Be glad you guys don't have Harris's hawks up there. Parabuteo unicinctus is smaller than the standard red-tail, but it's the only known bird of prey that hunts in flocks. They moved into the Dallas area about fifteen years ago, and there's a flock that lives in scrub just down the road from where I work. They normally go after rabbit-sized prey, but since they hunt in flocks anywhere between 4 and 12 in size, they could take down deer.
You'll get them all sooner or later. We share this part of the world with them. Most of them were here already and putting either the chooks or their food out will make them eager to revisit your homestead.
Just yesterday I saw a peregrine falcon in my yard, staring at the chickens though the fence of the chicken run. Luckily they weren't out for the day yet. He sat there, and the chickens went into the coop. Then when he realized that he couldn't get any chickens, he flew up to the power line and sat for a bit. This is the second time I have seen one at my house this year. It's only a matter of time he gets a bird.
I hope that if he does get one, he gets the really old one who hardly lays, and I can replace her next spring. I tried eating the old chickens before. Really, way too much work and the meat is lacking as they are layers.
When I lived in PDX, those huge, aggressive raccoons used to weird me out. A whole family of 'em moved in under my porch at one point, and refused to leave. I remember hurling this gallon jug of water at the big, fat Mama Coon who was blocking my front steps, some of the little ones in tow, and she just stared at me and snarled, like "That all you got ?" Not intimidated in the least.
Ever heard one of those things growl and hiss ? Not fun. Vicious.
I can only imagine what a raccoon would do to a chicken coop. They have little hands that are quite adept at grasping things...it would be pretty hard to build a coop they could not get in to.
Chicken wire sucks as protection. Coons can work it with their little facile paws until it fatigues and gives way. I recommend rabbit wire....welded steel wire of a much higher gauge...or construction cloth is even better, because it's 1/2" x 1/2" and prevents the raccoons from reaching in and grabbing. They'll kill, even if they can't have it.
Building against raccoons and dogs is the challenge for chicken tenders. It took me a couple of years to 'muscle up' to handle the raccoons. I lost two hens and two pullets to ringtailed invaders because I took them too lightly. Luckily, they are pretty much a nighttime problem; They are nocturnal and hens roost at night. Dogs hurtle to the top of the problem list during daytime.
Eagles and hawks aren't much of an issue for me. I have lots of overhead foliage, so it's cramped to begin with, and it provides lots of cover. The thing is, anything big enough to fly off with one of my hens wouldn't have the space to take off. I also have a very active murder of crows living nearby. They keep me, and my hens, apprised of raptor presence; I doubt that any raptor could get close to my flock without setting off all sorts of clatter and uproar. I've had a red-tailed hawk sit and watch....
I'm just glad I don't have to deal with skunks or weasels.
Besides raccoons, skunks (I remember that episode really well-couldn't go to school for three days), birds, coyotes, rats, mice and more, add chicken lice to the equation. They were dreadful and hard to exterminate, especially when they got in the house. Our coop was over 300 ft. from the house.
These urban farmers don't understand why many decades ago farm animals were excluded from our cities.
Cabbie, when I used to live on SW 16th, my next-door neighbor asked me if I'd noticed anything strange involving cat food at my place. He'd noticed that he was going through a lot more dog and cat food than what one dog and one cat would normally eat, and he couldn't figure it out. His girlfriend solved it about three days later: she got up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water, and found the biggest raccoon she'd ever seen in the kitchen, contentedly pigging out on the dog food. (Since this was the middle of summer, they left the door to their fire escape open to take advantage of the north breeze at night, and figured that nobody and nothing was going to get in. They weren't expecting a monster raccoon climbing up the rainspout for dinner.) She popped him in the face with a broom a few times, and he gave this desultory "Do you MIND?" look before waddling out and down the fire escape.
The next evening was a bit more entertaining. Heat be damned, they closed the fire escape door that night. You've never heard such a racket as a raccoon throwing a full-bore temper tantrum outside a locked door.
Wanna know what will send a raccoon squealing? Put some habanero chilies in peanut butter and put the mess near your coop. You'll hear those sons of bitches howl when they bite into it! And they hate being laughed at! Those little punks will never bother your laying ladies after that!
Sal, I'll have to try that myself. (Not that I have chickens, but the little vermin regularly come onto my back porch as if I'm going to invite them in for dinner. Possums I don't mind, but raccoons?)
Lange, Pinot Gris 2015
Kiona, Lemberger 2014
Willamette Valley, Pinot Gris 2015
Aix, Rosé de Provence 2016
Marchigüe, Cabernet 2013
Inazío Irruzola, Getariako Txakolina Rosé 2015
Maso Canali, Pinot Grigio 2015
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Kirkland, Côtes de Provence Rosé 2016
Cantele, Salice Salentino Reserva 2013
Whispering Angel, Côtes de Provence Rosé 2013
Avissi, Prosecco
Cleto Charli, Lambrusco di Sorbara Secco, Vecchia Modena
Pique Poul, Rosé 2016
Edmunds St. John, Bone-Jolly Rosé 2016
Stoller, Pinot Noir Rosé 2016
Chehalem, Inox Chardonnay 2015
The Four Graces, Pinot Gris 2015
Gascón, Colosal Red 2013
Cardwell Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
L'Ecole No. 41, Merlot 2013
Della Terra, Anonymus
Willamette Valley, Dijon Clone Chardonnay 2013
Wraith, Cabernet, Eidolon Estate 2012
Januik, Red 2015
Tomassi, Valpolicella, Rafaél, 2014
Sharecropper's Pinot Noir 2013
Helix, Pomatia Red Blend 2013
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
Campo Viejo, Rioja Reserva 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2013
Locations, Spanish Red Wine
Locations, Argentinian Red Wine
La Antigua Clásico, Rioja 2011
Shatter, Grenache, Maury 2012
Argyle, Vintage Brut 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2014
Benton Hill, Pinot Gris 2015
Primarius, Pinot Gris 2015
Januik, Merlot 2013
Napa Cellars, Cabernet 2013
J. Bookwalter, Protagonist 2012
LAN, Rioja Edicion Limitada 2011
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2009
Denada Cellars, Cabernet, Maipo Valley 2014
Marchigüe, Cabernet, Colchagua Valley 2013
Oberon, Cabernet 2014
Hedges, Red Mountain 2012
Balboa, Rose of Grenache 2015
Ontañón, Rioja Reserva 2015
Three Horse Ranch, Pinot Gris 2014
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
Nelms Road, Merlot 2013
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris 2014
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2012
Conn Creek, Cabernet, Napa 2013
Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc 2015
G3, Cabernet 2013
Chateau Smith, Cabernet, Washington State 2014
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #16
Willamette Valley, Rose of Pinot Noir, Whole Clusters 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Ca' del Baio Barbaresco Valgrande 2012
Goodfellow, Reserve Pinot Gris, Clover 2014
Lugana, San Benedetto 2014
Wente, Cabernet, Charles Wetmore 2011
La Espera, Cabernet 2011
King Estate, Pinot Gris 2015
Adelsheim, Pinot Gris 2015
Trader Joe's, Pinot Gris, Willamette Valley 2015
La Vite Lucente, Toscana Red 2013
St. Francis, Cabernet, Sonoma 2013
Kendall-Jackson, Pinot Noir, California 2013
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Napa Valley 2013
Erath, Pinot Noir, Estate Selection 2012
Abbot's Table, Columbia Valley 2014
Intrinsic, Cabernet 2014
Oyster Bay, Pinot Noir 2010
Occhipinti, SP68 Bianco 2014
Layer Cake, Shiraz 2013
Desert Wind, Ruah 2011
WillaKenzie, Pinot Gris 2014
Abacela, Fiesta Tempranillo 2013
Des Amis, Rose 2014
Dunham, Trautina 2012
RoxyAnn, Claret 2012
Del Ri, Claret 2012
Stoppa, Emilia, Red 2004
Primarius, Pinot Noir 2013
Domaines Bunan, Bandol Rose 2015
Albero, Bobal Rose 2015
Deer Creek, Pinot Gris 2015
Beaulieu, Rutherford Cabernet 2013
Archery Summit, Vireton Pinot Gris 2014
King Estate, Pinot Gris, Backbone 2014
Oberon, Napa Cabernet 2013
Apaltagua, Envero Carmenere Gran Reserva 2013
Chateau des Arnauds, Cuvee des Capucins 2012
Nine Hats, Red 2013
Benziger, Cabernet, Sonoma 2012
Roxy Ann, Claret 2012
Januik, Merlot 2012
Conundrum, White 2013
St. Francis, Sonoma Cabernet 2012
The Occasional Book
Phil Stanford - Rose City Vice
Kenneth R. Feinberg - What is Life Worth?
Kent Haruf - Our Souls at Night
Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
Amy Stewart - Girl Waits With Gun
Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
Norm Macdonald - Based on a True Story
Christopher Buckley - Boomsday
Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way
Ruth Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
Richard Adams - Watership Down
Claire Vaye Watkins - Gold Fame Citrus
Markus Zusak - I am the Messenger
Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
James Joyce - Dubliners
Cheryl Strayed - Torch
William Golding - Lord of the Flies
Saul Bellow - Mister Sammler's Planet
Phil Stanford - White House Call Girl
John Kaplan & Jon R. Waltz - The Trial of Jack Ruby
Kent Haruf - Eventide
David Halberstam - Summer of '49
Norman Mailer - The Naked and the Dead
Maria Dermoȗt - The Ten Thousand Things
William Faulkner - As I Lay Dying
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
Christopher Buckley - Thank You for Smoking
William Shakespeare - Othello
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cheryl Strayed - Tiny Beautiful Things
Sara Varon - Bake Sale
Stephen King - 11/22/63
Paul Goldstein - Errors and Omissions
Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Beverly Cleary - A Girl from Yamhill, a Memoir
Kent Haruf - Plainsong
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 113
At this date last year: 155
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (15)
Be glad you guys don't have Harris's hawks up there. Parabuteo unicinctus is smaller than the standard red-tail, but it's the only known bird of prey that hunts in flocks. They moved into the Dallas area about fifteen years ago, and there's a flock that lives in scrub just down the road from where I work. They normally go after rabbit-sized prey, but since they hunt in flocks anywhere between 4 and 12 in size, they could take down deer.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | November 29, 2010 4:07 PM
Coyotes, & eagles, & rats, O my!
Raccoons, & mice, & hawks, my O my!
You'll get them all sooner or later. We share this part of the world with them. Most of them were here already and putting either the chooks or their food out will make them eager to revisit your homestead.
Posted by godfry | November 29, 2010 4:39 PM
Jack,
Just yesterday I saw a peregrine falcon in my yard, staring at the chickens though the fence of the chicken run. Luckily they weren't out for the day yet. He sat there, and the chickens went into the coop. Then when he realized that he couldn't get any chickens, he flew up to the power line and sat for a bit. This is the second time I have seen one at my house this year. It's only a matter of time he gets a bird.
I hope that if he does get one, he gets the really old one who hardly lays, and I can replace her next spring. I tried eating the old chickens before. Really, way too much work and the meat is lacking as they are layers.
Posted by Rudie | November 29, 2010 5:43 PM
I couldn't stop laughing at this woman!
Didn't she ever watch Foghorn Leghorn as a child?
"It is the size of a small eagle" - wait until an eagle comes by!
You have all these animals and try to cohabit with nature, and you don't even know what the most common hawk in the US looks like?
I especially liked the part where she lets the goats out, as if the goats would gore the hawk - she doesn't even understand goats and she raises them
Posted by T | November 29, 2010 5:45 PM
BTW, TTR
She's in Austin, TX , it appears
Up here she might get a golden eagle, then she'd know just how big an eagle is
Posted by T | November 29, 2010 5:47 PM
When I lived in PDX, those huge, aggressive raccoons used to weird me out. A whole family of 'em moved in under my porch at one point, and refused to leave. I remember hurling this gallon jug of water at the big, fat Mama Coon who was blocking my front steps, some of the little ones in tow, and she just stared at me and snarled, like "That all you got ?" Not intimidated in the least.
Ever heard one of those things growl and hiss ? Not fun. Vicious.
I can only imagine what a raccoon would do to a chicken coop. They have little hands that are quite adept at grasping things...it would be pretty hard to build a coop they could not get in to.
Posted by Cabbie | November 29, 2010 5:58 PM
Its called chicken wire for a reason, even when its horizontal....
Posted by john dull | November 29, 2010 6:08 PM
Chicken wire sucks as protection. Coons can work it with their little facile paws until it fatigues and gives way. I recommend rabbit wire....welded steel wire of a much higher gauge...or construction cloth is even better, because it's 1/2" x 1/2" and prevents the raccoons from reaching in and grabbing. They'll kill, even if they can't have it.
Building against raccoons and dogs is the challenge for chicken tenders. It took me a couple of years to 'muscle up' to handle the raccoons. I lost two hens and two pullets to ringtailed invaders because I took them too lightly. Luckily, they are pretty much a nighttime problem; They are nocturnal and hens roost at night. Dogs hurtle to the top of the problem list during daytime.
Eagles and hawks aren't much of an issue for me. I have lots of overhead foliage, so it's cramped to begin with, and it provides lots of cover. The thing is, anything big enough to fly off with one of my hens wouldn't have the space to take off. I also have a very active murder of crows living nearby. They keep me, and my hens, apprised of raptor presence; I doubt that any raptor could get close to my flock without setting off all sorts of clatter and uproar. I've had a red-tailed hawk sit and watch....
I'm just glad I don't have to deal with skunks or weasels.
Posted by godfry | November 29, 2010 6:28 PM
Oh, wait...There's City Hall.
Posted by godfry | November 29, 2010 6:30 PM
"Building against raccoons and dogs is the challenge for chicken tenders."
MMMmmmmmmmm. Chicken tenders!
Posted by PDXLifer | November 29, 2010 7:10 PM
"Chicken wire sucks as protection", whatever you say my loyal bojack friend.....
Posted by john dull | November 29, 2010 8:55 PM
Besides raccoons, skunks (I remember that episode really well-couldn't go to school for three days), birds, coyotes, rats, mice and more, add chicken lice to the equation. They were dreadful and hard to exterminate, especially when they got in the house. Our coop was over 300 ft. from the house.
These urban farmers don't understand why many decades ago farm animals were excluded from our cities.
Posted by lw | November 29, 2010 9:29 PM
Cabbie, when I used to live on SW 16th, my next-door neighbor asked me if I'd noticed anything strange involving cat food at my place. He'd noticed that he was going through a lot more dog and cat food than what one dog and one cat would normally eat, and he couldn't figure it out. His girlfriend solved it about three days later: she got up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water, and found the biggest raccoon she'd ever seen in the kitchen, contentedly pigging out on the dog food. (Since this was the middle of summer, they left the door to their fire escape open to take advantage of the north breeze at night, and figured that nobody and nothing was going to get in. They weren't expecting a monster raccoon climbing up the rainspout for dinner.) She popped him in the face with a broom a few times, and he gave this desultory "Do you MIND?" look before waddling out and down the fire escape.
The next evening was a bit more entertaining. Heat be damned, they closed the fire escape door that night. You've never heard such a racket as a raccoon throwing a full-bore temper tantrum outside a locked door.
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | November 30, 2010 7:05 AM
Wanna know what will send a raccoon squealing? Put some habanero chilies in peanut butter and put the mess near your coop. You'll hear those sons of bitches howl when they bite into it! And they hate being laughed at! Those little punks will never bother your laying ladies after that!
Posted by Sal | November 30, 2010 10:33 AM
Sal, I'll have to try that myself. (Not that I have chickens, but the little vermin regularly come onto my back porch as if I'm going to invite them in for dinner. Possums I don't mind, but raccoons?)
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | November 30, 2010 3:11 PM