Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[RoyalChick]

I wasn't planning on using poison, we also have cats. We put water in the buckets, but I was thinking we'd probably need a larger one too. I don't know if there's any place near us with dry ice. Though I can pick some of that up in town. Just curious, how does that kill them?

It sinks down in the burrow and replaces the oxygen with CO2 so they never wake up.
It definitely works as long as you can find the burrows, block off the various entryways and stuff with dry ice.
Party shops have dry ice and may even deliver.
I found ‘chunks or chips’ to be the best size and about a 10lb bag.
It stays frozen a far time - like a day - so don’t panic that it is disappearing before you have had time to pour it down the tunnels.
Also have leather gardening gloves - it can seriously damage your skin if you touch it.

 

[drstratton]

It sinks down in the burrow and replaces the oxygen with CO2 so they never wake up.
It definitely works as long as you can find the burrows, block off the various entryways and stuff with dry ice.
Party shops have dry ice and may even deliver.
I found ‘chunks or chips’ to be the best size and about a 10lb bag.
It stays frozen a far time - like a day - so don’t panic that it is disappearing before you have had time to pour it down the tunnels.
Also have leather gardening gloves - it can seriously damage your skin if you touch it.

Thank you, for the explanation. Not sure I could get to all of the openings where they might have entrances. I'll have to look.
My husband used to bring it home from work, he would fill plastic bottles for the kids and toss them, so they could watch them explode. One of their favorite things..lol.
It is definitely nasty stuff.

 

[drstratton]

A very cruel way is 50/50 baking soda and cornbread/cake mix. The soda bubbles up their guts, they cannot burp or fart it out, guts burst. Technically safe for scavengers too.

I personally use mouse pheromone gel on a snap trap if I need to catch mice here.

View attachment 4246999
Tax, thirsty birds drinking from a driveway puddle.

Sadly, the snap taps don't always kill them immediately either. I've found plenty still alive.

Tax

 

[SimpleJenn]

Sadly, the snap taps don't always kill them immediately either. I've found plenty still alive.

Tax
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That is true.
My dog is also a great mouser, not sure how well he would do with a rat. He's almost gotten squirrels before though.

 

[drstratton]

That is true.
My dog is also a great mouser, not sure how well he would do with a rat. He's almost gotten squirrels before though.

I had a Bengal cat, that would catch rabbits, which made me sad. She could have definitely dispatched rats.
Our old lab was also a good mouser.

 

[Sylvester017]

Yes the jiffy mix and bacon grease is what I will try too.

Peanut butter is the best attractant we've found for mice, not sure about rats as I've never had to deal with them before. Maybe add bacon grease to it.

We tried sweet grapes, raisins, etc... but rats never went for the sweet baits. Peanut butter brands have sugar in them & those never worked for rats either. Good luck & share what works for you.

 

[drstratton]

We tried sweet grapes, raisins, etc... but rats never went for the sweet baits. Peanut butter brands have sugar in them & those never worked for rats either. Good luck & share what works for you.

Like I said, I didn't know if that would work for rats. But I do know pb works for mice. I was just wondering if the bacon grease would attract them.

 

[Sylvester017]

I had the thin out my tomato pants this year a couple of time! They grew well and put out lots of fruit, but just wouldn’t ripen with the heat

Petra is out with the main gang today
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She’s up there in the shadow by that last doorway

That’s her
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And now Butterscotch is not well, she’s moulting but this is more than a moult lethargy.
View attachment 4246904

Not sure what the heck is going on with these guys.

Not a good yr for our birds. Hope your birds get thru winter ok. Lucky you have a barn to keep out snow & winds & have electrical units setup.

We have to take Suzu back to the vet for followup. Her clogged crusted nare bled when he pulled it out but the other is still not clear, plus she has something under one eyelid he needs to clean out. He didn't want to traumatize her too much doing eye work along w/ the nares work in one visit. He didn't have antibiotic recommendation but I put her on Tylosin myself so no infection would set in on her nare recovery or eye problem. I've been giving her plain Greek yogurt to keep her from watery antibiotic poops which is a great help.

As for tomatoes in your zone... you might need to try different varieties to see what yields best for you. Remember... I trialed about 100 varieties before we settled on the best ones for our climate. Tomatoes love water during heat & do best w/ 2 to 3 water soaks per day rather than just one watering. We solved that by running soaker hoses under the raised garden beds so there's a thorough slow soaking below ground.

Just a few of 100's of samples

Better Boy indeterminate hybrid, determinate heritage Roma, & most Cherry varieties turned out prolific for our zone & even now in cold nights & foggy mornings we still find some ripening. We pick them green just starting a very slight blush of color & then let them ripen on the kitchen counter till they turn red. We used to grow green tomato varieties but it was hard to tell when to pick them so we don't do green varieties any more.

 

[kattabelly]

We tried sweet grapes, raisins, etc... but rats never went for the sweet baits. Peanut butter brands have sugar in them & those never worked for rats either. Good luck & share what works for you.

I'm having success with cat treats as snap trap bait at the moment. Either the ones that come as a stick, smooshed up a bit so it's more pastey, or the stuff that's already a paste.

 

[rural mouse]

Geronimo remains quite intrigued by my work on the jungle gym. She continues to simply fly straight to the higher levels, but of course she does!
View attachment 4247017

She is not quite 14 weeks old and started munching on eggshells.
Surely she is too young to be thinking about starting to lay?
Her face doesn’t look very red to me, so maybe it was just curiosity because she was following me around and I just refilled the pot.
Nobody else is laying except Tassels. Pooh is molting hard, but I am not sure what everyone else’s excuse is!

If she'd growing some more, the calcium may be needed. If she's tasting things, she's learning what nutrients are there for when she needs them. She could be starting to build the calcium stores so she has them when she's ready to lay in a month or two. Meyers says POL is 16-20 weeks, so .... unless she spouts explosive comb growth, I don't think she's going to lay in the next 2 weeks.