Maine

[lazy gardener]

Sorry you all are having rat problems. Just a matter of time b/fore I see some here, but so far, so good. I'm convinced that it's b/c I use FF, and there is never any feed left out at night for the nasty creatures. Got squirrels though. Not sure if they're an issue stealing eggs or not. I was finding eggs in strange places in coop and run, at about the same time I had a squirrel with a ratty tail trapped in the run one day. Tried to give him a dose of lead to no avail. No egg issues since. RE: FF or any feed for that matter: Check your dates, and if you get a bag that they refuse to eat, take it back. I had a bad bag one winter, even though it was fresh. My flock was absolutely not eating it no matter how I served it up. Took it back, exchanged it for a new bag, and they went wild, making up for lost time.

 

[CoopChick719]

I haven't done fermented feed in a long time, but I've noticed variations in bags of flock raiser. Sometimes I get a bag with a good date, but the feed is very dark looking and doesn't smell that great. Some of the flocks won't eat it. I bought some recently to boost protein around the molt, and this bag smells better and they are eating it. The lack of consistency is frustrating. Even the "good feed" that I buy in New Sharon sometimes seems like I got the bottom of the pile, where all the finer particles rest, although it consistently smells fresh.

Sorry about the rats. I am having a temporary success with them here, but I've gone to great measures.... The entire run in the old flock is now lined with hardware cloth (even under the dirt floor that I dug up this summer). I latched pieces together with interlocking folds, and where this wasn't possible, I sewed the pieces with florist wire. It seems to be working.
In the hoop coop, I started burying hardware cloth vertically 2 feet down. Every time I completed a little section, you could see where they tunneled along, just below the ground surface for the length of hardware cloth and emerged at the far edge. We kept going with this little game every weekend. I've only done half the coop now, but at the end of the last stretch of hardware cloth, I filled the ground with rocks and put in wadded up scraps of hardware cloth. I drove a series of earth staples very close together down into their tunnel right before the rock pile too, just to further discourage them. I haven't seen any evidence since, and the feed is lasting longer. Of course, they will be running through the compost and eating my winter greens until I convince them to eat poison, but they aren't appearing in the coops right now.

I may have to dig up the run floor to line it as well. I'm looking at 110 Conibear traps to set up in my enclosed compost bin. Maybe I can lure them in there.

I'm still putting out the Plaster of Paris, flour, instant potato mixture which seems to be disappearing. Maybe they're just pushing it around the tray to make it look like they're eating it. I rolled some moldy cheese in it last night. That was all gone this morning! I've even been reading about foods that you should NOT feed your pet rat--blue cheese, licorice, anything moldy, caffeine, raw sweet potato, uncooked dry beans, poppy seeds, green potato eyes, bubble gum. The problem with bubble gum was I was eating just as much as I was giving to the rats.

The rats are still at bay here - it took the smoke bomb, digging up their place and shooting them and drowning a few for them to move on. I had to cover the duck house bottom in small welded wire, too. I do not have the luxury of doing that any where else nor digging it down due to the amount of slate/granite ledge we have here.

What type of smoke bomb did you use, SCG? I looked at those at TSC but wasn't sure if they would affect the flock. DH did get 1 with the 22 but that's the only 1. I was getting about 1 a night in the snap traps I've setup in the window but even that has stopped. I've been bringing all food & water in at night.

I do have a few neighborhood cats still coming around to hunt the rats. One in particular, a calico--I call Miss Kitty, has been sunning herself on the roof of the pen. She's the only one who doesn't run when I talk to her.

Sorry you all are having rat problems. Just a matter of time b/fore I see some here, but so far, so good. I'm convinced that it's b/c I use FF, and there is never any feed left out at night for the nasty creatures. Got squirrels though. Not sure if they're an issue stealing eggs or not. I was finding eggs in strange places in coop and run, at about the same time I had a squirrel with a ratty tail trapped in the run one day. Tried to give him a dose of lead to no avail. No egg issues since. RE: FF or any feed for that matter: Check your dates, and if you get a bag that they refuse to eat, take it back. I had a bad bag one winter, even though it was fresh. My flock was absolutely not eating it no matter how I served it up. Took it back, exchanged it for a new bag, and they went wild, making up for lost time.

My girls beak through the FF so it's strewn on the ground. What are you brand of feed are you using? I was checking the dates on my bags and pawing through the pile at TSC to get the newest to no avail. They seem to eat it dry okay but they're not going crazy for it.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

It was a suphur bomb and it was under the goat haus. We evacuated the goats to a new location prior to and after the bomb.

 

[CoopChick719]

It was a suphur bomb and it was under the goat haus. We evacuated the goats to a new location prior to and after the bomb.

Do you think if I set it off while the girls are free ranging all day & not in the coop & run that would be ok?

 

[MainerChick]

Howdy all, I'm just popping in to say another Mainer here! I'm in the Lew-Aub area in Androscoggin county. I've got thirty two birdies in the brooder, today being day seven since we received them from Ideal. So far so good, 100% live arrival and 100% survival to date. The Easter Eggers make me nervous with their already eager efforts to fly. I've got Buff Orpingtons for my production birds and then some Silkies to hopefully turn into the lowest cost incubator/brooder option down the road. We'll see how that all goes. I won't be putting the little ones out in the coop for another few weeks.

Has anyone else here put a new batch of chicks in a barn/coop in December? I'm planning on picking up a heated waterer, and will have heat lamps out there, but not until the time gets closer of course. I'd also love to hear about anyone's local experiences with automatic chicken doors. Most of what I have seen online is in the $200 and up range. Hubby and I both work full time, so all our options have to be low maintenance ones. I look forward to connecting with some local chicken keepers, but if any of you are raising turkeys here I'd love to hear about that experience as well.

 

[lazy gardener]

I may have to dig up the run floor to line it as well. I'm looking at 110 Conibear traps to set up in my enclosed compost bin. Maybe I can lure them in there.

I'm still putting out the Plaster of Paris, flour, instant potato mixture which seems to be disappearing. Maybe they're just pushing it around the tray to make it look like they're eating it. I rolled some moldy cheese in it last night. That was all gone this morning! I've even been reading about foods that you should NOT feed your pet rat--blue cheese, licorice, anything moldy, caffeine, raw sweet potato, uncooked dry beans, poppy seeds, green potato eyes, bubble gum. The problem with bubble gum was I was eating just as much as I was giving to the rats.

What type of smoke bomb did you use, SCG? I looked at those at TSC but wasn't sure if they would affect the flock. DH did get 1 with the 22 but that's the only 1. I was getting about 1 a night in the snap traps I've setup in the window but even that has stopped. I've been bringing all food & water in at night.

I do have a few neighborhood cats still coming around to hunt the rats. One in particular, a calico--I call Miss Kitty, has been sunning herself on the roof of the pen. She's the only one who doesn't run when I talk to her.


My girls beak through the FF so it's strewn on the ground. What are you brand of feed are you using? I was checking the dates on my bags and pawing through the pile at TSC to get the newest to no avail. They seem to eat it dry okay but they're not going crazy for it.

I have to do a lot of pawing at TSC to get a decent dated bag of Dumour. I've been buying that lately b/c of financial restrictions. But, I prefer Blue Seal brand better. Are you putting scratch in your FF? If so, that's why they are billing it out. I just use the pellets, so there's nothing for them to want to pull out of the mix. They clean it right up. You might be feeding too much. I feed in the morning, (they clean that up within 2 hours) then give them scratch or some more FF when I bring them in from free range.

Last night when I went out to lock up and chase the youngsters out of the nest box, I was missing 11 birds! So, I checked around and found them all under the coop. The pop door had been knocked shut around dusk last night. I went out and opened it up, but apparently some of them had decided to go under the coop by then. So... I was crawling around in the rain and the mud, with the hose on jet stream, flushing them out from under the coop. A bit of a run around, but all the disgruntled biddies, and their man finally went inside. Gotta get that door on a string and pulley system so that can't happen again. Want an auto pop door, but $$$$. Wanna make one from scratch, but I don't have the electrical know how, and hubby not in the mood for an other project. Can't blame him. He's done plenty for me!!!

 

[buckabucka]

Welcome MainerChick! I think a lot of people have put out new chicks in the winter months. Just make sure they have a heat source and they should be fine.
I've never had an automatic pop door, but one of us is usually home here.

In rat adventures, I have noticed new tunnels by the compost, so maybe they gave up on the hoop coop. It will be easier to fight them in the compost, so I'm hoping that is the case. DH has had some success by running the propane flame weeder down their hole (not lit, just let the propane leak out). Let it settle for a bit, and throw a match. You wouldn't want to do it under a structure, of course, but it has worked in our compost before.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Ooohh BF bought my a propane torch weeder cause I had been insistent I wanted a flamethrower and he assured me that I didn't need one nor would it be safe for anyone. He'd better not catch me terrorizing rodents with the weeder...

 

[buckabucka]

Ooohh BF bought my a propane torch weeder cause I had been insistent I wanted a flamethrower and he assured me that I didn't need one nor would it be safe for anyone. He'd better not catch me terrorizing rodents with the weeder... 

 

[lazy gardener]

We're not the average group of females, eh???