Coffee's ready...

[rancher hicks]

I have one t-shirt that gets mean looks from Karin every time I use it (which is about once a year). It's this sleeveless t-shirt I bought at some market, it's black and says "Real men smell of Diesel", and it's truly atrocious. I just like putting it on sometimes to mess with her.

I wear my T shirts inside out. Drives her crazy. The same with sweat shirts.

 

[rancher hicks]

Good morning chicken wranglers,
The raised beds look good. All of my garden is at ground level. and under ground! Speaking of underground this year as in last, the harvest time is also a time of passing for our family.
We have lost people in the fall for the last 8 years running and it always messes with our harvest in one way or another. This year it was sweet potato's . Anyway after the mourning and comforting time I went out to dig the taters and low and behold, "now mind you I was 3 weeks late and should have suspected trouble but..... never would I have envisioned a whole mouse colony prospering so richly on my sweet potato's

. Needless to say I was surprised to find a mouse burrow in every potato mound and all of the potato's half eaten. I now wonder if they will always be there and I should move the garden. The mice have reeked havoc on my tomato's for the last 3 years and now my sweet taters! I need a scare mouse!
God Bless!

Well now, if you have a cat, let it loose in the garden, or if you have chickens let them in, in the fall to scratch and turn things up a bit. I expect they'll either eat the mice or the mice will move on.

I took, and went to the Dollar store, bought some rubber snakes and laid them about in my beds. I also got a lizard that swells up when it gets wet. The snakes are easy enough to move around the beds. I plan to get some more.

or you could set traps. I usually get to the point where the buggers are too small to set off the traps.

 

[rancher hicks]

Karl, I had a constant meadow vole problem in my beds and deer mice in my storage sheds until a feral cat took up residence 4 or 5 years ago. She is a treasure. Even though well fed she hunts constantly. I'm generally not a fan of feral cats, but this one does a good job for me and earns her keep.


'Time of passing' - coincidental to both of the Princess's pregnancies there were multiple deaths in her family. After our daughter's birth, she said, "No more. My family can't afford any more losses." Pretty good excuse - I wanted at least 6 kids.

I'm considering a cat or two but DW will not go for it and I'm not real keen on it. The expense of litter and food and cleaning the litter box and the foxes and coyotes. Course if I fenced in the entire property perhaps. A cat or two might keep the squirrels away.

 

[karl E lutz]

We've a feral cat but it only hunts the dumpster for trash!

 

[sourland]

Scaredycat 'leaves' killed deer mice here and there around the yard. One of her favorite places to present them is by my truck. I think that she eats the voles, because I have never found a dead vole in the yard. Perhaps she knows how I feel about ferals and is just showing me that she is earning her keep? Initially I tried to box trap her with the intention of dispatching. She is very evidently 'trap smart'/wouldn't be caught, and out of sympathy for her horrid condition I started feeding her. The rest is history. At feeding time I can get within 20 or 30 ft of her.

 

[rancher hicks]

Scaredycat 'leaves' killed deer mice here and there around the yard. One of her favorite places to present them is by my truck. I think that she eats the voles, because I have never found a dead vole in the yard. Perhaps she knows how I feel about ferals and is just showing me that she is earning her keep? Initially I tried to box trap her with the intention of dispatching. She is very evidently 'trap smart'/wouldn't be caught, and out of sympathy for her horrid condition I started feeding her. The rest is history. At feeding time I can get within 20 or 30 ft of her.

We had a male like that. "Fred". We trapped him in the cellar, caught him with a fishing net and put him in a cage. Then hauled him to the vet and got him fixed.

He was no nicer and finally I just let him back out.

He still came to the porch to eat everyday pretty much.

When we moved I tried to get him but he was impossible. We had to leave him.

All our other cats have passed and I just don't have the stamina to get any more.

 

[sourland]

I am somewhat concerned that she has not been vaccinated for rabies. My vet told me, "If you catch her, don't bring her here for anything." He and his entire staff were exposed to rabies through a rabid kitten. What the heck, they've all been immunized why not treat her.

 

[rancher hicks]

I am somewhat concerned that she has not been vaccinated for rabies. My vet told me, "If you catch her, don't bring her here for anything." He and his entire staff were exposed to rabies through a rabid kitten. What the heck, they've all been immunized why not treat her.

Well I reckon they just shot "Fred" to get him out of the carrier cuz he was big and mean. Can't see why they can shoot your cat to knock her out and do what they need to do.

It sure would be good to get her fixed and shots.

We have the CNY Cat Coalition here who catches feral cats all the time, takes them gets them fixed and shots and tests and then lets them go where they were caught. This way they can't breed more cats.

Maybe you can enlist someone to help get her. My DD helped me with Fred. We used a long handle fishing net.

Maybe use a big animal cage, put the food inside after getting her used to it. Tie a string and pull the door closed. Take her cage and all to the vets. If you can find one who is not a chicken.

 

[sourland]

Even when she was starving she would not go near a live trap. In four years she has never had kittens so I sort of think that she is a trap/neuter/release who seriously disliked the experience and intends to never be caught again. It's taken me 4 years to get within 20 ft of her and that only happens at feeding time. She is more wild than the wild creatures that cross my yard. I can even get closer to the deer than to her.

 

[rancher hicks]

Even when she was starving she would not go near a live trap. In four years she has never had kittens so I sort of think that she is a trap/neuter/release who seriously disliked the experience and intends to never be caught again. It's taken me 4 years to get within 20 ft of her and that only happens at feeding time. She is more wild than the wild creatures that cross my yard. I can even get closer to the deer than to her.

Maybe the Vet can give you rabie medicine to put in her feed? A little at a time so she gets a good dose?