Wildlife 2, me 0 :(

[Jstpssng]

Last fall I spread winter rye on my newly cleared 2 acre field. I had no way to work it into the ground, but figured the rain would do the trick.

That weekend we had an early snow. (Oct 30) I counted over 40 turkeys feeding on the seed. Every day for the next 2 weeks they returned; like a vacuum clleaner they sucked up nearly every seed, working from the top of the field down. You could see the line of seed/no seed where they stopped at the end of each day.

2 weeks ago I brought home day old chicks; last Sunday I moved them out into the coop.
Wednesday night or Thursday a weasel got in; killed all 32 birds yet took just 6, leaving the rest for me to bury.

My lab loved watching them and still goes out to visit, although he's starting to realise that they're gone.

Ah well, that comes with trying to raise anything.

 

[jinman]

I have 10 times better luck with grass seen when I run my aerator/rotary plow over the area either before or after seeding. I can see little clusters of seeds coming up in the divots of the aerator. One time I spread seed out without aerating and a whole flock of black birds came in for a feast. The ground was covered with blackbirds like a carpet. At least they left me some fertilizer.

My neighbor is away for a Nat'l Guard weekend and my wife tends his chickens. He said he had lost several baby chicks to rat snakes. It seems this year we have lots of rat snakes and others too. My other neighbor has killed two rattlers already where he normally doesn't see any.

 

[MotorSeven]

Time to re-do the coop with 1/2"x1/2" rat wire(hardware mesh). Anything else just lets all other predator's in..........I learned the hard way. I also have a 4 strand electric fence around my coop which is cheap easy insurance.

 

[forgeblast]

I had the same thing with turkeys eating some food plot seed what I did to make them leave it alone was take some cheap posts, (4' high fiberglass ones from tsc) and string fishing line and then put some flagging on it. I leave the flagging long to blow in the wind. So far they will not go into areas where i have that planted. I also use 4' high chicken wire about 30 foot long then made into a circle and i use a post to hold it in the ground, once hunting season comes I can move the fencing and i have a small spot right where i need it.