Enter At Your Own Risk
- Thread starter GoodEnuff
- Start date
gruntlabor
Well-known Member
- Location
- Last Frontier, Age 84
,.. ghosts?
Yes. Bobcats and mountain lions/cougars. My next door neighbor raises chickens (for eggs) and last year he had several chickens stolen, one evening he saw it happen. It was almost dark, he was feeding his chickens which were in their fenced chicken yard. Left the gate pushed closed but not latched to fetch some straw from a nearby area. When he was returning, he saw a big cat coming out of the yard with a chicken in its mouth. Wasn't sure if it was a bobcat or cougar but it had to have pulled the door open, grabbed the chicken, and ran off. It came back a few more times over the next couple of weeks. A turkey also disappeared.
He lets the chickens run free during the daytime. Sometimes they will wander over to my property, which is fine with me. They mostly stay on the other side of the creek. I like to watch them and oftentimes during the day, if I am outside, I can hear them clucking away. For some strange reason, it's comforting to listen to them. I have considered raising my own but it is a LOT of work and not cheap. No thanks.
Last summer, we also had two bears wandering the property. One morning, I opened the front door and the trash barrel, which is inside the fenced-in front yard, had been tipped over, the bag dragged out and torn open about ten feet from the front door. The four foot high chain-link fence was bent where it had apparently climbed over it.
Not the first time this has happened here. One year, the bear tried to get into the house, at the front door and you could see muddy paw prints on the windows in the living room. My sister was here and watched it do that. She made a bunch of noise and it ran off. When it is dark and the dogs must go out, I always turn on the flood lights, check for animals before we go out and I always go out with them.
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Wild peacocks? The very few times I have seen peacocks in my travels, it seemed they were owned by somebody? It never occurred to me that they could be wild, which seems kind of stupid now that I think about it, lol. Is it safe to assume you are not in North America?
Now I'm going to have to look up peacocks for origin, etc. See what you did? *chuckle*
According to animals.net:
"These large, colorful birds belong to the pheasant family, Phasianidae, and are native to India, Sri Lanka, and parts of Southeast Asia. There are three species of peafowl: the Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus), the Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus), and the Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis). The Indian Peafowl is the most commonly recognized, boasting iridescent blue and green feathers...
Peafowl thrive in a variety of habitats, including moist deciduous forests, grasslands, and scrublands. They require access to water sources and prefer areas with trees for roosting. Originally native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, these birds have been introduced to many parts of the world, including the Americas, Europe, and Australia. They have adapted well to these new environments and sometimes become naturalized populations."
South Florida sounds like a good environment for them. Learn something new every day!
"These large, colorful birds belong to the pheasant family, Phasianidae, and are native to India, Sri Lanka, and parts of Southeast Asia. There are three species of peafowl: the Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus), the Green Peafowl (Pavo muticus), and the Congo Peafowl (Afropavo congensis). The Indian Peafowl is the most commonly recognized, boasting iridescent blue and green feathers...
Peafowl thrive in a variety of habitats, including moist deciduous forests, grasslands, and scrublands. They require access to water sources and prefer areas with trees for roosting. Originally native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, these birds have been introduced to many parts of the world, including the Americas, Europe, and Australia. They have adapted well to these new environments and sometimes become naturalized populations."
South Florida sounds like a good environment for them. Learn something new every day!
gruntlabor
Well-known Member
- Location
- Last Frontier, Age 84
I keep all my garbage in the house in closed bags until it leaves the property for that very reason. I don't even get mice or shrews anymore.
But I really miss composting and food growing.
Since then, I do the same.
Edited to add: Except we still get mice. The garter snakes are falling down on the job.
Learned that all those "pretty" weeds growing over the septic leach field are mustard weeds, which have large tap roots that go deep. Okay, it has to go. I cannot pull or dig them up. Best I could do is cut them short and hope they die.
Yesterday, I managed to get them all cut down, and about half of it bagged. It was a painful process, probably more so for me than the weeds. Will go out this morning and bag up the rest. Ouch!
Meanwhile, I will pull out the not-clover black medic from the front garden and just seed the whole area with the mini-white clover. Tomorrow.
Yesterday, I managed to get them all cut down, and about half of it bagged. It was a painful process, probably more so for me than the weeds. Will go out this morning and bag up the rest. Ouch!
Meanwhile, I will pull out the not-clover black medic from the front garden and just seed the whole area with the mini-white clover. Tomorrow.