Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[ChicoryBlue]

I have no idea. So far I've seen the one, identified by the pattern on its tail. The issue at least starting to eliminate them. I can't have the chickens in the run with active traps and the stupid rat only comes by during the day so I can't try and trap them at night.

The burrow could be in your neighbor's yard. Anywhere you see loose dirt and a small hole.
The only idea I have is to double up the trap - get a small Have-A-Heart cage trap (I saw an idea for an upside-down milk crate which looks like it would work) and put the actual rat-killing trap inside it. You could even cover the cage sides (or all of the milk crate holes except one, and place the killing trap far from it), to keep any nosy beaks away. Or cover it all and make a long tunnel to the entranceway (we do this for woodchucks when they start bothering our plants). The cage trap would have to be tall enough to accommodate the action of the rat-killing trap. This cage is either 4.5" or 5" tall:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mavis-La...mC_AmHlnyj1LtcoNqMsJmRTZO79P5QhkaAvixEALw_wcB

 

[featherhead007]

My friends, I do need you all to know, that I feel emotionally bankrupt. Yesterday’s shock made me rethink my priorities. As you all know, I love my animals more than my own life itself. Losing Canna took me way further away from caring, than I have felt since my active dutiful career in law enforcement.
what I’m trying to say is this: I really have lost the feeling, that I am a good chicken keeper, and having only four left, leads me to believe that I am losing the faith (so to speak) your friend, Alexander

 

[ChicoryBlue]

I like @Ribh's advice...go with the one from your country! I saw the book by Gail Damerow on several US based chicken sites and it was highly recommended, so I bought it a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had a chance to sit down and look through it yet...I've been to occupied trying to keep up on BYC...

Thank you very much! I think I'll order that one soon then.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

My friends, I do need you all to know, that I feel emotionally bankrupt. Yesterday’s shock made me rethink my priorities. As you all know, I love my animals more than my own life itself. Losing Canna took me way further away from caring, than I have felt since my active dutiful career in law enforcement.
what I’m trying to say is this: I really have lost the feeling, that I am a good chicken keeper, and having only four left, leads me to believe that I am losing the faith (so to speak) your friend, Alexander

What you need is more chickens!
You are a good chicken keeper! Chickens die and no one can stop that. I am finding out that having a chicken is not like having a dog or cat. Dogs and cats live much longer lives barring accidents or serious illnesses like cancer. If you get a puppy you can pretty much count on having him for ten, twelve years, maybe more.
Not so with chickens. I am finding chickens to be very high maintenance. They can be so fragile!
I am having to make myself more accepting of this fact of life, because I really do love and enjoy my chickens. I still feel sad and depressed if I lose a chicken or duck, I can’t help that, but I don’t want to not have them anymore because of it.

 

[RoyalChick]

A bit of a set back
In the epic battle of RC vs Rodents I was about to declare victory (again!). No rodent was seen on any camera since 9pm Thursday night (when one wandered into the zapper and was zapped).
Unfortunately it turned out that the mice were simply ignoring the advice of medical professionals and had all travelled to visit their families for Thanksgiving, and last night they started coming home.
UGH!

 

[RoyalChick]

My friends, I do need you all to know, that I feel emotionally bankrupt. Yesterday’s shock made me rethink my priorities. As you all know, I love my animals more than my own life itself. Losing Canna took me way further away from caring, than I have felt since my active dutiful career in law enforcement.
what I’m trying to say is this: I really have lost the feeling, that I am a good chicken keeper, and having only four left, leads me to believe that I am losing the faith (so to speak) your friend, Alexander

@featherhead007 - please do not think that way. You are a very caring chicken keeper and these things happen unfortunately. You should honor Canna by remembering her well and by caring for your other ladies.
In time I hope other chickens will get the benefit of sharing their lives with you.

 

[ChicoryBlue]

My friends, I do need you all to know, that I feel emotionally bankrupt. Yesterday’s shock made me rethink my priorities. As you all know, I love my animals more than my own life itself. Losing Canna took me way further away from caring, than I have felt since my active dutiful career in law enforcement.
what I’m trying to say is this: I really have lost the feeling, that I am a good chicken keeper, and having only four left, leads me to believe that I am losing the faith (so to speak) your friend, Alexander

As a newbie, and a general control freak, I am coming to understand that it may be that to a certain extent these things with chickens are beyond our control, and even more so than with some other animals, because chickens are a prey animal and they are so good at hiding their ailments, until they are right at death's door. But I also see that many things are not controllable, even when we know what is going on ahead of time. A lot of these ailments are due to systemic failures that are not curable. We cannot fix it, and more importantly, no one can fix it.

Sometimes, the most anyone can do, and the most anyone - including yourself - can and should expect from you, is to give them love and comfort when it is clear there is no more to be done. You performed that care very well.

I may understand your feeling of shock and devastation, having cared for someone's health myself and not been able to change the course of disease (in both humans and pets). It is very hard to accept this devastation, and there's a part of our brains that wants and needs to find a reason for why we feel so bad, and it is easy to get into a coulda-shoulda world of blame. Don't go there. It took me awhile to understand that that can be part of the nature of grief. It takes time, and living through it, to deal with it. You need to grieve for her and yourself, for your loss of your companion. Try to remember to be kind to yourself in this process.

 

[featherhead007]

As a newbie, and a general control freak, I am coming to understand that it may be that to a certain extent these things with chickens are beyond our control, and even more so than with some other animals, because chickens are a prey animal and they are so good at hiding their ailments, until they are right at death's door. But I also see that many things are not controllable, even when we know what is going on ahead of time. A lot of these ailments are due to systemic failures that are not curable. We cannot fix it, and more importantly, no one can fix it.

Sometimes, the most anyone can do, and the most anyone - including yourself - can and should expect from you, is to give them love and comfort when it is clear there is no more to be done. You performed that care very well.

I may understand your feeling of shock and devastation, having cared for someone's health myself and not been able to change the course of disease (in both humans and pets). It is very hard to accept this devastation, and there's a part of our brains that wants and needs to find a reason for why we feel so bad, and it is easy to get into a coulda-shoulda world of blame. Don't go there. It took me awhile to understand that that can be part of the nature of grief. It takes time, and living through it, to deal with it. You need to grieve for her and yourself, for your loss of your companion. Try to remember to be kind to yourself in this process.

I think that some alone time, with myself may be in order. I am hurting pretty bad over the loss of Canna

 

[featherhead007]

As a newbie, and a general control freak, I am coming to understand that it may be that to a certain extent these things with chickens are beyond our control, and even more so than with some other animals, because chickens are a prey animal and they are so good at hiding their ailments, until they are right at death's door. But I also see that many things are not controllable, even when we know what is going on ahead of time. A lot of these ailments are due to systemic failures that are not curable. We cannot fix it, and more importantly, no one can fix it.

Sometimes, the most anyone can do, and the most anyone - including yourself - can and should expect from you, is to give them love and comfort when it is clear there is no more to be done. You performed that care very well.

I may understand your feeling of shock and devastation, having cared for someone's health myself and not been able to change the course of disease (in both humans and pets). It is very hard to accept this devastation, and there's a part of our brains that wants and needs to find a reason for why we feel so bad, and it is easy to get into a coulda-shoulda world of blame. Don't go there. It took me awhile to understand that that can be part of the nature of grief. It takes time, and living through it, to deal with it. You need to grieve for her and yourself, for your loss of your companion. Try to remember to be kind to yourself in this process.

Seems you understand. Thanks!

 

[featherhead007]

A bit of a set back
In the epic battle of RC vs Rodents I was about to declare victory (again!). No rodent was seen on any camera since 9pm Thursday night (when one wandered into the zapper and was zapped).
Unfortunately it turned out that the mice were simply ignoring the advice of medical professionals and had all travelled to visit their families for Thanksgiving, and last night they started coming home.
UGH!

Mice should not be allowed airline tickets, (Even to go see family)