The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

Wickedchicken6 glad to hear that the arm is getting better. Did you by chance injure the brachial nerve? I did that once target practicing with an antique rifle that had a lot of kick to it.The symptoms sound a lot like what you are experiencing. It seemed like it took it about 8 weeks to heal and settle down.

I went out yesterday to let the chickens out and did my usual check for new burrows around the coop and run. None! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I nipped the problem before it had a chance to escalate. Now I have to figure out where I can set a Tom Cat bait station to keep history from repeating itself. I had the funniest thing happen yesterday. I was out working on the garden and setting T-posts so I could put up a low fence to keep the dogs off the soil. I had the post pounder in the 'porch' area of my coop leaning against a wall, open end up and when I turned it to flip it over the end of the post, a half a cup of sunflower seeds poured out of it.They were all nicely hulled. Since I feed my birds sunflower seeds to add fat to their diet in the winter, I can only think that some mouse has been VERY busy out there. And I wiped out it's diligent work in a few seconds........sweet.

I let my baby OEGBs out for the first time yesterday. What fun! They are in a pen with two bachelor Welsummer roosters and those boys took to those babies instantly. They were so good with them to the point that they wound up sleeping with them last night. Such good daddy birds.

We have both gray and brown squirrels around us and for years had a problem with them coming up on our back porch and chewing on our oak steps. I finally managed to get the main perpetrator in my .17 sights and took him out then put metal stripping on the edge of the steps where they had rounded off the wood from their chewing. We have a lot of squirrels so I'm hoping the owls and hawks take some of them out this spring when they have babies to feed.

 

[chickadoodles]

I've been saying for years that DH is out of his mind, but now I've got proof. He's decided our chickens are not having fun, so they need a chicken playground. This is from the man that thinks chicks should have beds with pillows, so they'll be comfortable. For now, he's banished from my coop.

Are you sure he's not trying to figure out how crazy you are?

That's how my dh is...

Wickedchicken6 glad to hear that the arm is getting better. Did you by chance injure the brachial nerve? I did that once target practicing with an antique rifle that had a lot of kick to it.The symptoms sound a lot like what you are experiencing. It seemed like it took it about 8 weeks to heal and settle down.

I went out yesterday to let the chickens out and did my usual check for new burrows around the coop and run. None! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I nipped the problem before it had a chance to escalate. Now I have to figure out where I can set a Tom Cat bait station to keep history from repeating itself. I had the funniest thing happen yesterday. I was out working on the garden and setting T-posts so I could put up a low fence to keep the dogs off the soil. I had the post pounder in the 'porch' area of my coop leaning against a wall, open end up and when I turned it to flip it over the end of the post, a half a cup of sunflower seeds poured out of it.They were all nicely hulled. Since I feed my birds sunflower seeds to add fat to their diet in the winter, I can only think that some mouse has been VERY busy out there. And I wiped out it's diligent work in a few seconds........sweet.

I let my baby OEGBs out for the first time yesterday. What fun! They are in a pen with two bachelor Welsummer roosters and those boys took to those babies instantly. They were so good with them to the point that they wound up sleeping with them last night. Such good daddy birds.

We have both gray and brown squirrels around us and for years had a problem with them coming up on our back porch and chewing on our oak steps. I finally managed to get the main perpetrator in my .17 sights and took him out then put metal stripping on the edge of the steps where they had rounded off the wood from their chewing. We have a lot of squirrels so I'm hoping the owls and hawks take some of them out this spring when they have babies to feed.

I'm so happy to hear that I'm not the only one that used young cockerels to brood chicks!

Mine were so awesome I had one raise 7 broods of chicks for me!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I am happy that some here have not had a bad enough rat infestation to need to use poison.

You have been very lucky. Remember the advice of those that have had to though if you ever have a rat infestation. I live in town and had hundreds of them here. The worst was the ones in the garage.

Would you shoot them in the garage? Cats will not usually go after Norway rats. They are almost as big as a cat!

Sorry if I sound a bit rough in this post but it seems like those of us that have dealt with this and needed to use poison are being bullied by some recent posts.

I don't condemn the use just think about the other animals you wouldn't use pesticides where your chickens are for bugs that's all. I know that living where I do my cats take care of the mouse and rat problem and large rats I have a cat that catches full grown squirrels! But if the situation arises that I have to use poison then I will but I would take precautions as to what I use and how I use it to protect the natural predators.

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[microchick]

YAY! No new tunnels second day in a row. I seriously have to thank a program we saw on National Geographic Channel last fall about rats for my ability to recognize the burrows and identify them as rat tunnels. They had focused on urban rat problems in big cities and showed clear examples of what their tunnels look like.

We live in extreme rural Missouri where we have to be constantly observant for signs of predators. A few days ago, my husband went out side early in the morning and was greeted by the sight of a red fox trotting up our road in broad daylight. He said maybe having one hanging around would be a good way to solve the mouse and now the occasional rat problem that we have and I agreed with him but pointed out that what would the fox start to eat after the mice and rats ran out? Oh, look! Chickens! Nope, Mr Foxxy needs to move on down the road. I love animals, for the most part all animals but around here extreme prejudice is used when dealing with predators be it a raccoon or a rat and we have learned that the best defense is a good offense so a small caliber firearm is always close at hand when we are outside. If we are in the timber we have a larger caliber as we do have cougars and bobcats around us and black bear as close as the next county. to our southwest.

Admittedly, I do not enjoy using poisons on rodents but it is a necessary evil IMHO. The key is using them responsibly with keeping desirable wildlife safe as safe as possible. Using spring traps would have all the effectiveness of using a squirt gun on a forest fire. Too many rodents. We tried them in the beginning and as soon as we put them out around the house we could hear them snapping. That is how bad the mouse problem was here in our house. As clean as the Amish are, I don't know how they stood it.

As for Squirrels AKA tree rats, I took one out last year for daring to raid one of my blue bird nesting boxes. I love my blue birds.

Now can anybody tell me a way to get rid of field sparrows besides buying a lot of .22 ammo?

Chickadoodles one of my roosters that is babysitting is 2 years old. He has attached himself to the babies who were hatched by my broody Welsummer hen. I have a feeling he has ulterior motives if you know what I mean? Still he is great with the chicks. l watched them running around playing yesterday and two of them bounced against his legs from behind. One wound up jumping between his legs and kept on going. He didn't even flinch. I wish the non broody hens would be as good. Mine tend to be pretty bad with chicks whether they are naturally brooded or incubator hatched.

Off to mow lawn and plant more garden.....oh joy.

 

[drumstick diva]

what a good rooster, I guess some are cut out to be "family" men despite their other agendas.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I have 2 brother Roos and one seems to be a lot more like the one you have he's the best Roo I have ever had

 

[Kusanar]

Quote:
I have a barn cat that took down a full grown fox... Plus it's pretty normal to find half a decent sized rabbit laying somewhere where he had a snack... I don't think I need to worry about mice or rats... Plus there are several snakes that help out. Every now and then, I put a bowl of scratch out where the cat can get to it to lure the mice out of the walls where he can't get to them so he can get himself a snack.

 

[chickadoodles]

Micro my Welsumer roo was like that with chicks once we put them in the run with the flock I know some are better than others.

One of the neighbors behind us keep cats around for rodent control. Unfortunately our dogs refuse to get along with cats. Every now and then one will get in our shed and does not stand a chance to get home. Even with my dh standing there with a stick the dogs will not obey him over a cat.

 

[pennyJo1960]

@ronott1 I do not condemn I am not that clean

I HAVE
EVEN BEEN GIVEN TO USE MALATHION the fleas where so thick here
in one place I had before other better methods had come out...
I spent enough time in other states I understand rat stories when they out
weigh small dogs