Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Apdeb]

Of the show breeders here that use fish, how often and how much!!! I have 2 cockerals 4 mos old and 6 pullets
Thank you

 

[Lacy Blues]

Yes I agree. Here I have Barred Rocks that don't roost and of course they just happen to be the ones that are the hardest I have here to get tails on in the first place and naturally the mice do eat their tails off here too. Its aggravation to the point I invite the snakes now here, blacksnakes and all esp. king snakes and just gather the eggs more frequently and if one happens to get and egg from time to time I say well that's a good snack for you and go on and do your job, good. I caught and brought in at least 4 snakes this spring/summer to the barn. I also put up the golf balls so that they wouldn't die from eating them too. Also I no longer throw grain in the evening time either, the vermin have to dig far and wide to get a morsel or two now.

Jeff

I have some snakes I allow to stay around too. I don't remember the name of them but they're not poisonous and I let them eat as many mice as they can catch. There are no snakes in this pen though.

Several 'barn cats' have done very well me in keeping the rodent population down along with good 'housekeeping'

My cats are terrified of my chickens!

 

[catdaddyfro]

Several 'barn cats' have done very well me in keeping the rodent population down along with good 'housekeeping'

My pest control agency(3 Catahoulas) won't allow such on the premises, they(cats) look akin and like too many critters the dogs love to devour and tear all to pieces(FUBAR).

I tried it, and not worth the hassle(time) of trying to train them to leave the cats be. + I now have wild rabbits starting to move back in here. cats are detrimental to rabbit and quail populations. the snakes have done well this time of the year i will just have to spend more time out in the barn this winter with BJ a young male Catahoula that just loves killing mice if you help him get to them(turn over and move stuff around) he can get'em! He likes to go for my snakes too so I have to be extra careful letting him have his way about his "Rat killins" LOL

Jeff

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

My pest control agency(3 Catahoulas) won't allow such on the premises, they(cats) look akin and like too many critters the dogs love to devour and tear all to pieces(FUBAR).

I tried it, and not worth the hassle(time) of trying to train them to leave the cats be. + I now have wild rabbits starting to move back in here. cats are detrimental to rabbit and quail populations. the snakes have done well this time of the year i will just have to spend more time out in the barn this winter with BJ a young male Catahoula that just loves killing mice if you help him get to them(turn over and move stuff around) he can get'em! He likes to go for my snakes too so I have to be extra careful letting him have his way about his "Rat killins" LOL

Jeff

About cats as rodent patrol ... I've been wondering how to leverage recent science that suggests rodents HATE being in a space with cat hair enough so that if they ever discover cat hair in a space they try to avoid the space for ever. So cat hair is a natural rodent repellent. I have "some" (cough, cough) cat hair in my house from my house cats. If I notice a rodent problem around the coop I was thinking of sprinkling cat hair around the area ... I have a central vacuum cleaner and could easily empty the canister out there. I haven't tested this yet.

 

[ocap]

About cats as rodent patrol ... I've been wondering how to leverage recent science that suggests rodents HATE being in a space with cat hair enough so that if they ever discover cat hair in a space they try to avoid the space for ever. So cat hair is a natural rodent repellent. I have "some" (cough, cough) cat hair in my house from my house cats. If I notice a rodent problem around the coop I was thinking of sprinkling cat hair around the area ... I have a central vacuum cleaner and could easily empty the canister out there. I haven't tested this yet.

let us know what happens

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

let us know what happens

I'm not sure I'd ever have anything to report as I haven't seen any obvious signs of rodents in the chicken area so wouldn't necessarily be able to notice a change. They must be there as we do have lots of field mice in the area, enough so they've gotten into my car and house so we had to do a lot of exclusion and extermination work to get them out. Now we have cats for the house ...

 

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
I've also heard tale of strategically placing shedded snake skins out also to deter the varmints/crites. I don't know? I've not tried it but I'm going to start saving found ones and try it out though. This might work for good in the cool months while my exterminators are in hibernation. LOL Or my luck the pestilent lil twerps will eat the skins for a protein soruce Jeff

 

[thedragonlady]

Quote: Jeff you need a few of my mouse munching Buff Orps ! A mouse, or rat, out during day light hours, is a dead one. I keep a low level light on for the birds at night, so they can see 'em too.2, six foot plus black whip snakes are friends too. The big rat snakes WILL eat biddies !

 

[juststruttin]

Jeff you need a few of my mouse munching Buff Orps ! A mouse, or rat, out during day light hours, is a dead one. I keep a low level light on for the birds at night, so they can see 'em too.2, six foot plus black whip snakes are friends too. The big rat snakes WILL eat biddies !

This reminds me of a funny story. One day I saw my orps standing in a circle and some were jumping back and fourth. When I got close, I realized they were harassing a huge norwegian rat. The rat tried to crawl into a hole that was too small and his butt was sticking out. The chickens were taking turned pecking him and then they would jump back. When I got close the chickens stopped long enough for the rat to back out and make a run for it. They ran after him but the rat got away. It was very comical. I doubt that rat came during the day again.

 

[catdaddyfro]

Quote:
I know it I keep my biddies in a tub with hardware cloth over the top for that reason the most of my Mamas I have here that hatch out biddies can kick a black snakes rump to heck and back so I don't worry too much about them too much, somemore of that survival of the fittest action here. Jeff they will get after a hawks rump pretty good too they couldn't whip ones rearend but they can give it fits enough for them to go on and not get an easy fast meal, the way a hawk would have its druthers though, too.