Such gorgeous pictures! Thank you for sharing! We have a border collie and a corgi that keep the wildlife in the forest behind our place to stay away, but no idea how they'd deal with snakes!Wow - it's been a while! There are only 3 of my original 10 B.O.hens left. Predator pressure here was wicked, for a while. But, we've since brought in more - Black Austrolorps, Barred Rock, and a few Golden Comets. We are currently at 15, including the only rooster that didn't go to freezer camp.
We've also tried our hand with quail (not our cup of tea) and turkeys (we loved and may do again, in a couple years). In addition to the 15 chickens, we now have 11 cross-bred ducks & drakes (buff orpingtons, duclair, and black Swedish), that are laying quite nicely and seem to love our pond, 3 adult Muskovy ducks, and a little brood of 11 Muskovy ducklings.
I'm not sure if I've posted about the goats, but we started with 3 Nigora goats, the November following getting that first batch of hens, we've had some losses, but that tiny herd has now grown to 9, including the 2 that are only a week old, born on consecutive days. There will also be another joining our little farm, at the end of summer. We've also expanded to sheep. In December, a friend discovered she and her dad had alpha gal, and gave us a pair of babydoll/ Southdown sheep, which have now produced their first lamb, about a month ago.
We're having trouble with ticks & copperhead snakes, so we're planning to bring in some guineas, to help combat those. And, we're on the fence about LGDs, because neither of us has any experience with them - but it feels like we need to learn. Our farm is most DEFINITELY keeping hubby and me busy.
I hope everyone is doing great!! (I'll try to read through the rest of the replies, tomorrow) Here are pictures of some of our critters - weirdly, not the bucks, ram, chickens, or adult Muskovys). Apparently, I need to get more current photos!
Can I ask what the downfall to raising quail was for you? I only hear good things and was considering it, but my only downfall about them is they only live a couple of years.