JUST THE WAY OF IT
THIS morning early I awoke to loud cackling and commotion in the chook house so Boo and I went out to investigate. Boo shot through the door, dug his feet in and roared ahead of me, he rounded the corner at full gallop and swooped in at the chook house door catching and killing a big white possum with a loud crack. It may sound a little sad to the townies until I tell you what I discovered yesterday.
The little ducks are impossible to count as they are rarely still and so fearful. But yesterday I confirmed that there were only seventeen. There should be twenty. So I climbed into their newly opened big run area that is fully fenced and found the bodies of two partially eaten little ducks. I know a little bit about our local predators now and decided that they had not been killed by a mink.
Then I remembered the ‘possum that we had seen on and off these last few weeks, and Boo climbing through the junk in the garage trying to track something in there the other day but I called him out.
Also, never having had trouble in the turkey house before, I had left the door to the run open the last few nights.
So I am not going to feel bad about Boo getting this animal. This possum is almost definitely the cause if the fatalities. He/she was a big animal too. I will bury it and hope she is not part of a whole family of predators. And the run door will be shut at night from now on – the turkey house is big enough for the night.
It is interesting that Ton hangs way back when there is hunting to do. Boo is the hunter.
Good boy BooBoo.
Poppy has been weaned from her piglets.
I remade the electric fence across poppy’s field. She has to be weaned to an electric fence or she will escape. She is deadly afraid of the electric wire and it was a bit of a chore to get her IN there. I made a kind of tunnel out of old barn doors so once she was past a certain point she could not see the wire. Once it was out of her sight she merrily ran into the area and straight to her dinner. I had made her a big mud hole and she will lay in that for a few days cooling her udder.
The sows are fine with weaning unless they can see or hear their babies. Poppy will pace for a few days but it is nothing like weaning a calf or lamb. no noise at all. The pigs accept the change very quickly.
The piglets never make a fuss when I take their mothers away either. These ones are huge and eating very well. In fact now that I don’t have a three hundred pound Mama breathing down my neck I will be able to take better photos of them.
They are a friendly bunch.
Today is delivery day for the Chicago list. This week I sold 2 pounds of horseradish leaves and 10 pounds of asparagus. The asparagus is picked daily and I will pick the leaves of the horseradish after chores. Then I start to collect for Jakes list to be delivered on Thursday. That is the one I sell rhubarb on too.
So now to work.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
WEATHER: Cooler with possible showers.
Tuesday 05/15 60% / 0.11 in
Scattered thunderstorms this morning, then cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 75F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Tuesday Night 05/15 10% / 0 in
Some clouds. Low 51F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.
Sun
5:35 AM 8:03 PM
Moon
Waning Crescent, 0% visible 6:02 AM 8:22 PM
33 Comments on “JUST THE WAY OF IT”
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Good Boo!
Good Boy! What a clever Boo, he knows his predators and protects the small and defenceless. I absolutely love that photo of the blissfully smiling piglet lying on the straw. He’s clearly in heaven, with a full tummy and a warm bed. I’ve said it before, I’d like to come back as a Pig on the Farmy. I know where they go in the end, but it would be worth it, and I’d come back as delicious bacon!
Good Dog Boo he is welcome to kill all the predators. How is he with the ducks this time around? Your weather is not playing the game as far as your first cut of Hay is going. Laura
Boo, The Great Warrior! I hope you don’t lose anymore birds now.
When l first read it l thought Bastard Mink! But it turns out to be a possum…so Boo killed it ..as so that is good..because that possum will not have the opportunity to kill any baby fowl ever again… Well done Boo
Did you name Boo after the dog in the song Me and You and a Dog Named Boo?
Poor little ducks – well done Boo!
Wow! Talk about a farm dog! Boo certainly is one! Dolly definitely takes care of our little farm. Nothing gets by her. But I’m not sure if she would
grab up a predator like that. She would certainly chase it and carry on and make a big ruckus though, that it for sure!
Well done, Boo – ya gotta do what ya gotta do! Storms were fierce up here last night, but, the sun is trying her best to poke through this morning.
Good BooBoo!
Great photos of the babies. So peaceful that little one dreaming sweet dreams. You have a chance of rain and I’d just love a few drops of that. Makes it hard to harvest though. Boo is a good dog. Doing his job. Have a lovely day yourself. 19 more. 😉
I have had bouts with predators over the years too. My first thought was a mink too, but I believe they just suck out the blood and leave the body intact. My son live trapped a possum a week or so ago that was stealing eggs from our coop–then the problem of what to do with the critter. A really foggy early morning here in Nebraska, but sun is now shining. I do enjoy your posts.
I am going to put out the trap too. There are very few farms out here with chickens etc so I can let it go on one of the abandoned sites. I have had a lot to do with mink kills so I am sure it was of one- they are around though
Good Boo! Fuzzy was a hunter also. Boomer just wants to make friends.
Good boy Boo! Poor little ducklings! I hope they are safe now and there are no more opossums lurking.
SO! That ole possum got a boo-boo when BooBoo got hold of him, eh? GOOD Boo! And that ADORABLE little piggy! Makes me want to hug it! Have a great day, busy lady!
Boo is an impressive hunter! Glad you solved this before the chickens were eaten too! Poor little ducklings. Hope you solve your asparagus mystery.
Good boy Boo!!! We’ve got a possum that is happily eating the trash the neighbor doesn’t take to the dumpster and leaves on the porch. Now we have to watch when taking Smoky out at night, he’d try to kill it but at his age it isn’t a good idea for him to do that. Possums tend to be opportunists. You said it was a big possum, might’ve been pregnant if female. Anyway, I’m glad to hear that Boo is a good hunter, the piglets doing well, Poppy moved and things safer on the Farmy.
I hope it was not pregnant – but compared to a mink it looked pretty big. However that is just the way of it.
The one that visits the porch here is pretty big too and I have no idea if it is male or female. QUite a few years ago one of my dogs, Butch got a possum and eventually killed it, the darn thing played possum on him until he got fed up and finished it off. Just one of the things we humans get to deal with having made the massive changes we have to the original environments and ecosystems.
Mmm… Better a pregnant female killed than a nest full of sucklings left behind
Reblogged this on Penney Vanderbilt and KC Jones: All About Railroads.
Good Boo Boo! I am wondering what the Chicago clients will do when you are in Greece, or will that be the end of asparagus season etc?
It is up to Jake – they will be out here every morning – they may decide to pick.
You got lots done today! Congratulations, and it’s great that Boo caught the possum.
Boo has well and truly redeemed his earlier well-meant misjudgments ♡
Sheesh! – unfair to ‘bother’ poor Mom when offspring this big and hearty 🙂 ! She had more than ‘done’ her job!!
Good boy BooBoo!! ❤
Opossums are both disliked for taking fruit, but also appreciated for eating baby rats, which would otherwise take more fruit. I dislike them anyway because they are so repulsive. They are common in parts of Los Angeles where the landscapes are dense.
I find it weird that an animal who is known for eating ticks would go after ducks. But nature is a wild and interesting thing!
Celi .. yep good boy Boo. Thankfully we have loads of tucker at our place so the resident possums aren’t interested in our chickens. Now what do you do with horseradish leaves? I have used the root …
Though I love the opossums in the woodlands, they do not belong with our chickens. We have had to take out a few over the years. Recently, I had a call from a woman with eight baby opossums and she was beating herself up for killing the mother before she realized there were babies in the pouch. She had killed several chickens in the barn in the last two weeks. We have to remember that the same mother will be teaching her young where to hunt… and we must protect our livestock. Thankfully, the eight babies were far enough along to survive and the woman was able to take them to Wildcare until they are old enough to be on their own.
I was in the process of preparing an outdoor pen for my two ducks and drake when one night looking out the window I saw the biggest raccoon ever…well over knee height on me…strolling around the current duck house. I nearly choked. A couple nights later a different raccoon…equally huge…showed up. That’s when I gave up the idea of the outdoor summer pen.