Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Anniebee]

I had baits put in my house by an exterminator and they said it wasn't a worry about my dogs and cats. They used warfarin-type baits and it wouldn't have hurt them if they'd found a dead one and had a nibble. They also said they didn't usually die out in the open, but in their hidey-holes. I wasn't too bothered because my animals are spoilt, they do not need to eat carrion and probably wouldn't be interested anyway. Also, as it's dose-related, they'd have to gobble down lots and lots and lots of dead critters to get in any way enough "stuff' in them to hurt them. From memory, they had different things to use where there were animals and where there weren't. Arsenic or strychnine or anything like that would be more of a worry.

With the chickens, they are so little, it wouldn't take much for them to be affected by anything compared to my dog who has a bit of meat on her bones. And they are complete gutses. If there as a dead anything, they'd eat it, for sure.....

hmmm .... there are times that rats do not 'make it back to their hidey holes'. I can attest to that - having seen many more than one dead rat in our garden ( one dying which had to be put out of its misery, a ghastly business ) over the years, no doubt from gardens that have been baited. Warfarin is an intense blood thinner, and in rats and vermin make them bleed internally until they are gone. It is a dangerous drug to both humans and animals, and I wouldn't have it in or anywhere near my own home - ever.

Dogs ( especially ) can be as spoilt as all get out - as possible as it is to be spoilt, but can also be scavengers at heart ( hence their delight at finding woopsies to eat in the garden or in a cat tray ) .... so being 'spoilt' does not stop gobbling what they consider to be treats. Cats - certainly not so much, they are much fussier.

If you have dogs that are discriminating enough to 'not eat carrion' .... then you are indeed very fortunate. My Murphy, the most loved, properly fed and spoiled dog ( as all my dogs are ) was only very young when she gobbled down most of the dead rat. That was 20 years ago. It is termed 'secondary poisoning' and can be fatal, especially if the rat found and eaten has recently died. The rat liver retains the blood thinner ( warfarin type ), and occasionally coats the mouth and gut of the dead rat. If dead rat eating is suspected, contact with your veterinarian is considered essential.

As for arsenic and strychnine. !! I would suggest you boil or filter, or whatever your water in future. All drinking water contains a small amount of arsenic ( mg / ltr ). Rice and some seafood also contain a small amt. of arsenic. I think strychnine ( used in W.A. for pest / vermin control ) is now outlawed there. Then there is cyanide which is found in the black seeds of all apples. Insecticides and pesticides are rife with a variety of poisons, and many of us happily munch on outer leaves of lettuce, spinach etc., often without soaking or washing them thoroughly.

Better to be safe than sorry.

............

 

[MyHaven]

What a beautiful day in the Huon , sun shining and many visitors to the garden.

Saddened by the loss of yet another young equestrian. Rip Caitlyn Fischer. Ride high.

Beautiful visiters.

I thought of you when I heard the news and thought it may it home. Terrible, sorry.

 

[MyHaven]

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Luckily we live in the city and there is a company that comes, sets the tarps and picks them up when they are occupied. They take them about 5-10km and releas them into a huge nature belt. We have only needed their services once and so we will see how we go having chooks.

Does that apply to native species? I thought it would be illegal for the introduced vermin to be release because they threaten our natives.

 

[satay]

What a beautiful day in the Huon , sun shining and many visitors to the garden.

Saddened by the loss of yet another young equestrian. Rip Caitlyn Fischer. Ride high.

So sad. I just about jumped out of my skin when i heard the headlines last night especially with your daughter up here. I heard the full story later. R.I.P

 

[MyHaven]

Actually the question we should be asking is how long was it between buying the buttercup and her showing symptoms? You see people quarantining for a couple of weeks and I've often wondered how long you really should to be sure they are healthy. Six weeks I would have thought was pretty good so I'm curious how long after buying they did first get sick.

Usually the stress of relocation will bring symptoms on , but in their own environment it can be months between bouts of illness. I don't let anyone that owns chickens anywhere near my pens for fear of them bringing disease in on their shoes or clothes.
The other alternative is that someone already in the flock is a carrier . Just thinking aloud.

Actually the buttercups are still penned separately. Picked up 9/4/16. Sick 26/416 in morning. Dead when I got home from work. Thanks for asking that question Appps it helped me timeline it all better I hadn't realised how close that timing was. Until the 26th there was no sign of illness in the buttercups which were 8wks about. The sneezes in the big girls started about the 20th I think, I'm going to go through text messages etc and try and timeline it better. The buttercups were for two weeks penned some distance away but are closer now as I try to separate with greater distance symptomatic with asymptomatic. The remaining buttercups are seemingly fine.

I visited a friend with chickens yesterday afternoon. I didn't touch the chicks or walk in the run. Just in case. What you do Fancy is good thinking.

And anything is a possibility - except unlikely as the old girls I've had for years and they have never shown a sign and this is the first year since I got back into chickens that I have bought birds and not added by hatching.

I blame the fox. I wouldn't have been adding to the flock if it hadn't subtracted for me.

Now the update on the vet visit It was very happy with the vet. Knowledgable on poultry - birds are their specialty. It will be an expensive exercise but we will be testing and performing necropsy. The vet still wants to consider best course of action and will be ringing me today. The results of swabs testing will take a couple of weeks.

 

[MyHaven]

So sad. I just about jumped out of my skin when i heard the headlines last night especially with your daughter up here. I heard the full story later. R.I.P

I had that moment of panic too. I'm so sorry for her family and friends.

 

[appps]

They aren't going to get bigger.  They are midgets.  They are going to stay little. 

Lol. What are they?

 

[appps]

About the mouse/s, it's just a dilemma because I don't know how to deal with it with chickens there.  I can't use poison, the chickies might eat it.  I could put poison in a bait container, but what if the chickens pecked at a dead one?  I can't set traps, the chookies might walk on them.... sigh.  and I'm too sooky to murder any that I trapped alive.  

Just set the traps in their run overnight while they are locked in their house. Just caught two that way.

 

[MyHaven]

Just set the traps in their run overnight while they are locked in their house. Just caught two that way.

Der, hadn't thought of that. I set them outside of the run. Knowing I miss most. Sometimes I miss the obvious.

 

[Teila]

Good morning folks

Looks like we are in for an overcast, rainy day .. it is so nice to see the girls mooching in the run, under cover, nice and dry. Not having to juggle rain covers v overheating and being able to walk into the run is sheer bliss. It is funny what we will do when we do not know any better .. no more stepping over and into runs, sore, wet or dirty knees cleaning coops, catching bits of skin on chicken wire when putting breakfast in the run from above etc.

Fancy that is a stunningly beautiful picture of the sea eagle. I love the garden visitor shots and their sentiment is perfect with the loss of yet another equestrian. Such very sad news

Like others have mentioned, while it is so very sad that a family is going through such loss, I had a panic moment when I heard the news also.

potato chip sorry, I can not help with the feeder question as I use two open plastic containers and put out enough to last the day first thing each morning and no food is left in the run overnight.

appps I think Algernon is an icky rat but I am not positive. He is not very big and is grey. Research indicates that native rats have rounder ears and his look rounded but research also indicates that native rats are strictly nocturnal and I have seen this little guy in the afternoons.

On the subject of rats and mice .. I was at Bunnings yesterday, trying to figure out the best method of disposal and boy oh boy, there are many options, some expensive! Anyways, I went with the snap trap. As others have mentioned, baiting worries me. With the work we did yesterday, I am hopeful that the rat can not get into the run now but what if he dies where the chickens can find him or gets into and dies in the outside cat run? Too scary to think about. There were some 'stations' where I believe the rat goes in, eats the poison but can't get out and dies in the station, but they were not cheap and I wondered if the size and configuration of them would be enough to put the rat off even going in there. RSPCA advises that poison is a painful death compared to the quick snap of the trap but then the snap trap is not as effective as the poison because it does not always catch them.

And, that was the case overnight, the trap was set off, the ‘bait’ was gone, but no rat .. I will try again tonight.

[potato chip I set the trap overnight, outside the run in a spot I know he frequents. I took the trap away this morning, before free range and will put it back tonight when the girls are safe in the coop. No chance of the girls setting it off but definitely a risk of catching a cane toad .. eeeew

]

MyHaven is that the Brisbane Bird Vet on Hamilton Road? Yeah, I have heard that it is easy to walk out of there on a fairly basic visit with no change out of $300. It would be good to get a diagnosis though.

Not that I am thinking of increasing numbers at the moment, but I am swaying towards your thoughts of not buying birds and just waiting for a broody and giving her eggs. I have been lucky to date with gals that I have purchased but the risk is great.

You are in my thoughts and I am so sorry that you are going through this.