly.

I had some hang on on the outside and I had to brush them off and put them in the hive.

Through some slats you can see the mass of bees around the queen. Amazing!

My bee feeder was found. Glory bee! It’s a chick waterer with glass stones and chicken wire tent to keep the birds off.

I nervously checked the next morning and they were ALIVE! I removed the tarp, and that board, which had been supporting the tarp. All is right with the world. Or at least it was until I decided I really should have insulated the hive BEFORE I put the bees in it. No worries, I can staple some insulation on. No worries. What do I do that is no worries. /sigh So I pull the insulation tight and thwack, all the boards fall off releasing hordes of angry bees, again. I manage to get them all back on, miracle of miracles, and finish stapling the insulation on. They all calmed down and went back in. What a relief!

It took them no time at all to release the queen. Now to wait and see what my bees can do!

Testing Almonds

Despite what California farmers would have you think almonds are extremely drought tolerant. What they aren’t is particularly cold tolerant. At least that was what I believed. I have a few Russian Almond bushes flourishing but I really wished I could grow a few sweet almonds. Thanks to One Green World I think I might be able to. I am going to be testing two of their almond varieties out this year.

https://onegreenworld.com/product/all-in-one-almond-tree/

https://onegreenworld.com/product/halls-hardy-almond/

Planted inside the protection of the fenced yard with the dogs to protect them from rabbit predation. If these trees successfully survive winter in Wyoming I will be deliriously happy and graft out as many as possible.

So stay tuned to see if I can get anything else crazy to grow around these parts.