Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Mogrits wrote:
> A few years ago I posted that hawks were decimating our duck
> population. They gradually worked through 8 mallards and a pekin and
> really got attached to this area. There are a couple hawk nests
> hereabouts and they can really make some racket. I miss the ducks-
> they were raised from ducklings but were never really tame nor never
> really wild. Every day was an easter egg hunt for mallard eggs- they
> just dropped them wherever the urge struck.

Well, one way to look at it is that the hawks are indigenous, the pekins 
and are not. Mallards, of course, are indigenous throughout the Northern 
Hemisphere and even Australia, not even close to being threatened or 
endangered, but almost all North American raptors are in trouble.  I 
know what you mean about missing them though-I miss having ducks and 
geese,too.  Everyone that sees the hawks here asks me why I don't kill 
them.  I am utterly flabberghasted by it.  I'll probably pay the price 
in chickens later on if my luck doesn't change, but hopefully, my 
goodwill gesture will put a few good kharmic credits in my accounts and 
the hawks will eat the rodents and snakes.  I learned today that there 
are at least two other mating pairs with chicks within a three quarters 
of a mile radius.

> But watching these hawks work is also a thing of beauty.

That it is.  I've been really impressed with their dedication to 
providing food to the chicks.  Watching them weave their way through the 
tree branches without flapping wings is awe-inspiring.

> I've been turkey hunting (unsuccessfully thus far) this year and am
> enjoying the birds. I wish woodpeckers would take a liking to pine
> beetles.

Wouldn't that be nice!  I heard a pileated woodpecker just today.  It is 
unusual for me to hear or see them this time of year-usually here I see 
and hear them in November and December.  This place is covered up with 
lesser woodpeckers, sapsuckers, flickers and the like.

Yesterday I wrote that a pair of bluebirds were building a nest in one 
of my birdhouses...correction on that.  While working in the garden 
within about 10 feet of the birdhouse, I heard chicks and wouldn't you 
know there are 3 baby bluebirds in there!

Speaking of birds, I sold 8 mutt chickens yesterday, 6 pullets and 2 
roos, for $90.  I want to sell 10 more, at least.  I'm thinking of 
putting them on Craigslist.  I gave away three to pay a barter 
agreement, and I actually lost one from something or another.
Yesterday, while collecting eggs, I found an older hen, one I think may 
be the result of a recessive game chicken gene<g>, hiding in a nestbox. 
 I thought I saw blood, so I pulled her out and saw that she was nearly 
decapitated.  I had noticed that she was being roughed up and was a bit 
bare-backed, but this was a horrible injury, very deep and dripping 
blood, the wound went 3/4 of the way around her neck.  I honestly 
thought she was near death, so I thought I would give her freedom as a 
thank you gift.  I set her on the ground and much to my surprise, she 
puffed up and tried to attack me!  Wow, what an ingrate!  I left her 
alone and hours later, she was foraging around in the grass, staying 
near the coop and the other chickens.  At dark, she was still living and 
apparently going to make it, so I put her in the chicken tractor and 
gave her some food and water.  Until she heals up, refeathers, and puts 
on some weight, the chicken tractor infirmary will be her home.  Today, 
I noticed that one of the new hens in the main coop is not a hen at all. 
 I have two roosters in the same coop, so I need to act on that rather 
quickly.  I think my little mutt game hen might have been tag teamed. 
DH asked me why I would save her..she's old, flighty, and doesn't have 
the best personality nor is she very pretty.  I showed him the huge egg 
she laid for me today.  'Nuff said.  Maybe I will name her Susan after 
Susan Boyle, the singer who gained overnight fame because she could sing 
really well, but whose common and plain appearance was less than 
Hollywood star quality.

B


--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public 
debt  should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered 
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed 
lest Rome become bankrupt.  People must again learn to work, instead of 
living on public assistance."

--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/