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Hey guys.
Just got a call from my neighbors about other neighbors complaining about a small new colony I feed.
I feed them once a day, every morning around 6 - 6:30 AM.
Apparently the food is attracting buzzards, which I’ve never had an issue with before.
I feed them in the only possible area I can feed them given the neighborhood layout (it’s a production home neighborhood, so everyone is tightly packed). Which I thought I lucked out on, because it’s a drainage way sort of thing. Hard to explain, but it’s behind several houses (these houses can see the food, though), relatively out of the way, and mostly out of street view.
They asked my boyfriend that we stop feeding because they don’t want to attract wildlife (I ensure to feed early and only leave enough food that the cats are capable of finishing it all before nightfall as to not attract typical wildlife - was not anticipating buzzards, though).
Since we only recently discovered this colony along with another one in a separate part of the neighborhood, none of the cats are TNR’d yet. The other colony we found had a bunch of kittens, so we’ve been working through that one first.
I’m not sure what to do. We hadn’t made a proper feeding station yet because I was prioritizing funds for TNR first.
I was going to make a storage bin feeding station, and figure out how to attach artificial hedge panels (like this https://smile.amazon.com/BESAMENATURE-Artificial-Protected-Greenery-Decoration/dp/B071VXJ4D3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=artificial+hedge+panels+for+outdoors&qid=1594776379&sr=8-3) to it to help it blend in better with the environment, but I’m honestly not sure if that will keep buzzards out if they know food is there (and I don’t quite have the money for this yet...).
I’m just not sure how willing buzzards would be going into it or not. I work in wildlife, but we don’t intake buzzards very often at all, and no one I asked seems to know.
The other idea is obviously the feed them, give them 30 minutes to eat, then pick up the food drill. But there are several problems with this strategy -
1. I’ve been feeding these guys consistently at the same time every day and using a silent dog whistle to signal food time to them, but they still haven’t caught on - or rather, they still won’t come out or around until I leave (and some will come right after I leave sometimes, but other times it’s hours later, and a couple only come throughout the day). Everyone is still very feral (except for one semi feral), and my relationship with them is still very new and they’ve only actually seen me leaving out food the past week or so.
2. I’d only be able to feed them once a day, so they’ll end up getting less food
3. To be perfectly honest, I don’t have the time to hang around like that. I feed 5 colonies a day, and two other colonies 2-3x a week (I take shifts with another caretaker). Plus I have 17 fosters/pets at home. As it is already, every spare second I have every single day is spent on cats and cat chores.
So I just don’t think that sort of scheduled feeding is something I can manage. I’ve already been struggling to make time for these two new colonies as is.
Another thing I was considering was an automated feeder (placed in a storage bin for weather protection). I have no idea how well this would work with the buzzards, but I imagine that it would help? (Any recommendations on battery powdered feeders would be very welcome).
The last option would be the “nuclear” option, which is relocating this colony to my house. Unfortunately, I live on the complete opposite end of the neighborhood, so I can’t just “encourage” them to come over, I’d have to do a complete relocation process.
Potential issues with that -
1. I’m afraid of creating a vacuum effect, obviously.
2. Since I have limited space, the process would be EXTREMELY slow. Only 2-3 cats/kittens at a time, taking 4-6 weeks of confinement for each group. Not sure if my neighbors would agree to that timeline. :/
3. I already have a colony at my house, so this would involve a “merging” of colonies, which could go either way.
However, my house colony is not a “cohesive” colony, which may play in my favor here? Out of about 12-14 of them (plus a litter of kittens we’re waiting for Momma to bring around), only two are sometimes friends.
Everyone else goes off on their own, they never eat together (other than the two who sometimes show up together), some of them fight (all but two are TNR’d), and they never hang around at my house. They won’t be in my presence at all without taking off, even after ~3 years. They just come to eat and do their own thing otherwise.
In contrast, the drain colony gets along very well and they often show up in various groups of 2-3 (along with two neighborhood pet cats) and everyone is very relaxed and peaceful (despite no one but the pets being neutered).
In total, there are at least 4 adults (one is black and we have a black cat problem here, so I’m not certain whether it’s the same black cat I always see or not), and 3 older kittens. So we’d be adding 7 new cats.
3. Because the drain colony is more cohesive, i feel like it’s more likely (especially after they’re TNR’d) that they will hang out at my house.
The one benefit of my house colony not hanging around here is that they don’t attract any attention, so I’m a little concerned about this (bringing them here would otherwise make things a lot easier for me, though!)
What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Has anyone ever dealt with buzzards before?
Two things I need to clarify -
- I can’t socialize these guys. We are OVER our max capacity right now, I cannot do it.
I tried for weeks to find someone to take the older kittens in both colonies. I contacted well over 60 rescues, and posted everywhere I knew to get a foster with no luck.
- I have an HOA, so I need to tread very lightly here. This is my main concern, especially because we are well over the pet limit with our indoor guys, so I cannot be on the HOA’s radar.
ANY suggestions here are welcome. I really can’t bear to stop feeding these guys, but I have to consider the cats actually under my roof first and foremost.
Just got a call from my neighbors about other neighbors complaining about a small new colony I feed.
I feed them once a day, every morning around 6 - 6:30 AM.
Apparently the food is attracting buzzards, which I’ve never had an issue with before.
I feed them in the only possible area I can feed them given the neighborhood layout (it’s a production home neighborhood, so everyone is tightly packed). Which I thought I lucked out on, because it’s a drainage way sort of thing. Hard to explain, but it’s behind several houses (these houses can see the food, though), relatively out of the way, and mostly out of street view.
They asked my boyfriend that we stop feeding because they don’t want to attract wildlife (I ensure to feed early and only leave enough food that the cats are capable of finishing it all before nightfall as to not attract typical wildlife - was not anticipating buzzards, though).
Since we only recently discovered this colony along with another one in a separate part of the neighborhood, none of the cats are TNR’d yet. The other colony we found had a bunch of kittens, so we’ve been working through that one first.
I’m not sure what to do. We hadn’t made a proper feeding station yet because I was prioritizing funds for TNR first.
I was going to make a storage bin feeding station, and figure out how to attach artificial hedge panels (like this https://smile.amazon.com/BESAMENATURE-Artificial-Protected-Greenery-Decoration/dp/B071VXJ4D3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=artificial+hedge+panels+for+outdoors&qid=1594776379&sr=8-3) to it to help it blend in better with the environment, but I’m honestly not sure if that will keep buzzards out if they know food is there (and I don’t quite have the money for this yet...).
I’m just not sure how willing buzzards would be going into it or not. I work in wildlife, but we don’t intake buzzards very often at all, and no one I asked seems to know.
The other idea is obviously the feed them, give them 30 minutes to eat, then pick up the food drill. But there are several problems with this strategy -
1. I’ve been feeding these guys consistently at the same time every day and using a silent dog whistle to signal food time to them, but they still haven’t caught on - or rather, they still won’t come out or around until I leave (and some will come right after I leave sometimes, but other times it’s hours later, and a couple only come throughout the day). Everyone is still very feral (except for one semi feral), and my relationship with them is still very new and they’ve only actually seen me leaving out food the past week or so.
2. I’d only be able to feed them once a day, so they’ll end up getting less food
3. To be perfectly honest, I don’t have the time to hang around like that. I feed 5 colonies a day, and two other colonies 2-3x a week (I take shifts with another caretaker). Plus I have 17 fosters/pets at home. As it is already, every spare second I have every single day is spent on cats and cat chores.
So I just don’t think that sort of scheduled feeding is something I can manage. I’ve already been struggling to make time for these two new colonies as is.
Another thing I was considering was an automated feeder (placed in a storage bin for weather protection). I have no idea how well this would work with the buzzards, but I imagine that it would help? (Any recommendations on battery powdered feeders would be very welcome).
The last option would be the “nuclear” option, which is relocating this colony to my house. Unfortunately, I live on the complete opposite end of the neighborhood, so I can’t just “encourage” them to come over, I’d have to do a complete relocation process.
Potential issues with that -
1. I’m afraid of creating a vacuum effect, obviously.
2. Since I have limited space, the process would be EXTREMELY slow. Only 2-3 cats/kittens at a time, taking 4-6 weeks of confinement for each group. Not sure if my neighbors would agree to that timeline. :/
3. I already have a colony at my house, so this would involve a “merging” of colonies, which could go either way.
However, my house colony is not a “cohesive” colony, which may play in my favor here? Out of about 12-14 of them (plus a litter of kittens we’re waiting for Momma to bring around), only two are sometimes friends.
Everyone else goes off on their own, they never eat together (other than the two who sometimes show up together), some of them fight (all but two are TNR’d), and they never hang around at my house. They won’t be in my presence at all without taking off, even after ~3 years. They just come to eat and do their own thing otherwise.
In contrast, the drain colony gets along very well and they often show up in various groups of 2-3 (along with two neighborhood pet cats) and everyone is very relaxed and peaceful (despite no one but the pets being neutered).
In total, there are at least 4 adults (one is black and we have a black cat problem here, so I’m not certain whether it’s the same black cat I always see or not), and 3 older kittens. So we’d be adding 7 new cats.
3. Because the drain colony is more cohesive, i feel like it’s more likely (especially after they’re TNR’d) that they will hang out at my house.
The one benefit of my house colony not hanging around here is that they don’t attract any attention, so I’m a little concerned about this (bringing them here would otherwise make things a lot easier for me, though!)
What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Has anyone ever dealt with buzzards before?
Two things I need to clarify -
- I can’t socialize these guys. We are OVER our max capacity right now, I cannot do it.
I tried for weeks to find someone to take the older kittens in both colonies. I contacted well over 60 rescues, and posted everywhere I knew to get a foster with no luck.
- I have an HOA, so I need to tread very lightly here. This is my main concern, especially because we are well over the pet limit with our indoor guys, so I cannot be on the HOA’s radar.
ANY suggestions here are welcome. I really can’t bear to stop feeding these guys, but I have to consider the cats actually under my roof first and foremost.
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