Wildlife in our gardens

[moose71]

I’ve had several try to dig in but my dogs ran him off. if i hear my geese start honking at night, i sic the dogs on him. my 60lb. red heeler , Buster. is very protective of ‘’ his’’ birds. when they are out , he helps me herd them back in.

[Ruben]

I had lost lots of chickens to the foxes and hawks mostly the foxes. Last year I was cutting grass and I was getting ready to start cutting the back yard which it would take me about 3.5 hours to cut it so I decide to let my chickens come out while I was going to be around but before I let them out I checked the weather on my phone just in case! So I let them out to eat some critters, two hours later a huge dark cloud come out out of no where, by the time I made it to the house I was soaked. Went inside to change clothes and to have a sandwich since I couldn’t do anything else outside so by the time I sit down to have my sandwich I look back and saw the chickens still doing their thing. By the time I finish my sandwich ( maybe 10 minutes) I look out and didn’t see no chickens, the only thing I saw was a fox standing between the two coops, I pull my rifle out and took a shot to the fox maybe 300 yards or better. Went out there to start gathering my checkers, by the time I gather them all I was missing my rooster and 4 hens large foul, not bantams (10 minutes) that’s all it took to get five of my chickens and for what I can tell the rooster put a fight with the fox.

[Ruben]

@moose71 I need to get me a guardian dog like yours.

[moose71]

i agree. just the smell of a dog peeing in the yard sometimes will be enough to keep them out. i highly recommend the herding breeds if you have the room to exercise them. my female is half heeler half border collie and her son is 3/4 red heeler / 1/4 collie. he’s a beefy 60lbs. sweet as can be until something comes in the yard. he will confront people by posturing but doesn’t bite. animals on the other hand he’s all out!i lost half my flock 3 yrs ago to a fox after forgetting to close their door one night. now i keep them in the run. the next night he returned to get the rest. i was waiting with the shotgun.

[Ruben]

I don’t know if any would have that breed here where I live, but I agree I need one to help me out and keep me company while gardening!

[moose71]

they are pretty popular breed but any medium sized dog would probably do. mutts are easy to come by in the pound. males have the instinct to protect their territory.

[Reg]

Its good to be dirty

[Reg]

My Demi is heeler with some pibble. Shes a working dog at heart. Love the breed. She does organize us all.

[PharmerDrewee]

It’s spring and love is in the air. These horn faced bees are getting excited.

[mrsg47]

Did you eat the fox?

[Ruben]

No, I do not eat foxes.

[Monardella]

Well this is a little different:

[dutch-s]

Saw this guy this morning. He’s a big fella, or gal. I don’t know how to tell the difference…

[warmwxrules]

During the day i leave the Cornell bird feeder running (its in NY) … They have one that comes all the time.

Cornell FeederWatch Cam

I’ve yet to see any orioles (locally or on the feeder cam).

[TJ_westPA]

Great pictures! He’s a male. Red mustache and completely red crest = male. Black mustache and partially red crest = female.

[mrsg47]

They are huge and beautiful. A Pileated woodpecker. We had them on Ilesborough.

[bleedingdirt]

Hate it when they drop their tails.

[RichardRoundTree]

Well morty had an amazing adventure this winter, he doubled in size and is still a very small snake. My cat was staring at him all day and getting pretty amped (Dive bombing the cage off the shelf ledge) and so one night after cleaning his cage my wife (luckily not me) left his top open and he made a daring escape in late january right before we were going to brumate him into my wall, since i have redone insulated and painted my wall i was really hoping i did not have to rip it out to get him and sure enough the first day i saw garter snakes in my backyard that night my wife found him in our house. We scooped him up and fed him up and started planning where to put him. My cat seems to have forgotten about him which took over a month with his empty cage (he may have some natural intelligence) and has so far kept her laser focus on mice rodents and rabbits and has not been abject murdering the many garter snakes that frequent my backyard. We feel that morty would trigger her however and we do not desire to find his carcass in the backyard or re ignite her snake obsession. We have been scouting for good spots for him and think we found a good one, we took a free coffee mug and put his favorite 2.5" plastic pot in there with some cotton paper towel blankets and buried it 6" in the ground. We found a spot thats only 9’ from the crik and only a few feet from a starter hole to it and he is protected by a tree grove from above. Its on a incline and the soil would wash down it not into it and i put a nice 12" branch barrier underneath the weed cover. We hope he does great he has definitely gotten my wife to stop screaming at snakes possibly and change her, her sisters and her mom and aunts feelings on them since he was so damn cute.
Cheers Morty!

[Luisport]

One salamander…

[thecityman]

So…I thought this was a REALLY neat little experiment and it went great and has been so interesting and enjoyable (for some strange reason). Anyway, way back last december I spotted a Praying Mantis Egg case that had been built on a a little strip of wood on the side of my barn. I was certain my goats would end up eating it or at least tearing it up, and I’m a big, big fan of Praying Mantis. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, and on a whim I decided I’d put it in a little plastic container from store bought potato Salad. I was very curious to see what would happen! I thought it was fairly likely that if they hatched at all, they might do so in the middle of the winter because I left them in my warm house. I also thought it was likely the eggs just wouldn’t hatch, either from the months of warm temps or because the container might not have enough oxygen (I was afraid to poke air holes since I didnt know how big the babies would be if they did hatch). I sat the container on a shelf above my TV where I’m living, so all winter long I have been watching it and wondering if anything would come of it. Then it happened!!! Yesterday morning- nothing. I came in last night and WHALA!!! Just like magic!!! There are HUNDREDS…literally HUNDREDS of baby praying mantis everywhere in the little container!!! THe photos don’t begin to show how many there are…I couldn’t capture the whole container in a photo and you can’t see the huge number that are still on the egg case and blend in.
THe photo of the one on the quarter shows you how incredibly tiny they are!!! Sooo small, yet they look just like miniature adults.

Anyway, most of you probably find it creepy and/or strange, but I think its pretty neat for some reason. Go figure. ANd yes, I’ll be letting them go tomorrow in my orchard and hoping they stick around!!

UPDATE/EDIT : I was just googling my project and had no idea that there are dozens of places that sell Praying Mantis Egg Cases in plastic containers, so my little project isn’t nearly as original as I thought it was! haha. Oh well…its still been fun.