New farmer?

Anna j

Ridin' The Range
Joined
Mar 12, 2019
Messages
30
Reaction score
52
Points
71
Location
Waynesboro, TN
@Devonviolet thank you for educating me on your dogs! Ive never heard of a Maremma and assumed wrongly they were GPYR. I consider myself fairly educated on them but once again, this is new territory. Sorry about your wind damage but it does look like its going to give you a better view now? :p
As for being lucky to find this property, it took two years and only found this one by luck, we couldn't find it by the address and happened to go down this scary dirt road! We are very fortunate.
Welcome Aamberlops! Yes middle TN is beautiful and I think we like to defer people to Nashville with the stars and rich people up in Franklin/Bellemead to keep them from our natural wonders here! I’ve had a very warm welcome and hope you do too! Where in Middle TN are you near?
And @Mike CHS, We are also in Southern Middle TN and EVERYTHING is about an hour away. That includes Lawrenceburg as well. Where are you? o_O
Oh, my chicken coop is store bought TSC standard issue. Poor quality but it’s something my husband didn’t have to take too much time to build or think on. He’s amazing when it comes to that stuff but it takes him a bit to figure it out in his head...so this way we can see what we like, what works and doesn’t and then....he can build our little chicken cottage! He already has some ideas to improve for feeding and watering! Now I just have to keep them alive! :lol:
 

AmberLops

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
2,238
Reaction score
5,215
Points
353
Location
Middle Tennessee
@Devonviolet

Thank you for the kind welcome!
It is very helpful to have some resources like BYH!
I didn't know that Guineas keep the snakes down...does it work really well? I just moved to Tennessee 2 months ago, so i'm new to the south and I haven't seen any snakes so far. I lived in Penn for a while and had some really close calls with rattlesnakes there...lets just say I was lucky I was wearing boots that day. Do I have to worry about the snakes slipping through the rabbit cages and eating the babies?
 

Devonviolet

Herd Master
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
3,402
Reaction score
8,170
Points
513
Location
East Texas - Near Sulphur Springs
@Devonviolet

Thank you for the kind welcome!
It is very helpful to have some resources like BYH!
I didn't know that Guineas keep the snakes down...does it work really well? I just moved to Tennessee 2 months ago, so i'm new to the south and I haven't seen any snakes so far. I lived in Penn for a while and had some really close calls with rattlesnakes there...lets just say I was lucky I was wearing boots that day. Do I have to worry about the snakes slipping through the rabbit cages and eating the babies?
You are so welcome! It’s great to have you join us!!!

Well, I’m not an expert on snakes. I suspect the guineas do best with small snakes (as in just hatched). But I could be wrong. They might also go after bigger snakes. They ARE originally from Africa, so they are pretty tough birds! They are great for ants, ticks, grubs and grasshoppers, moth larve, etc.

The thing to remember about guineas, is that due to their wild origins, they are harder to keep in at night. They tend to want to roost in trees and get themselves eaten by owls. We haven’t had that problem so far, as we keep them with our chickens for quite a while, and train them to go into the chicken pen, at night, by calling them and throwing chicken scratch/grain. They LOVE that grain, and come running when we call them. Their night time run has 2x4” welded wire on top of it, which keeps the owls out. We also make the area totally surrounding the coop and three runs attached to the coop available to our LGDs at night. So, predators stay away at night. We have never lost an animal to predators, since we have our LGDs protecting them. :celebrate

As far as snakes getting into rabbit cages, it depends on what you have for wire on the cage. If you have use 1/2” hardware cloth, to make the cage, (I’m not an expert on rabbits), but I would think the openings, in the wire should be small enough to keep the snakes out.

I do know that we had 2x4” welded wire around our chicken run and a Rat Snake got into our duck’s nest, and ate most of the eggs. :hit From now on, we plan to put our ducks into a stall in the barn, to lay and hatch their eggs, so they are safe(r) from Rat Snakes.

Where abouts in PA were you? Before we moved to TX, we lived North of York, PA and before that we lived in Harrisburg. Many years ago, I also live in Macungie, Bethlehem, Allentown and North of Bath. My mother’s family came from Pittsburgh. So, I have quite the history in PA. :celebrate
 

Baymule

Herd Master
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
33,104
Reaction score
98,709
Points
873
Location
East Texas
Rabbit wire should be 1/2" x 1" for the bottom and can be 1"x2" for the sides and top. Snakes can get through the 1"x2" easily. Hardware cloth is not recommended for bottom wire because it is not smooth like rabbit wire. Do you have your rabbits in hanging wire cages or in wood framed hutches?
 

AmberLops

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
2,238
Reaction score
5,215
Points
353
Location
Middle Tennessee
You are so welcome! It’s great to have you join us!!!

Well, I’m not an expert on snakes. I suspect the guineas do best with small snakes (as in just hatched). But I could be wrong. They might also go after bigger snakes. They ARE originally from Africa, so they are pretty tough birds! They are great for ants, ticks, grubs and grasshoppers, moth larve, etc.

The thing to remember about guineas, is that due to their wild origins, they are harder to keep in at night. They tend to want to roost in trees and get themselves eaten by owls. We haven’t had that problem so far, as we keep them with our chickens for quite a while, and train them to go into the chicken pen, at night, by calling them and throwing chicken scratch/grain. They LOVE that grain, and come running when we call them. Their night time run has 2x4” welded wire on top of it, which keeps the owls out. We also make the area totally surrounding the coop and three runs attached to the coop available to our LGDs at night. So, predators stay away at night. We have never lost an animal to predators, since we have our LGDs protecting them. :celebrate

As far as snakes getting into rabbit cages, it depends on what you have for wire on the cage. If you have use 1/2” hardware cloth, to make the cage, (I’m not an expert on rabbits), but I would think the openings, in the wire should be small enough to keep the snakes out.

I do know that we had 2x4” welded wire around our chicken run and a Rat Snake got into our duck’s nest, and ate most of the eggs. :hit From now on, we plan to put our ducks into a stall in the barn, to lay and hatch their eggs, so they are safe(r) from Rat Snakes.

Where abouts in PA were you? Before we moved to TX, we lived North of York, PA and before that we lived in Harrisburg. Many years ago, I also live in Macungie, Bethlehem, Allentown and North of Bath. My mother’s family came from Pittsburgh. So, I have quite the history in PA. :celebrate

Good advice and thank you so much!!
I lived in Potter county PA...Harrisburg was about 2 hours from where I lived. I was around Wellsboro :)
You sound like me with all the places you've lived ha ha ha!! My list seems like it could go on forever!
Pennsylvania is beautiful, I just can't do those cold winters!
 

AmberLops

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
2,238
Reaction score
5,215
Points
353
Location
Middle Tennessee
Rabbit wire should be 1/2" x 1" for the bottom and can be 1"x2" for the sides and top. Snakes can get through the 1"x2" easily. Hardware cloth is not recommended for bottom wire because it is not smooth like rabbit wire. Do you have your rabbits in hanging wire cages or in wood framed hutches?

My cages are all 1/2" x 1" all around.. They aren't hanging cages but I want to do that in the near future. Right now I have some stacked and some on stands/tables. Some of my cages have legs and trays and some don't so I stack them with the trayless cages on the bottom and the ones with trays on top. I have my pregnant does up high on stands so they aren't close to the ground :) Anything else I should do to prevent snakes? I have baby-saver wire too
 

AmberLops

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
2,238
Reaction score
5,215
Points
353
Location
Middle Tennessee
Snakes shouldn't be able to get in, if they do, they won't be able to get out with a lumpy belly. If snakes are such a problem, keep a machete and hoe handy. When I had rabbits, it was all hanging wire cages and never had a snake problem.

Will do, thanks!
 

AmberLops

Herd Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2019
Messages
2,238
Reaction score
5,215
Points
353
Location
Middle Tennessee
Hi @AmberLops :frow Welcome to BYH!!!

It sounds like you have a nice piece of property too. You can do a lot with 50 acres. Oh to be young again, and have the energy to do it all. :old :lol: That’s exciting that you want to do goats. There are a lot of people here, on BYH, that do goats, so you will have some good resources, when the time comes. And of course almost everyone has chickens and/or ducks, and some (like us, @Baymule and @goatfurl) have guineas, to keep snakes and bug populations down, so more resources there.

You mentioned that you have two pups. What breed are they? Depending on the breed, it can be easy or a challenge to acclimate dogs to chickens and rabbits. I would think if you start training pups (with FIRM commands) to chickens, it would be easier to train them, than older dogs. Putting them on a leash and walking them amongst the chickens is a good way to give them access, but pull them back if they get overly rambunctious.

Your pallet out buildings sound like fun. We keep our eyes open for free pallets, but they are hard to come by around here.

Hi! I realized I didn't answer your questions about my dogs!!
My girl is a 2 year old toy poodle/Chinese crested mix and my boy is a shih-Tzu/Pekingese mix :)
They both kind of squeal when they see the rabbits but when I put them up to the cages they just whine and I know my girl would be a bit over-excited but she wouldn't hurt them. She chases birds so i'm not sure about chickens.
My boy is 9 months old so he's still a pup but he is scared to death of his own shadow ha ha!
 
Top