i somehow acquired 2 runaways and i have questions. please help

[BDutch]

i got an alert on the new camera i put in the run. i thought it was the mean cat. but he's missing a foot! and also his face isn't as mean.
but, now, how am i supposed to scare away a footless limping cat without feeling bad about it? i have never seen him before. maybe he's normally inside?
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these girls own the place now.View attachment 4148660

We suddenly had a cat visiting our garden last winter. In the beginning she had a nice necklace and looked well cared for. She returned every day to see if she could snatch some food. Over time her necklace got torn and she looked less shiny and cared for.
I thought she might have been dumped or lost. Made photos and tried on a lost site for pets and the animal rescue organisation to find the owner. Finally the daughter of the older owner who lived in the next street spotted her and brought her back home. The cat had been kept inside all the time.

Looking back I am sorry I didn’t print a few photos to tape on lantern posts in the neighbourhood.

Here shes eating from a yoghurt left over I put out for my chickens.

 

[pollipazzi]

We suddenly had a cat visiting our garden last winter. In the beginning she had a nice necklace and looked well cared for. She returned every day to see if she could snatch some food. Over time her necklace got torn and she looked less shiny and cared for.
I thought she might have been dumped or lost. Made photos and tried on a lost site for pets and the animal rescue organisation to find the owner. Finally the daughter of the older owner who lived in the next street spotted her and brought her back home. The cat had been kept inside all the time.

Looking back I am sorry I didn’t print a few photos to tape on lantern posts in the neighbourhood.

Here shes eating from a yoghurt left over I put out for my chickens.
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it was nice of you to take care of her and post about her so she could be found.
if i see this cat again, i will tell my neighbour who knows every animal in the village. she doesn't remember people names, but every pets name she knows!
maybe it already found his way back home.

 

[pollipazzi]

also! i have been reading your hatching thread @BDutch ! i was searching about mites and your post came up. i think i read 100 pages! lol! i'm still working on it.

 

[pollipazzi]

the mean cat made an appearance.
he had all of his feet.
and a mean face.

there was a lot of ba-gawking going on.

 

[pollipazzi]

um.
does anybody know or have experience with shrews?
i just saw two in the garden.
we had them before but we didn't have chickens before.

will the chickens try to eat them?
will shrews try to eat chicken feed?
are shrews riddled with diseases?
mites?

i hope there's not a lot of them.

also. this pretty moth? butterfly? was here too.

 

[tlcmurphy]

um.
does anybody know or have experience with shrews?
i just saw two in the garden.
we had them before but we didn't have chickens before.

will the chickens try to eat them?
will shrews try to eat chicken feed?
are shrews riddled with diseases?
mites?

i hope there's not a lot of them.

also. this pretty moth? butterfly? was here too.
View attachment 4148738

I have no experience with shrews, but according to Shakespeare you need to tame them.

 

[pollipazzi]

wise guy, eh?

 

[pollipazzi]

wise guy, eh?

sorry, @tlcmurphy i can't help it. my brains immediately go to old teevee shows.
i text my husband a gif of this one at least once a week

 

[RoyalChick]

um.
does anybody know or have experience with shrews?
i just saw two in the garden.
we had them before but we didn't have chickens before.

will the chickens try to eat them?
will shrews try to eat chicken feed?
are shrews riddled with diseases?
mites?

i hope there's not a lot of them.

also. this pretty moth? butterfly? was here too.
View attachment 4148738

Not much experience. But they are cute!
I don’t think they would be a danger to your chickens though they might try their food.
Some chickens might catch them and eat them but many wouldn’t.
They mainly eat insects.

 

[pollipazzi]

Not much experience. But they are cute!
I don’t think they would be a danger to your chickens though they might try their food.
Some chickens might catch them and eat them but many wouldn’t.
They mainly eat insects.

we had loads of them a few years ago. they made their house under our boiler shed. smart. it's probable warm under there in the winter.
we had rented a skip (dumpster) and were clearing away a bunch of stuff. i had rocks all along the edge of the boiler shed that i was putting in a bucket then chucking in the skip.
all along underneath the boiler shed had hundreds of snails!
(having a big veg garden, snails are the enemy!)
i scooped up as many snails as i could and was chucking them in the bucket.
i heard a skrrreeeeeech!
i thought it was one of the snails at that second because i was in the middle of chucking them. so i threw all the snails like confetti in an irrational panic.
turns out i was chucking out the shrew's lunch.
sorry, shrew!
also. i know snails can't skreetch, but if they could, they would be terrifying.

i hope they don't start going in the run.
i know they aren't rodents, but they sure move like them.