Monthly Archives: February 2019

Ask Trev!, Hobby Farming

Ask Trev: Grumpy Silkies Problem

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Today we have another chicken question from Maddy in Melbourne:

 

Dear Trev,

Me again, with more chicken nonsense.

Thank you for the very informative and detailed blog post about goats.

Your initial FB post about capturing goats was never enough of the story for me and I feel quite pleased to now have the full account.

I wish you good fortune on your future goat capturing endeavours.

So anyway as you may know I have overcome the little city kid heartbreak of losing ‘livestock’* (*pets) and have decided that contrary to what a teenage boyfriend once declared to me  (I wish I had never fallen in love with you so I didn’t have to feel this heartbreak at having lost you) I can in fact go on to love again. I’ve recently acquired two new hens and did a great deal of research on breeds and temperaments and so on and so forth.

My last girl standing from my last flock is a wee little thing and has become quite dependent on me in her dotage.

Cut to the chase she has two new pals who are little silkies. They’re much younger than my last posse of backyard hens and seem to actually despise me. They’ve only known a small cage prior to coming to Casa Del Madsy but seem entirely perturbed about that whereas my last girls felt this palatial new digs was simply glorious.

Everything I read about silkies is that they’re lovely friendly hens who will tolerate children and sit on your lap and follow you about.

They have blue ears and extra toes and I’ve ruled out the idea I may have accidentally bought bunny rabbits so why do they hate me?

Will they ever come round?

They grumble at me like old men who’ve been woken from a nap in their favourite chair and the greyish one even pecks me when I put treats in their little run. I have them separated from Ponny still but she seems to be happier just knowing they’re there.

So anyway that’s my question: why do my silkies hate me and will they eventually warm to me?

Is there any more I can do to convince them I’m very nice to animals,

Thanking you in advance,

Subruban Madsy.

 

Thanks for all the chicken questions Maddy, keep’em coming!

 

In regards to why your chickens hate you – they don’t hate you.  They hate humans.

‘What are you staring at you damn dirty hairless apes?’

Think about it, they have been locked in a small cage their entire lives.  Pretty horrible way to spend your existence.  And who put them there?  Were they locked in by other chickens for crimes against poultrykind?  Did they voluntarily lock themselves in the cage due to some kind of chicken-agoraphobia, fearing the idea of the outside world?  Were they involved in some kind of bizarre sado-masochistic erotic chook game (involving feathers no doubt) and simply lost the key to their private sex dungeon?

Nope.  Humans locked them in there.  Filthy stinkin’ humans.

So despite them being usually a very friendly breed, these chookies are probably a bit traumatized. It’s going to take a while for them to adjust and even longer to trust.  It’s not like when Apartheid ended that every black person in South Africa suddenly started trusting white people.  Nope, it’s a long road that that country is still bravely travelling along towards a brighter future.  And so it may be with your new chooks.

 

My advice?

 

Spend as much time as you can as possible in your yard with them, but without interacting.  Take a chair and a book and just sit near their enclosure.  This way they will slowly get used to your presence without feeling threatened or that they are about to be shoved back in a tiny cage at any moment.  We have many wombats on our farm and there is a big old bugger at the moment who has taken to feasting in our front and backyards.  At first every time he saw us he bolted.  Now he couldn’t give a crap if we are there or not as we have never bothered him.  In fact just last night he wandered to within a few meters of our dog, who was lying there idly watching him chew.  We don’t bother him and in return we get a free organic lawnmower!

After the Silkies have gotten used to your presence and seem relatively unfazed by you being around as it has become part of the norm of their lives, then you can try interacting a bit.  Chickens are like children – wary of adults until that adult busts out their favourite treats.  Experiment with a few different things to see what your Silkies like best.  Our ducklings are somewhat wary of us, until we come out with sliced watermelon and then we are likely to trampled in a stampede of webbed feet!  There will be something that your Silkies can’t resist, be it a type of grain, fruit, worms or snails or even just breadcrumbs.  When you find out what that special something is, throw a little of it to them from a distance each day, and each day shrink that distance by a few inches.  In no time at all you will have them pecking around your feet without a care in the world.

Will your chookies ever warm to you to the point they want to sit in your lap?  Hard to say.  If they are young enough they may learn new behavioural patterns but if the distrust of humans is ingrained in them it may be the best you can hope for is them clucking around your feet as you potter in the backyard.  Our Frizzle rooster likes us well enough that sometimes he even sneaks in the porch door, but he never wants to be picked up (unless he’s gotten into a fight with the drake that is, then he will sit in my lap sulkily for an hour while I console him on his loss and tend to his boo-boos).  So don’t take it too much to heart if they never become lap-chooks, though with how fluffy Silkies are I know ya just wanna cuddle’em.

Like a poodle mated with a marshmallow

 

I hope this advice helps Madds.  Remember:

A: Get them used to your presence

B: Find out their favourite treat

C: Slowly lure them a bit closer to you each day until they are comfortable

D: Do not mention Apartheid or eat KFC in their presence and…

E: Remember chickens are like people – sometimes you encounter some grumpy, unsociable bastards where it doesn’t matter what you do.

‘What? I’m funny to you? I make you laugh? Come closer and lets see how much you smile then’

Good luck!  Let us know how things work out in the coming weeks.

Got any other advice for Maddy?  Pop it in the comments section below!

 

Related Articles:

Ask Trev: Chickens – The balance between pets and livestock

Permaculture: Treating Mite Infestations in Chickens

Ask Trev: How to deal with molting chickens

 

 

 

Hobby Farming

Capturing Wild Animals: Feral Goats

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Feral Goats.  Bane of natural forests.

Here in Australia they are classed as an Invasive Animal Species and official pest.  Responsible for financial losses totaling $225 million per year, they cause land degradation and compete with native species for both food and rock shelter.

We’ve had a big pack of feral goats that turn up periodically on our farm from the forest it backs onto.  Except for the odd bit of damage to a boundary fence, it hasn’t been not too much of a nuisance in the past as we currently have no herds of grazing animals.

But now they have discovered our two pet does – twin-sisters Milly and Molly.

Because the Billy’s in particular have such an interest in our two nannies, and indeed twice we have had to go find our goats (who are free range) because they have taken off with the pack, we decided to do something about it.

Not owning a gun, capture was the next best option.  And, especially during a drought, it’s surprisingly easy!  Here is how:

 

Billy Goats are like 18 year old boys

Caught via his own passions

*Its truer than you think.  They smell bad, they’re constantly hungry and they are constantly horny (pun partially intended).  So if you think like a teenage boy then you can lure them in.

*My does are both on heat and have been putting their scent out on the wind.  So we have had all the local feral Billy’s showing up, making it easy to capture one.  First I left the back gate to the does pen open (which I do most days as they free range and come back themselves of an evening).

*Then I made sure there was a salt-lick in their yard and their water trough was full.  During drought goats, like most creatures, are in constant search of water sources.

*I made sure there was some fresh Lucerne in their yard.

*Now think like a teenage boy and think what the scents on the wind are telling the Billy Goat.  They are saying ‘Hey!  You know what?  I know this place we can go!  There is tons to eat!  There is tons to drink!  And there are twin-sisters that are hot to trot big time!’

Look, they even do tabletop dancing!

*So with the promise of free food, free drink and a couple of hotties who are gagging for it, like the 18 year old human male, the Billy Goat cannot resist.  They turn up and quite quickly make their way into the pen.  I’ve caught two 100+kg Billy Goats with this technique this month alone!

 

Capture is easy – containment is hard.

The trouble containing feral goats is that they will throw themselves at the fences, charging full pelt with horns down, trying to escape.  I have enough fencing skill that I’ve put up a few around the farm, but they are certainly not of a professional standard.  The one I built around my goat pen is strong enough to contain our does and proved strong enough to withstand the punishment of a Feral Billy until it gives up and accept its lot in life.  However we encountered a problem…

… a competing Billy Goat.

According to my mother-in-law (I was at work at the time) a white Billy turned up and had a big fight through the fence with the one I had captured.  With two 100+kg Billy’s throwing themselves full force head first at the same part of the fence, it wasn’t long until it gave and the Billy escaped.

Not the fence it once was

However that afternoon he was quickly replaced.  A 3rd Billy (a black one this time) turned up and I was able to catch him using the aforementioned technique.  However as I had only had time to do a slapdash repair on the fence, it was not strong enough and with enough full-force attacks he was able to batter over the damaged fence and escape.

So, hopefully I can get the fence repaired properly before my does go out of heat and try and capture some more.  All I have to do…

…is think like an 18 year old boy.

 

Got any goat-trapping tips yourself?  Pop them in the comments section below!

 

Related Article:

Raising Goats as Pets

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Exclusive Cards Reveal: Dirge and Defensive Driving. Transformers: TCG

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Last time we discussed Transformers: TCG – the new card game that has many parallels between it and Magic: The Gathering, we looked at The Metroplex Pack, which introduced the new concept of Titan Cards.

Well Wave 2 is coming out now, and since we already have Titans on the board, it’s time to introduce the other behemoths from the Transformer franchise – gestalts.  Rise of the Combiners will be introducing gestalt teams such as the Predacons, which looks to open up the range of gameplay even more.

However it’s not just the Combiner Teams that are being introduced in Wave 2.  We are getting some other new Hero Cards as well, along with some new Battle Cards for gameplay.  Once again, Hasbro has been kind enough to offer bigangrytrev.com an EXCLUSIVE SPOILER to reveal! So in this exclusive reveal let’s look at one of the new characters as well as one of the new battle cards: Dirge, Doombringer and Defensive Driving.

*Note: Like last time, no money has changed hands for this EXCLUSIVE SPOILER, and Hasbro & Wizards of the Coast have in no way tried to dictate the contents of this blog article.

 

HERO CARD:

DIRGE, DOOMBRINGER

I was pretty chuffed when Hasbro gave me Dirge as an exclusive reveal.  Dirge was my first ever Transformer way back in the 80’s, so whilst not the most popular of the Seekers, he has always held a special place in my heart.

The Artwork

The artwork for this card was originally seen in a TF game app years ago, Transformers Legends.  Though that game is dead and buried, the fantastic artwork from it still crops up here and there and has been seen with some of the collector cards that came with figures from the Titans Return, Power of the Primes and other Transformer toy lines.  It’s great this artwork has seen the light of day again and Dirge looks excellent here, blasting away in his robot mode and conversely zooming off in his jet mode.  The art of both modes are based on the Generations toy Dirge received back in 2010, to my mind the best toy of Dirge we’ve had (perhaps barring the Masterpiece version that came out a couple of years ago).

Card Power

The term ‘Dirge’ has to do with laments and music for the dead.  And the way this card plays on the board is very appropriate for the character’s name indeed, for he kills the weak stone dead and gains power from the death of others.

Robot Mode

Dirge is rocking stats of 2 Attack, 11 Health and 2 Defence in robot mode.  Whilst not staggering stats, it’s his power of Pierce 1 that makes him so valuable.  It means no matter the defences up, Dirge is going to inflict at least 1 damage to his opponent, very handy if your opponent has characters that are well defended but also on the brink of death.

Jet Mode

Jet mode has stats of 4 Attack, 11 Health and 2 Defence, so much like the robot mode.  The power of his alt-mode is to get an extra attack point for every character you have KO’ed of your opponent.  So if you have KO’ed say 2 or 3 of your opponents Hero Card’s already, it can bring Dirge’s attack up to a power of 6 or 7.

Card Functionality

The above powers means both sides of Dirge’s card greatly complement each other.  You can use the Pierce 1 of his robot mode to kill off weak opponent cards, then flip to his alt-mode in order to gain extra attack power from those aforementioned KO’ed Hero Cards. You then use this extra power to knock off your opponents healthier Hero Cards.  This gives Dirge a great deal of latitude in regards to what kind of decks you can put him in. Indeed Dirge will be a real asset in particular to decks where you have other Hero Cards taking care of the major offensives and defences.  Make sure you use him in the right deck though – at 8 Stars he will take up nearly a 3rd of the total stars you can use to create your team.  Used correctly however, Dirge will indeed be a bringer of doom!

 

BATTLE CARD:

DEFENSIVE DRIVING

Artwork

The artwork for this card is actually taken from the IDW Transformers comic book series.  In particular the subseries Maximum: Dinobots, published all the way back in 2008/09.  The picture shows one of the Sunstreaker clones (bearing a striking resemblance to Cordon), created by Scorponok, defensively driving out of the way of a tail swipe from Grimlock.  I love the fact that this card series takes its artwork from so many different sources, not just the one.

Card Power & Functionality: UPGRADE – ARMOR

It’s a good thing that these cards are intended for the more advanced way of playing Transformers: TCG rather than the basic, as there is no way my 6 year old son could figure out the power of this card, it even took me a minute of two!

Essentially this card offers extra protection to your characters when played.  Whilst not defending from a direct attack, what is does do is lessen the damage taken from non-direct attacks by your opponent by 1.  This can be extremely handy to play when your opponent has multiple non-direct attacks set up on the board, as they can add up and easily KO one of your Hero Cards.  With this card protecting one of your characters, your Hero Card stands a much better chance of surviving non-direct attacks in order to fight another round.

 

So as we see, Transformers: TCG continues to expand.  I personally will be hoping I find both Dirge and Defensive Driving in blind packs when they are released in March this year.

How are you enjoying Transformers: TCG so far?  Would love to hear in the commments section below!  And for more card reveals, check out Lisamaree on Life With Sprogs to see some great battle cards!

 

Related Articles:

Transformers TCG: Metroplex Pack

Toy Review – Masterpiece Dirge

Toy Review – POTP Dinobots: Wave 1