Illinois...

[chickendreams24]

Haha! I was thinking about a snake. One of those big blacksnakes I sometimes see crossing the road in my semi rural area. It is not an easy thing for me to say poison is the answer. One:where are they going to die? Flailing in the field for a bird to eat? And then that bird dies? Oh, my heart is sad. Or UNDER MY HOUSE? I've seen/heard no evidence of them in my house, but I don't KNOW. I wonder about electric traps? That seems the most humane... I love and respect all animals. I kept rats as pets years ago as a teenager and when my kids were little. They're smart and lovable. But these? Yes, they have their plave and it's not near my chickens. I put bricks under a coop, a whole brrick floor....A DAY LATER, they had a whole new tunnel system umder it. LINED WITH STRAW. Try to take away their food source? They eat poo. Theirs and anyone else's they can find.There is no way to clean your property enough to make it unappealing to them. On Buckeyes: all of mine are hens. They're a heritage breed, the only one developed by a woman, if I remember correctly. No health problems, not nervous. They aren't lap chickens, though. My favorites are the naked necks. They are very sweet, and naturally resistant to a lot diseases. So I've read. I've never had one get sick. I think my RIRs are the mousers here. But Buckeyes are supposed to be good mousers, and I would definitely recommend them. If you ever want to do a heist, maybe we could meet up and find a truckload of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I'm up for it.

Thank you although I think you misunderstood about the buckeyes. I was asking if you got them from a hatchery or heritage line. Lol sure bring down a truck load of hardware cloth we'll cover everything even the dogs lol This summer we plan to do some more work on the coop and want to put hardware cloth in the walls. Never would have thought we'd need it but I think it would be best. We will also be completely cleaning out the insulation and want to replace that as well. Hopefully that will drive the rodents away.

You people need to figure out what is more important, your chickens or the predators that want to eat your chickens? Whatever it takes I would get rid of rodents and all predators that attack your chickens. You have to be the hunter, it's in your genes. Good luck

You know I've no problem with that after all our losses last year and already in January again. Still no more signs of that fox. Hoping I got it. Still I'm paranoid to let the flock out. If just like to kill these rodents without risking our dogs chickens or other innocent wildlife. That said we're pretty much at the end of the line. Unless last night's trap caught something.

Glad to see you in the IL thread:cd I put aprons of HWC going out about 2'.. but I don't have rats that might tunnel that far..., just everything else.. My BR and ISA browns eat the mice. The least expensive HWC I found was : http://www.windscreen4less.com/24-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html http://www.windscreen4less.com/24-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html http://www.windscreen4less.com/48-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html

Thank you!

Do you think these would color match Moose??? If I would have known earlier, I would have rented this guy out. Well probably this one would have done a BETTER job.

Whoa!! That's a big rattler! Did you really get that thing? Yikes! Yeah that thing would probably do a pretty good job of rodent cleanup. Now I like snakes a lot but I don't think I'd want that around. Our Great Dane, Bella, is a loveable doofus and would surely get herself bitten.

 

[Faraday40]

Look what was watching me as I cleaned the coop today. This giant hawk(or perhaps eagle) was sitting in the neighbor's tree with its eyes glued on the run's door.
1st pic was taken from about 300' away. It's a very, very big tree, so it's hard to appreciate just how big this bird is. When I finished up I went closer to get some better pics.







After the last pic I think it felt a little threatened & flew off. It's been here on & off since Nov.and is easily bigger than Brick. Even Moose & Dummy took cover when it went into the air.

 

[cavemanrich]

Whoa!! That's a big rattler! Did you really get that thing? Yikes! Yeah that thing would probably do a pretty good job of rodent cleanup. Now I like snakes a lot but I don't think I'd want that around. Our Great Dane, Bella, is a loveable doofus and would surely get herself bitten.

No, and you probably already know I like to throw in a funny twist at times.

BTW, that little snake is in my hand. The rattler pix is one I got from a post by chickengeorgeto and have been having fun with it at times. Its not me in that pix. Caveman is not a plagiarist.

​

 

[Louise Waffles]

Thank you although I think you misunderstood about the buckeyes. I was asking if you got them from a hatchery or heritage line. Lol sure bring down a truck load of hardware cloth we'll cover everything even the dogs lol

This summer we plan to do some more work on the coop and want to put hardware cloth in the walls. Never would have thought we'd need it but I think it would be best. We will also be completely cleaning out the insulation and want to replace that as well. Hopefully that will drive the rodents away.
You know I've no problem with that after all our losses last year and already in January again. Still no more signs of that fox. Hoping I got it. Still I'm paranoid to let the flock out. If just like to kill these rodents without risking our dogs chickens or other innocent wildlife. That said we're pretty much at the end of the line. Unless last night's trap caught something.
Thank you!
Whoa!! That's a big rattler! Did you really get that thing? Yikes! Yeah that thing would probably do a pretty good job of rodent cleanup. Now I like snakes a lot but I don't think I'd want that around. Our Great Dane, Bella, is a loveable doofus and would surely get herself bitten.

Yea, I did misunderstand. I got them from a hatchery. I couldn't find them anywhere else. I'm in a "chicken desert".

 

[chickendreams24]

No, and you probably already know I like to throw in a funny twist at times. BTW, that little snake is in my hand. The rattler pix is one I got from a post by chickengeorgeto and have been having fun with it at times. Its not me in that pix. Caveman is not a plagiarist.

​

Lol well that's good it wasn't you. Where was it caught? The garder snake is very cute but probably wouldn't last against a rat lol. If only rodent problems were so easy as a person with a trained rattle snake.... If only I could be like Dr Dolittle lol.

Yea, I did misunderstand. I got them from a hatchery. I couldn't find them anywhere else. I'm in a "chicken desert".

Sorry about the misunderstanding. And I so completely understand the chicken desert problem lol. We are ordering soem heritage Buckeyes chicks from a breeder in Missouri and may have extras of you're interested. That being said they are probably more true to type than a lot of other hatchery breeds BC they're not as popular.

 

[Louise Waffles]

Lol well that's good it wasn't you. Where was it caught? The garder snake is very cute but probably wouldn't last against a rat lol. If only rodent problems were so easy as a person with a trained rattle snake.... If only I could be like Dr Dolittle lol.
Sorry about the misunderstanding. And I so completely understand the chicken desert problem lol. We are ordering soem heritage Buckeyes chicks from a breeder in Missouri and may have extras of you're interested. That being said they are probably more true to type than a lot of other hatchery breeds BC they're not as popular.

I appreciate the offer, but I think I have to hold off on getting anymore. You know, until I get a bigger coop. I was supposed to have one in the fall, to accomodate my spring flock expansion, but....stuff happened. I'm thinking about letting the muscovies hatch some more chickens for me ("accidentally" of course! I would have NO IDEA that scovy was broody!), if I can catch my very favorite naked neck laying an egg.
I don't really know anything about the breed standards, it's on my to-learn list.

 

[Louise Waffles]

Look what was watching me as I cleaned the coop today. This giant hawk(or perhaps eagle) was sitting in the neighbor's tree with its eyes glued on the run's door. 1st pic was taken from about 300' away. It's a very, very big tree, so it's hard to appreciate just how big this bird is. When I finished up I went closer to get some better pics. After the last pic I think it felt a little threatened & flew off. It's been here on & off since Nov.and is easily bigger than Brick. Even Moose & Dummy took cover when it went into the air.

Yikes! We have some that hang around here, but I don't think they're that big. My rooster is a good sky watcher, and even the ducks run for cover when he says to. The big hawks still make me nervous though.

 

[bandittheroo]

the ones nesting in our front yard hang around like that just watching us

 

[Faraday40]

Giant hawk is still watching the run & waiting for a chicken to come out. It seems to know that the chickens come out between 8-9am. I kept the door closed & grabbed my camera so I could watch it instead. About the only good thing is that while I was stalking it, the big hawk flew & scared a smaller hawk away. The smaller hawks are very bold & will sit on our fence or swingset while hunting. The smaller ones also do not give up as easily. They wait around for days. The big one seems to fly by 1-2xs per day or sticks around in a tree for about an hour then moves on. I'm nervous to see that our yard has become part of its morning routine, and I pray my roos continue to spot the hawk long before it does a fly-by.

Does this look like a red-tail?

 

[4stakes]

Yep red tail.