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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] japanese beetles and avian predators/now slightly offtopic

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  • From: "Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] japanese beetles and avian predators/now slightly offtopic
  • Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:40:13 -0500

Michelle, I think we butchered them at about a pound and a half, maybe closer to two pounds. They have no down at all so they are REALLY easy to pluck. In fact, because they are so hard to catch and so nutty when you do catch them, they tend to be self plucking. I learned to grab them by solid body parts after the first two left me with leg feathers and a complete set of tailfeathers. If you can convince them to nest somewhere the varmints won't eat them, and lock them up out of the rain for 2 solid weeks after the babies hatch, they seem to do very well. Our problem was the varmints. I have read they will only lay and set in a pen if it has nice brush piles to make them feel safe and private. They don't start laying till late, late March or even April, so they could probably be left loose all but 2-3 months of the year. With the banties, once we convince them to lay in the cage rather than in the brush, (either by making it attractive or by locking them in it when they don't take the hint) the cage door can be left open. We have a snake proof cage 4 ft off the ground very close by for the banties, they can come and go while laying and setting, are locked in for a couple of weeks with new babies, and then are turned out to pick and scratch after that. Since the new neighbors have arrived with big chicken killing dogs, the littlest ones are locked up in a cage on the ground with their mamas except when we are home for about a month. There are lots of trees overhead, so they can usually escape. I don't know how young guineas would do under these circumstances, I guess they can fly even better than banties. All it takes is a hawk going for them, they vanish and don't come out for an hour or two. Donna




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