Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[wannahomestead]

Both function and success rate, please.

The way they work is you use a 5 gal bucket w/ a can suspended over the middle. You have a ramp for the mouse to run up, then you put the bait on the can, and when the mouse climbs onto the can it will rotate and make the mouse fall in. Many put water in the bucket so they drown.

As far as how successful they are, I cannot speak to that as I have not personally used one.

 

[1muttsfan]

:/ sounds unusually cruel

 

[wannahomestead]

sounds unusually cruel

agreed. I'm not a fan of the idea of the poor things drowning to death.

I've had a few this year that have given me trouble and I had to resort to the sticky traps. I HATE those, but the crafty little buggers were tripping snap traps and not being caught. I ended up shooting the sticky trap catches to ensure instant passing. The directions for those traps say to just toss them in the trash, and that to me is just terrible.

I get that they're pests, but I try to handle pests as humanely as I can. However, I also won't judge someone else for doing what they feel necessary to handle their pest problem.

 

[aart]

Bucket trap worked great at first, got like 4-5 in one night, but yeah kinda cruel...
...but then it seemed to not work as well while snap traps were catching them, and killing instantly.

I set up my snap traps with the bait end against a flat surface(wall or box on shelf), huge improvement in success,
and cram a piece of chunky peanut butter into hole on bait holder(so they have to dig to get it out) with just a tiny bit of the PNB smeared on trigger.

Got some of these, so easy to set and empty: http://www.amazon.com/Victor-M130-Quick-Mouse-Trap/dp/B00004RAN0

 

[uchytil]

Barn cats are the best! The Victor plastic traps you get at Meijer's work well with peanut butter.

 

[chyna]

I caught 14 in one shot with the box trap. That was a major problem. Wish I had a good mouser cat much easier to deal with.

 

[leghorn 01]

most chickens are very resilient, so most any breed will work, you should go on the breed sight and see how many there are..  I love my Ameraucunas, and chantelers .   both have small combs, less frost bite issues.   do you have young children that will want to hold them a lot, some breeds tend to be more people friendly( no guarantees  )  have fun and know there is lots of info and help here


on the loss of chicks, who did you order from?   it has been very cold, hard to ship chicks this time of year

Its our family chickens wrre expanding and so far we have one that is very friendly.So thanks for the info we actually had to kill our previous amerucana it was too agressive.P.S
These are our first chickens that we already have there are 5 and were expanding.


Edited by Staff

 

[SillyChicken]

 

[snowflake]

 

[ToniTalley]

Yup, that will soften them up, that's for sure!