raising chickens ?

[Whitey]

coyote,

funny you should ask. There is a domestic cat called a Pixiebob. It's supposed to be a feral cat an Bobcat mix. Not sure if it is or not. However I have two of them. They act like Bobcats. Our first one was 8 weeks old. We brought him home and set him down in the house. He walked over a forced my two labs of 90+lbs each off thier bed. He claimed the bed as his from that day. They never challenged the cat. He had a swagger about him. Neat breed.

[Keith Benson]

"There are many conflicting stories about the origin of this breed. Most of these legends revolve around the idea that the Pixie-Bob originated from a mating between wild bobcats and domestic cats. DNA evidence does not support wild origins, which has led to the term "Legend Cat" to describe offspring of the alleged bobcat/domestic matings."
http://www.breedlist.com/pixie-bob-breeders.html

Keith

[Barry Digman]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Not too far from home, apparently<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Heh. I'd like to have one of those too.
I see the Pixie-Bob is seven-toed, which brings up the dangers of cloning and fooling around with gene-splicing. Humanity's worst nightmare could well be a breed of cat with a prehensile tail and opposable thumbs on each foot. It would surely be the end of us. A 25 lb animal with an attitude that was capable of opening a door or carrying a switchblade.

[Michael Bush]

Felis erectus. Or worse, Felis Sapien. Sounds like Red Dwarf.

[Andy]

The best way we have found to deal with chicken predation, and management in general is as follows.
Build a stout chicken-house, that nothing can get into. Build it with a man sized door.Put a light in it. When chickens are young make sure the light comes on before dusk. Once they get used to coming to the light from the big door, make them come in through a chicken sized door. Once they are 6 months old they will roost in the chickenhouse light or no light. Shut the door every night. If you do this religiously you wont have problems. Chickens that roost in the woods often lay eggs in the woods. I like Marans chickens, big really dark eggs. They get along good, don't wreak too much havoc, and get big. Only down side is they don't lay good through the winter. Usually the best layers are the most aggravating.

[Andy]

While we are on the subject of cats!
Pixie Bob? Try ommet/scottish wildcat/european wildcat. Scientific name Felis Sylvestris, the same as our beloved (or hated) housecat. Most probably a contributing ancestor of same.
All my life I've heard from old people, "there are two different types of wildcat, short-tailed and long-tailed". The short tailed is of course Lynxus Rufuos, or bobcat. The long-tailed variety was not Felis concolor, the cougar, but described as having a medium length tail. Bigger than a housecat, comparable to a bobcat.
I have heard this from people around here and from people who grew up in other parts of the appalachians hearing the same stories.
I put it away from my mind untill I met a guy that has one tanned out in his den. His research showed that wild poulations exhist in the US as a result of their popularity with English gentry as "birding" animals.
Of course this is purely theory, we don't want another endangered specie, especially a British import.
Anyone else heard of this?

[jaydee]

I have laying chickens. I have a shed I built for them about 10 feet by 16 feet with one window(No glass) each side about 4 ft by 8 ft with a closeable shutter. I have one man door with small opening with shutter for ventilation. I have a small door about 10 inches by 16 inches for chickens to go in and out. Close at night and open in daytime to let chickens out. There is enough room for about 40 grown chickens. I have roost poles on one end with water and feed and nest on other end. It needs to be cleaned out once a year.Make walk door wide enough for wheel barrow. I didn't so it is harder to clean out. I have Arauconas, Anconas, road Island reds and a mixture of the three.

James

[jaydee]

I have laying chickens. I have a shed I built for them about 10 feet by 16 feet with one window(No glass) each side about 4 ft by 8 ft with a closeable shutter. I have one man door with small opening with shutter for ventilation. I have a small door about 10 inches by 16 inches for chickens to go in and out. Close at night and open in daytime to let chickens out. There is enough room for about 40 grown chickens. I have roost poles on one end with water and feed and nest on other end. It needs to be cleaned out once a year.Make walk door wide enough for wheel barrow. I didn't so it is harder to clean out. I have Arauconas, Anconas, road Island reds and a mixture of the three.

James