Neighbor hates my chickens- will she do them harm?

[pmcatnip]

From your descriptions of the neighbors further down the road being allowed to have roosters, am I right in thinking you are at the edge of town? Is there any part of your property which lies outside of the city limits? If so, you may be able to do a partition and create a tax lot that you own but is outside of the city. And then you could have all the roosters you want on that tax lot. You may also do some research to see if de-annexing is possible.

 

[Quailsong]

TheSitcomGirls, please make sure to send off extra bulbs/plants from that rock garden to friends & families far away from the rats. Just in case the rats get starved out from lack of a coop cuisine & eat all the plants there.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

The exterminator guy just left. Let’s call him X-Guy. He tried to talk me into at least putting down "ZP Tracking Powder" which is Zinc Phosphide based. I guess you squirt the powder in the holes. Nope....I declined. No poison. He also said that based on the multiple rats we entombed over the winter and the number of holes we have a "good size colony." I was afraid to ask what that meant. I am also now afraid to set up my game cam. Do I really want to know how many rats there are? But X-Guy was really positive! “We’ll get ‘em,” he said. “It’ll take longer than with poison, but eventually we’ll get ‘em all.” His extreme confidence did make me feel better. I know that trapping alone is not the answer. I have to eliminate their food source, places to live and places to hide.

X-Guy LOVED my rat proof feeders. He wants DH to get them set up ASAP. He said the rats should be denied all food except the delicious scratch grains inside the 6 bait boxes he set that contain just a single trap each. 2 boxes are in the coop and 4 are on pathways that the rats are traveling on to get from the garden to the coop. I am a little nervous about taking away the rat’s food. I’m afraid they will go after my chickens again. X-Guy was surprised when I told him about the attack on poor Janet and the questionable deaths of Chrissie and Sophie. He couldn’t believe that a rat would attack a full grown chicken. “I’m going to have to research that,” he said. I told him to try “backyardchickens.com”. I know that my experiences with these killer rats are not unique!

I admit it. These rats are making me a bit obsessed. I think maybe X-Guy thought he was dealing with me as a Crazy Lady! But that’s because I love my chickens…and all my animals. Threaten them and you threaten me. I’ve taken to doing little things so I can track when the rats are coming in the coop. I put the bottle brush inside the small hole they are trying to make in the cement wall. If they pull it out I know they were there! I have a bread bag with a tiny piece of bread that I put in a bucket for them every morning and night. If they take it out and drag it behind the garbage can with the feed…then I know they were there! So for two nights these things have only been touched in the daytime. I hope I am right and they can no longer get inside my coop!

X-Guy also said that DH's idea of filling the holes with dry Plaster of Paris and small rocks and then running the hose in the tunnels was a good one. He said, "You guys are serious." I think he probably should have been able to tell that from the interior of my coop which is now covered in cans of spray foam, yards of hardware cloth and metal on the bottom of both coop doors.

But no Plaster of Paris in the holes yet X-Guy said...we want the rats to come out so we can trap them. I’m not supposed to touch the boxes until Friday and he told me to make sure I wear gloves to hide my scent. Why? It’s not like they’re afraid of me! I’m the one that feeds them! But they will get hungry when the rat proof chicken feeders go in and I’m going to make sure that the only food they have is in those boxes. Or if they really, really want sunflower seeds instead they can move over to Crazy Lady's house and live next to the bird feeders! I am on vacation next week. So if I have to spend it sitting on a chair in my chicken run throwing rocks at rats, so be it. Either way, my yard is no longer a free ride for rodents!

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Training the chickens to use the rat-proof feeders was a little stressful because they got very hungry while learning! I felt like a bad chicken Mommy. But they are doing great now! All day long I hear the “bang” when the feeders shut tight after the chicken hops off. At first the chickens were afraid but I didn’t cave in and give them any snacks except the mealy worms I put in the feeders to tempt them! I have seen just about every chicken use the feeders except Spock. For some reason he is keeping it secret if he knows how to use the feeder or not. The 26 chickens are now eating about 4 cups of food a day. That's about a third less than before the feeders. The best thing is that the sparrows are almost gone. I saw two this morning trying to steal a crust of bread during treat time. That’s it.

So far we have caught one rat. I’m disappointed but not surprised. Even with the chicken food buffet closed they still have Crazy Lady’s birdfeeders. I found a fresh hole next to the fence when I was watering my new trees. So I think some traps need to be set over there. This weekend we are going to start filling in the holes in the rock garden as best we can.

And then there is the security camera…I’m not talking about my fake ones. I haven’t put those up yet…too far down on my list. Crazy Lady installed one very high up on her house today! I heard the installer talking when he was on the roof. The guy said, “He wants it pointed at the back of the truck.” That means they will be able to see the bottom of the fence, my chicken yard and me when I am working in my garden. So I’m wondering if they have seen a few more rats now. Maybe they are trying to prove the rats are coming from over here? I really hope the camera is not so she can sit there and watch me. My trees are not high enough yet to block that camera.

I believe it is illegal to install a camera that points at your neighbor’s house or into their yard. But I'm not sure if it's a remote camera that moves. If it does move she can point it right into the back windows of my house. So I'll keep an eye on the camera and see if they point it at our house. I’ll have to wait until DH gets home and looks at it. Maybe I'm just being paranoid?

Camera is just below the roof line on the left of the chimney.



Feeders are a hit!

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Have you ever thought of planting bamboo to completely block the view of crazy lady's house?

 

[flufssilkies]

I say get a peacock during the spring.

 

[enola]

All a screaming peacock will do is tick off all of the neighbors she isn't having problems with.

 

[flufssilkies]

All a screaming peacock will do is tick off all of the neighbors she isn't having problems with.

Yep my neighbors love me. The closed one is my uncle

 

[perchie.girl]

Have you ever thought of planting bamboo to completely block the view of crazy lady's house?

Be careful with bamboo many species are very invasive.... even the ones that arent you have to keep an eye on so that it doesn't get out of boundaries.

Though It is an excellent building material.... cant grow it at home.. .needs too much water...

Oh and By the way HenOnAJuneBug....

from the San Diego High desert.

deb

 

[mommomsandy5]

Be careful with bamboo many species are very invasive....  even the ones that arent you have to keep an eye on so that it doesn't  get out of boundaries.

Though It is an excellent building material....  cant grow it at home.. .needs too much water...

Oh and By the way HenOnAJuneBug.... from the San Diego High desert.

deb