Bear Tails

For the past couple of weeks, this has been sitting in our front lawn.



Yes, it's a bear trap....designed to capture and relocate our pesky neighborhood black bear.
This bear has been plaguing us for months, now...
on our decks, destroying our bird feeders, in our garage.
He is obviously one hungry bear.
And if it weren't for our dogs, I wouldn't worry about having his trapped.
After all, this land was his long before it was ours.
Black bears' habitat is shrinking all the time, so I feel quite sorry
for these amazing creatures.
But I love my dogs and farm critters, and would hate to lose one to an angry bear.

Saturday night Hubbs and I were in the family room watching a movie.
Over the sound of the TV, I heard a snorting coming from outside.
"Hrumpf, hrumpf, hrumpf" I heard as he exhaled.
We figure he was checking out the trap....but wary enough to not go into it.

This morning, very early, Hubbs noticed that the trap's door was closed.


Could it be?
Did that pesky bear finally enter the trap?
Here is what we found
when 
we 
looked
inside......


This poor fellow was scared to death,
and probably sick in the stomach from all of the rotten doughnuts that he had eaten.

After freeing the raccoon, I cleaned out the old hay and the old doughnuts,
in an attempt to "gussy up" the place a bit....new hay, leftover birthday cake...
hopefully we will catch dear Yogi next time.

Thank you for the suggestions you left me with your comments yesterday.
Occasionally I have a quiet day on the farm without excitement,
and it is nice to be able to tell you a little more about things you might enjoy.
I do so enjoy your comments and suggestions...and questions,
so don't hesitate to "ask"!

So, I promise you....Monday will be a house tour.  
I will work on it over the weekend.

There was a question about our dear "One Eyed Myrtle" yesterday.
Myrtle is one of our original breeding stock Fainting Goats.
She came to us from Nevada.
Myrtle came to us with two eyes, but was plagued with eye problems...
infections, allergies, constant irritations.


Part of her problem was the fact that both eyes lie within
patches of white.  No pigmentation around the eyes can be a problem for goats.

Eventually Myrtle's right eye became so sore that Dr. Becky removed it.


Amazingly, Myrtle has no problems related to the loss of that eye.
She navigates quite well and does not seem to miss it at all.
She is a great Mama, giving birth to a set of triplets this past Spring.


You also commented how you enjoy our chickens.
We enjoy them too!

These are my two largest henhouses.
They share a common yard,
and house about 50 chickens.
Here they are just moments before the gate opens for daily free ranging....
lined up like school kids on the last day of school...
 full of excitement and anticipation.


Here they are as soon as the gate opens....


Woo Hooooooo!  How we love to be outside!
And of course the turkeys and guineas are never far away.
Our fancy chickens live in a coop by the barn
and free range around the horses all day.

The Roos make their home in a coop close to the farmhouse,
as well as the Cuckoo Marans and Henri.
Soon the Cuckoo Marans will move into the upper henhouses
and a new batch of chicks will arrive the second week of July.
(Gotta keep up with the demand for good fresh farm eggs!)

Have a great weekend....
hope to see you back here on Monday for our video house tour.


PS....
check out last night's garden bounty....

We had a yummy dinner, chock full of garden goodness!

Comments

Anonymous said…
We live in Black bear country as well here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Have only had one bear in the neighborhood, that we know of, during the four years we have lived here. Good luck with your Yogi endeavor... he will take the bait eventually. :-)

Di
Good Morning Bev!
That poor little raccoon...bet he never goes into that big trap again LOL! Bears are kind of exciting to have around but when you have children and animals to protect it's a different story. When I lived in British Columbia we lived in the country across from the ski hill and every year in late summer a big old male would come around and check our fruit trees to see how close to being ripe they were. It was a real competition to get the fruit off the trees before he could strip it! Then we had a momma bear with two cubs start doing the same thing. We've had them on our porch and we had the momma put her paw prints on a large picture window. We never had the trap out there but we did when we lived in town. I hope you catch your bear soon so you can all rest easy. Have a wonderful day!
Maura :)
Good luck catching Yogi! We have quite a few of them here in Wisconsin. I've never had or have I heard of them injuring farm animals. Now I'm worried! I suppose if they are hungry enough they will eat anything.
I would love to see your home as well as what types of foods you fix with your garden produce. Maybe a recipe or two? Thanks Bev, have a wonderful weekend. Dawn
This N That said…
Poor little racoon..I hope you soon catch Yogi..I worry about the humans at the farm !!! Too many bear horror stories..Have a great weekend...
Unknown said…
Glad you have a trap, sorry for the little guy...he must have been confused...dougnuts and then they won't let me out?

Beautiful produce! Loved seeing the chickens!
Anonymous said…
Hi. I love your blog and visit often. I had a couple questions. What is your favorite breed of laying chickens ie what do you feel is best for consistent and large egg production? I have RIRs, Americaunas and some young atralorps but am looking at what kind to get next spring. Also, your blueberry patch is beautiful. What variety(s) of blueberries did you plant? Thanks again for you wonderful blog. Cathy
allison said…
I love your blog! I have a little problem and I hope you can help! We have 6 hens and 1 roo. 2 hens have lost all the feathers on their backs and now spreading to their wings. The spots are raw and look like they hurt. Poor things! I have applied a med to the spots which helps for a short time but I can not constantly apply it. And we have treated for parasites. I think this is from those other mean hens picking on these sweet girls. We let them all free range all day and they are in the coop at night. Have you ever experienced this? Any advice? Thanks!
Ginny said…
Poor Rocky Racoon. Can't wait to see the house tour. Garden goodies look great, all your hard work is paying off!! Happy Weekend!
Junebug said…
Okay, I'm not feeling the poor little raccoon! They are vicious, mean and they eat my girls(chicken). One even had my dog pinned to the ground early Saturday morning. So my trap is set to catch the dirty bugger!! Nope, nothing cute about a raccoon! Jazi(dog) appears to be fine and she is up to date on her shots. I'm still keeping a close eye on her. So no I'm not buying cute!
Bee Haven Bev said…
Hi Cathy,

We planted 25 Bluecrop, 25 Elliott, 25 Jersey, and 25 Spartan. We picked these four types because together,.they would give us the longest season....ripening in late June through late July/Aug.
Soil preparation is essential with blueberries. They love an acidic soil, so we tested ours and amended it as needed. As far as chickens go....I do like the Rhode Island Reds and the Ameraucanas. A lot of my chickens were part of a "brown layer mix". I am excited for the Cuckoo Marans to start to lay because of their deep dark chocolate brown eggs. I will let you know how they perform and how they do over the winter.
Suzan said…
Love the picture of the two turkey walking around all fluffed out!! What are their names?? Larry & Moe???
Bee Haven Bev said…
Thanks Allison,

Have your hens moulted yet? You did not mention that, so I have to say that was my first thought. Is your rooster rough with them. The roos stand on the gals back to mate and I am wondering if this is a factor in their loss of feathers and the soreness as roos can rip feathers out during mating. I might remove the rooster and see if they get better. How attached are you to the roo? Can you sequester him? ( I have also read that you can clip your roos nails with a nail clipper to prevent him from clawing the hens. ) I have found that a good ratio is 1 roo to 25 or more hens. Otherwise, sometimes the hens get stressed by these over sexed boys. Just a thought. As far as diseases......I thought of mites or lice...but it sounds like you are on top of that.
Bee Haven Bev said…
Tree Hugger,
The turkeys names are Tom, Chuck and Edith. Oh, and Edith's middle name is Menot. Edith-Me-Not! HA!
Ms. Bake-it said…
You are a riot Bev! Your comment/response to Tree Hugger cracked me up. I too liked the shot of the two turkeys all puffed up. Nice bounty for dinner! Looking forward to the house tour!

Have a fabulous weekend!

~ Tracy
Cindy said…
I don't know how I would feel about having a bear around. I love nature, but...When we went to Yellowstone a few years ago, I was worried the whole time about bears.

After I asked about a house tour, I looked at your other blog and found some pictures of your house during holidays. But I would love to see more. Thanks!
allison said…
Oh, thank you so much! I think it is that horny rooster. Darn! No, they haven't molted yet. We may have to say goodbye to the roo. Really the only reason we have him is because I like to listen to him crow ;o)
Teresa said…
Can only imagine how scared the coon was. Hope you get your bear. That would be very scary to have roaming around with all your animals.
You have quite a farm there. It must keep you very busy every day.
But how rewarding too!
I too live where we have bears passing through often. But the only time we had a problem was when our garage was being worked on and the garbage was in the shed. Needless to say, the bear put a big hole in the latticework door escaping!!
I also live in a log home. Probably half the size of yours! Check it out when you have the time. I'm looking forward to the tour of yours. Maybe I'll get some new ideas!