Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

Not sure this is exactly what you had in mind for a 2fer Tuesday, but here goes...my Tuesday 2fer:
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YIKES! Are those hawks?

 

[bgmathteach]

Well I would give them directly to the chickens (unless someone tells me crows like them in which case they can share).
But how do you dispatch the bucket of mice? Drown them (cruel)? Put them in the mouse zapper (why not let them walk in on their own)? Gas them (dry ice maybe)? Feed them live to the chickens (they might escape)?
My point is that a kill trap takes out the extra step of dispatching them and does so in a rapid, humane and stress free way.

I thought you had dispatched over a hundred yourself before getting the 'zapper'? Am I mistaken??

 

[bgmathteach]

YIKES! Are those hawks?

Yes, a pair of Cooper Hawks I beleive.
Fortunately, haven't seem them around in a couple of weeks, since shortly after the failed attack on my hen. They were around a day or two after..and I got a glancing blow with a small rock...the next day they took off the minute I walked towards them...and haven't seem since. (Hoping I don't now jinx myself)

 

[RoyalChick]

I thought you had dispatched over a hundred yourself before getting the 'zapper'? Am I mistaken??

I dispatched over a hundred before calling in a professional (who offered me a job on his team). I used mainly snap traps and the zapper.
In the pre-zapper era I did live trapping and released them in the woods and I got curious and spray painted their tails before release. Astonishingly few came back to the house, but enough for me to decide I was nuts doing trap and release on mice!

 

[bgmathteach]

I dispatched over a hundred before calling in a professional (who offered me a job on his team). I used mainly snap traps and the zapper.
In the pre-zapper era I did live trapping and released them in the woods and I got curious and spray painted their tails before release. Astonishingly few came back to the house, but enough for me to decide I was nuts doing trap and release on mice!

I set up the bucket thingy, but with shavings at the bottom...thinking to dispatch quickly....I'm kinda glad I didn't catch any last night, as I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to dispatch them. I do have a leather glove to protect my hand, though.

My chickens aren't good mouse hunters like yours. One or two will go after a mouse...then others will try to steal it, but I've released a mouse in the past that I caught and watched the chickens stand there and watch it run away without ANY attempts at catching it!

 

[RoyalChick]

I set up the bucket thingy, but with shavings at the bottom...thinking to dispatch quickly....I'm kinda glad I didn't catch any last night, as I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to dispatch them. I do have a leather glove to protect my hand, though.

My chickens aren't good mouse hunters like yours. One or two will go after a mouse...then others will try to steal it, but I've released a mouse in the past that I caught and watched the chickens stand there and watch it run away without ANY attempts at catching it!

There was a period while I was eliminating the mice from the Chicken Palace where I would give the bodies to the chickens.
At first it was like all their birthdays had come at once.
But I was getting 4-5 each night and eventually the chickens were like ‘oh, it’s steak again for lunch. Mom, can we have a nice salad instead?’
Yes, chickens do get bored of fresh meat eventually!

 

[Emma-Daisy]

This is my two (ignore the other fluff buts in the background). Chick chick (left) and Doris. I had a lovely chat with these two, they stayed with me for ages.

 

[Emma-Daisy]

For those of you who believe in the power of prayers please pray for my grandmother. We talked to her on the phone around 8 last night and she was is a great mood. Around 9:30 she called and said she thought we needed to come down as she'd gotten dizzy, had fallen twice and her sugar was almost 400. Me and mom get there and she is still on the floor in front of her couch. We get her up and check her sugar and it was indeed 384. She was a little weak on her left side but she has mobility issues that have been progressively getting worse over the last few years so it was not a huge red flag just yet, especially with her sugar that high. We stayed and me and mom got on another cleaning spree while trying to get her sugar down and it was just not happening. About 3:30 this morning we noticed she started slurring some of her words slightly and the left side of her mouth was starting to droop. She refused at that point to let us take her to the hospital when she had enough strength left to make it to the car. At 5:30 this morning her left side pretty much gave out which is when under protest we called 911. MRI confirmed she has had a stroke, but there is not blood clots or hemorrhaging on the brain. The doctor said if she had to have a stroke it was the best one to have if there is such a thing. They also discovered that besides the congestive heart failure that she has been in for about 10 years she now also has atrial fibrillation. Finally got home about 20 minutes ago and going to crash for a few hours and then head back to the hospital.

Thinking of you. Hope she's ok. Grans are the best.

 

[BY Bob]

Ooooh! Look at all that green!!!
Maybe it is green chickens I have a thing for.
Thank you for sharing.

I was thinking of you as they both glistened in the sun yesterday.

 

[featherhead007]

I dispatched over a hundred before calling in a professional (who offered me a job on his team). I used mainly snap traps and the zapper.
In the pre-zapper era I did live trapping and released them in the woods and I got curious and spray painted their tails before release. Astonishingly few came back to the house, but enough for me to decide I was nuts doing trap and release on mice!

“Mommy, this lady is scaring me!”