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FCL : Day in the Life : Fri May 10, 2019 (Taking & Making of Life)

Sadly … I had to put a coyote down yesterday because it was attacking my bird flock, and going after my boy (duck) DJ. Historically, I’ve tried NOT to shoot coyotes, and have even not pulled the trigger with the crosshairs center-of-mass on a trespassing coyote. But, in this case, the coyote was essentially an “active shooter” going after my birds. THAT … I can not allow, not right in front of me anyways.

There is a moral to the story here: country living involves both the taking of life, and the making of life. That’s just the way it is. Putting predators down isn’t fun and games, it’s just part of the dynamics of raising livestock in an area (over-) populated with predators. I love dogs, and coyotes are essentially just wild dogs, so it is a joyless thing to have to take one’s life. Sad actually. BUT … it would have been even SADDER if this bitch would have gotten a hold of DJ the duck, or even one of my hens. If the coyote was going after one of my roosters, I might have turned the other cheek, because I could stand to lose a roo or two for having a few more than needed. But, alas, that’s not the way it played out.

However, as pointed out in the video, while I had to take one life, I also intervened in another way to create about 5 to 8 new lives by putting the duck eggs in the incubator. If I didn’t … they would have just been coyote snacks. Life. Give and take. Country living. Plain. Simple. 😉

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: Saturday 09/08/18

Another long day working outside.

We mowed the ‘park’ next door, then I decided that with Hurricane Florence forecast to dump about 50″ of rain on us later in the week, it might be a good idea to plow the field under to allow it to absorb more water and shed less water into our neighborhood drainage ditches, which tend to flood my neighbor’s property.

Bought Hooey a whole roasted chicken for being such a good ‘helper’ while I was running the tractor. She’s good about chasing the chickens away from in front of the tractor, cuz those dummies are prone to letting the front wheels get about 3 inches away from them before flittering way. I guess you could say they like to ‘play chicken’ with the tractor.

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: Thursday 09/06/18

The recently free-ranged rabbits seem to be doing pretty well. I found evidence of at least one of the getting culled from the colony by a predator (99% sure it was the coyote, as I found coyote scat in the field the next day that was full of white fur).

Bianca Houdini (nesting duck) hasn’t hatched any eggs yet. Any time now, assuming they are indeed viable.

Hooey and I spend a lot of time on the look out for that damn coyote. Used the DJI Mavic Pro (drone) to provide hi-def video surveillance from above. Saw the coyote a few times, but ‘no joy.’

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: Wednesday 09/05/18

A day or two after releasing 12 rabbits into the wild, and I’m seeing them all over the property. They’re not staying in or near the rabbit hugel I built for them in the woods, but I’m guessing some of them will eventually figure out it is in their best interested to have an underground place to hide.

Hurricane Florence is forecast to park itself overhead for up to five days later in the week, and drop upwards of 50″ of rain, so those rabbits better find some high ground, or learn very quickly how to do the back stroke. 😉

We setup on that #$% coyote that keeps stealing our chickens like clockwork. He showed up right on que … but never presented a good, safe, profile shot. So, the ‘game’ continues.

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FCL :: Day in the Life :: 19-25 August, 2015

I haven’t posted a new FCL DITL video for a few days, so I thought I better catch folks up on our local shenanigans.

If all goes well, we should have some new ducklings swimming around in the pond soon.

Lost 2 or 3 chickens to a coyote in a three day period … so I’ve got some active countermeasures in place, e.g. 30-30 rifle. I don’t mind losing a bird to the coyotes once in awhile, but one a day is just unacceptable.