Recent content by myback40

  1. myback40

    How often do you clean your waterer?

    Omigosh, I am scrubbing it out every day! So a swish with the hose and refill would be ok 6 days out of 7? Sometimes I detect a smell like my goldfish bowl used to get when I was a kid and didn't clean it. It freaks me out and makes me feel guilty. But maybe a full scrub isn't needed every day...
  2. myback40

    How often do you clean your waterer?

    For those not using nipple or water-cup systems, how often do you clean out the waterer? With the colder weather and busier season, I guess I'm going through a bad attitude period regarding water chores.
  3. myback40

    Heated water dish (or other methods) reviews wanted!

    We don't freeze very often. Maybe 3 or 4 times a winter, for a couple of days. I built a water heater base from a cookie tin and a light bulb and it works well. Search YouTube and you'll see lots of options. During freeze I put water in a thick glass bowl, holds about a gallon. (Flock is under...
  4. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    It's not like I see a hole every 10 yards, but I do find them here and there. Just as often, I find owl pellets under trees. The worst thing I could do in my opinion is to poison the very creatures that are helping us keep the rat population down. I don't understand how you can think...
  5. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    Thanks again, Howard. I look forward to exploring some of your suggestions. Here are some pictures of my set up, with the chicken moat. The run is covered with wire on top throughout, and with roofing over the corner where their food, water and coop entry are. The garden is inside the rectangle...
  6. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    I like the idea of using pavers! Of course it's not possible for me to keep the area completely clean without nightly sweeping up, which would drive me crazy. I bought a "rat proof" feeder a few months ago. This one: http://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html (The money...
  7. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    I wish it were so quick as well! I don't even know if strychnine is used anymore. The poison in rat bait is an anticoagulant of some kind, so they bleed to death of the course of some number of days. We have a lot of owls here. I was just outside and heard them calling to each other. Wouldn't...
  8. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    Thanks for taking the time to reply. I really do appreciate it. I'm afraid the plaster of paris method has been eliminated. Believe me, I'd love to have a method that is so simple, so sustainable, and so hands-off. But all my research indicates that this method creates a very painful, lengthy...
  9. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    I appreciate the suggestion very much. But as I have said before in this thread, I'm not interested in 1) causing a painful death that will take many days to occur, 2) poisoning the owls, raptors, and neighborhood pets who might eat the dead rat. (Secondary poisoning.) One border collie in our...
  10. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    Well, at dusk I finally decided that I must act. Here is my bucket trap, with about 10" of water. The soda bottle is drilled with a slightly larger hole than the diameter of the coat hanger. I chose this huge work bucket thinking it would be better because some rats can reach the middle of a 5...
  11. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    Drowning seems to be a much kinder end according to the research I've been doing. For example, this link: https://www.ratcontroltricks.com/rat-traps/ says, "Most rats will drown within two minutes, although Norway rats are strong swimmers and it could take far longer for them to exhaust...
  12. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    The trick is to put peanut butter on the "stairs" as well, not just in the kill chamber.
  13. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    I believe it takes 3-4 days. Agonizing days. Per rat. So for my situation I don't think poison is going to be an option. But thanks!
  14. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    Flock master, That's intriguing!
  15. myback40

    Please help me decide which of these methods to use for RATS

    Wicked chicken, Thank you so much for taking the time to elaborate! It is incredibly kind of you. Chicken people are the best! Graphic indeed, but I did appreciate your descriptions and the picture. I am actually pretty heartless about the killing, but the thought of the suffering just...
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