DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

[Penny Hen]

If it is big enough for a Norway rat, it is big enough for an ermine. We had, thankfully only 1 year, Norway rats digging under the 3 level plastic compost bin at the soon to be renovated and rented 'city' house 5 or 6 years ago. The first time I saw the critter's head coming out of the hole, I thought it was a juvenile gray squirrel, until I saw the tail. Much bigger than your pet store variety rat. Not sure why they moved on but NOT complaining that they did!

I don't know about that specific trap with regard to humaneness, but since the mice in the 'farm' house wised up to the 'free trip to the back of the barn' 5 gallon bucket no kill trap, I broke down and got a couple of snap traps. No mess and they trip so fast, I doubt there is any suffering. I got 8 or 9 over a 2 month period, no blood, no guts and CHEAP. Bear with me here, background: My daughter and the 3 indoor cats moved back to the 'farm' house 2 weeks ago (LONG rehab). It was a necessity since she doesn't have a driver's license and my wife and I took a LONG hours in the car 6 day trip to southern Wisconsin to pick up our younger daughter from college. No one to watch the chickens while we were gone! So away went the snap traps, daughter wouldn't like them, DEFINITELY wouldn't have emptied and reset them and not safe for the cats. Early morning yesterday there was a LOT of commotion for a long time. I have no idea what time it was, still very dark out and the youngest cat (my daughter's) does sometimes play at night but this was different. I'm thinking he found a 'self motivated toy'. I heard one of the cats barfing at 5:30. Yep, dead mouse and barfed up mouse guts on the kitchen floor, daughter's cat walking away. Me? If I were a mouse, I would prefer the snap trap! Daughter? Never heard a thing and I am not mentioning it. She doesn't like any animal to be killed (not even spiders which she loathes) and she especially doesn't want her cat killing the mice. She just wants them to stay outside. That would suit me fine as well but the mice don't seem to understand.

Bruce

You still had a small rat. The river rats in Nashville (they stay by the river they don't go more than a few blocks away) are decendants of Norway rats. I have seen one the size of a large cat. That's when I realized why you have cats as mousers and terriers as ratters. A cat would need to be the size of a lynx or at least a bobcat to have taken this bad boy on.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Thats why when I get my dog minagarie going It will contain a rat terrier of some sort. Though my Aussie cross was good at killing them she had to be told to do it. A good thing for sure.

So my list of dogs to have would be Rat Terrier or Jack Russel an Aussie or Cattle dog and a Herd guardian of some sort. Then finally something that has a big scary presence but not mean at all unless his pack is being endangered. Like a Rottie or rottie cross.

BTW the best mouse trap I have ever seen was simply a five gallon bucket with about six to eight inches of water in it. Then a layer of floating scratch scattered on top so it looked like a bucket of feed. Mouse hops in for dinner cant touch bottom and drowns. No poison No danger to chickens...

deb

 

[Penny Hen]

That's why when I get my dog menagerie going It will contain a rat terrier of some sort. Though my Aussie cross was good at killing them she had to be told to do it. A good thing for sure.

So my list of dogs to have would be Rat Terrier or Jack Russel an Aussie or Cattle dog and a Herd guardian of some sort. Then finally something that has a big scary presence but not mean at all unless his pack is being endangered. Like a Rottie or rottie cross.

BTW the best mouse trap I have ever seen was simply a five gallon bucket with about six to eight inches of water in it. Then a layer of floating scratch scattered on top so it looked like a bucket of feed. Mouse hops in for dinner cant touch bottom and drowns. No poison No danger to chickens...

deb

Those Anatolian Shepherds (LGD) are good at looking big and scary as well as guarding livestock. A Pyrenees raised so that they are bonded to people will protect them too though they may not be perceived immediately as a VERY serious dog. A friend of mine had one as a teenager. She is handicapped with Cerebral Palsy. Her mother had gone to the store and she was sitting at the family computer in a regular chair. Her sister (throwing one of those teen b!@+# fits) came in demanding her time on the computer. My friend said OK, but before she could transfer back to her wheelchair her sister shoved her out of the chair onto the floor. Blinky, the Pry, jumped over her on the floor and tackled her sister and sat on her until mom got home.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL... There is a breeder here in town that breeds a cross between Anatolians and Pyrs... I spoke to a fellow that runs huge flocks of goats for weed abatement. He preferrs the cross and calls them the American LGD.

Anatolians would be a good choice for my place because of their coat. Its thick enough to protect them from the elements but not so thick that they would pick up every Jumping cactus lobe on the property....

So we will see.

deb

 

[bruceha2000]

Thats why when I get my dog minagarie going It will contain a rat terrier of some sort. Though my Aussie cross was good at killing them she had to be told to do it. A good thing for sure.

So my list of dogs to have would be Rat Terrier or Jack Russel an Aussie or Cattle dog and a Herd guardian of some sort. Then finally something that has a big scary presence but not mean at all unless his pack is being endangered. Like a Rottie or rottie cross.

BTW the best mouse trap I have ever seen was simply a five gallon bucket with about six to eight inches of water in it. Then a layer of floating scratch scattered on top so it looked like a bucket of feed. Mouse hops in for dinner cant touch bottom and drowns. No poison No danger to chickens...

deb

AS I said, the mice got wise to the 5 gallon bucket. I guess they noticed it was "Hotel California" you can go in but you never leave. They didn't even go in for the BOSS that was sitting in the bottom with no cover on the bucket. I could try it again though since any current mice would likely not have been around when the bucket was in use.

Those Anatolian Shepherds (LGD) are good at looking big and scary as well as guarding livestock.

Yeah, I'm leaning Anatolian Shepherd's Dog (NOT Anatolian Shepherds, like German Shepherd, etc. They are NOT herding dogs). Don't need the GPs huge coat grabbing all the burdock. Plus the Anatolians presumably are a bit smaller and longer lived. But, of course, there isn't a breeder anywhere close to me.

Bruce

 

[seminolewind]

I never had luck with the bucket trap. Or with that electronic thing.

 

[Phoenixxx]

For lack of a ceiling hook, I found yet another use for coat hangers! Putting the lamp IN the cage made it way too hot!

 

[seminolewind]

I like it!

 

[bruceha2000]

For lack of a ceiling hook, I found yet another use for coat hangers! Putting the lamp IN the cage made it way too hot!

Good idea though I wonder if it might still get too hot. Brooder temp is dropped every few days as the birds grow. I didn't want to mess with rigging a height movable support so I bought a remote sensing thermostat sold for reptile cages. Wasn't too expensive, got it on Amazon. It doesn't have a temperature setting, just low to high dial and turns itself off when the temp is reached. I put a cheap thermometer in the brooder so I could set the dial to the recommended temp.

 

[dheltzel]

I bought a tabletop lamp dimmer at the home center for about $10. It plugs between the heat light and the outlet and has a long cord to a slider control. I can adjust the brightness (and thereby the heat output) easily. Dimming make incandescent bulb last longer too.

Thermostats in brooders are "overkill" IMO, just watch the chicks and adjust the brightness of the lamp until they mostly sleep in a circle at the outer edge.