Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[seabreeze]

I'd love to do solar but heck, with the weather pattern we've had all this year

, I'd be back on standard expensive electricity

But I truly have cut back *a little* on electricity with the four broody BCM hens! Now I'm waiting for my Orp pullets to grow up and be broody-broody-broody!! Plan on building just a broody coop and putting all those lovely girls together! Voila, I won't be hatchless anymore

 

[Ivywoods]

Seabreeze-I love your avatar. Looks so huggable I could just kiss you... I mean him.. or her.. the PUP!

I'm thinking about getting a geothemal system put in. It would save us a lot, I think.

Gardens? I have tomatoes and peppers.

I have started a small orchard, however. I have apple, peach, pear, cherries, plum, apricot and grapes, black, red and gold raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Oh, and a new plot of strawberries.

My favorite? WILD SANDPLUMS that grow all over the countryside around here. Makes the best jelly in the world.

Rodent control? Mine=hungry barn cats. At my place any mouse enters the barn or shop at it's own risk.

 

[math ace]

Quote:
I just made my second batch of blackberry jam. I now have 18 jam jars on the table. That is from blackberries grown in my own backyard. I am making blueberry jam tonight.....

So does this count?

Wahoooo!! Of course it counts...plus I've seen the pics of your gardens! How is growing going down there in all that heat?

Well my SPRING crops did not do as well as they should of because of our freeze to sweat weather.....
I just finish harvesting the second round of green beans and am starting to harvest the corn.
I pulled up the green bean plants and planted some OKRA and Lima beans.

WATERMELON, OKRA, LIMA BEANS, Egg Plant and those funny brown peas are the things that grow in our DRY summer heat.
I only plant the first 3 things - - Watermelon, Okra, and Limas .. ..

 

[ChicksterJo]

I'm only growing okra, snap peas and tomatoes and maybe a couple of peppers. Those peppers are hard to grow. My pullet's coppering is slowly but surely coming in!!

 

[Zanna]

Quote:
Wow, you guys are on my subject today........Most of my free ranging hens lay in the hay barn instead of their coop. Mice have been eating the eggs lately. I set up a live trap, put some scratch in it and 3 days later, no more eggs with holes. Today I go to collect eggs and see a rat running through the hay pile and broken eggs again

My concern with using poison is that the mouse/rat will die out in the open and one of the chickens will eat it. Is this a valid concern?

I have lots of peppermint oil for my soaps that I make so I can try that but I really want the critters gone permanently!!!

 

[berkeleysprings]

no barn cats ? we have 2
Quote:
Wow, you guys are on my subject today........Most of my free ranging hens lay in the hay barn instead of their coop. Mice have been eating the eggs lately. I set up a live trap, put some scratch in it and 3 days later, no more eggs with holes. Today I go to collect eggs and see a rat running through the hay pile and broken eggs again

My concern with using poison is that the mouse/rat will die out in the open and one of the chickens will eat it. Is this a valid concern?

I have lots of peppermint oil for my soaps that I make so I can try that but I really want the critters gone permanently!!!

 

[Zanna]

Quote:
Wow, you guys are on my subject today........Most of my free ranging hens lay in the hay barn instead of their coop. Mice have been eating the eggs lately. I set up a live trap, put some scratch in it and 3 days later, no more eggs with holes. Today I go to collect eggs and see a rat running through the hay pile and broken eggs again

My concern with using poison is that the mouse/rat will die out in the open and one of the chickens will eat it. Is this a valid concern?

I have lots of peppermint oil for my soaps that I make so I can try that but I really want the critters gone permanently!!!


We have four, apparently they are slacking on the job..........I think the large hay/straw stacks are just too much of a challenge for them to hunt in.

 

[shesaredroan]

Quote:
Back in the late 70's I had a cat, but was seeing a mouse in the house. I didn't think things through....and put out some poison. My cat caught the mouse AFTER the mouse had eaten the poison.

I nursed my VERY SICK cat for a month, several times thought he would be dead by morning.

Menjou did live another 12 years, but I've never used mouse/rat poison since!!! I have always had cats to help with the rodent problems around the house & barn, but I learned not to feed them so much that they became disinterested in the mice.
I've also seen my chickens eat baby mice.

 

[seabreeze]

My barn cats are basically useless! My chickens and dogs are beter mousers! Maybe I should lock a cat in the coop for a night or two? I don't think they would bother the birds and we don't have any chicks in there.

 

[snowbird]

Quote:
Hi. did you see the pvc bait station ? it is post 16968 and the pvc is 1 1/2"