NY chicken lover!!!!

[Beer can]

So many bators and chickies! I've changed my plans a bit and will be waiting until at least May before I start my incubator. There is a squirrel, mouse, chipmunk, or rat that has developed a series of tunnels under and through the concrete floor of my coop. The weather won't allow me to repair it until May. Whatever it is, it has not gone after the adult chickens. It's stolen food and maybe eggs. I keep filling and covering the holes and they just find a new spot to come through. My deep litter has been destroyed.

Because my coop is in the barn I will probably have to move the whole flock out to a temporary coop this spring and rebuild the whole floor with some hardware cloth embedded. Ugh.

Believe it or not, red squirrels will do the same...

 

[myfivegirls]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/content/type/61/id/7696294/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Love the double stack rack! Lol! :-D

I check it a few times a day, since sometimes the eggs end up on their side or wierd positions. I've candled a few - there's some infertile sad expected but giving it a few more days b4 I remove them.

 

[tao chick]

Believe it or not, red squirrels will do the same...

I believe it. I know the gray squirrels have moved in the upstairs of the barn so my initial hunch is that they are the guilty parties, but the tunnels indicate ground/red squirrel or rat. I've only ever seen chipmunks in the coop though, so who knows. I look forward to spring when I can rebuild.

 

[tao chick]

I've used stick traps that were on sale and they don't kill the mice, so I have to step on them and flatten them out. Then I toss them in the fire pit. 

Snap traps work best but don't always catch the thief. The plastic kind are so light the mice drag them off.  I once saw a squirrel with the Rat type stuck on it's head running through the trees. Don't know whatever happened in that case.   I've tried ALL types.  

The ones where they go in and don't come out are expensive. I do use them in the attic because DD doens't want to touch a dead mouse. 

Don't buy the commercial mouse trap bait. It does NOT work.  Peanut butter with a kernel of corn. Or peanut butter alone. 

I don't like this kind since your finger is too close to getting snapped.  Though they work better it's not worth the risk. They do wear out though and sometimes even new don't set. 

This device is good but you have to kill the mice or they will come back. You could just drown them by filling the bottom with water, but I don't like to see them suffer if I don't have to. 

Anyhow I just keep using the snap traps. I know I've got them and their instantly dead. Cats of course do work and can be a comfort when sitting in your lap. Unless..........

Thank you, Rancher! I was going to try the bucket trick. I'd rather a cat or snap trap for the least suffering. Spring can't come quickly enough.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I think if I found my cat snuggled to a rat I would feed them both to the chickens. I have one purpose for cats and is they can't do it they are fired.

 

[DrumlinPoint]

What state are you in NY??

Hilly78, I am in the Finger Lakes region, between Rochester and Syracuse. Where are you?

 

[Beau Garden]

Okay. I have a lot to figure out.
1. I want a few new breeds in my flock... orpingtons, marans, ameracaunas. With that being said, not sure if I should get young hens or if I should do chicks.
2. If i do chicks I'm not sure if I want to incubate or have a brood sit. Or if I should find chicks.
Chicks are work but so much fun. My kids love it. I love and hate it.
3. I'm getting a rooster next week and also thought of getting hens of my specific breeds then doing chicks with my ladies and rooster later this spring.

Help me out. So many thoughts. I'd like to hear some advice from you pros out there.

 

[Hilly78]

Hilly78, I am in the Finger Lakes region, between Rochester and Syracuse. Where are you?

Chenango county near Greene and Binghamton

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Okay. I have a lot to figure out.
1. I want a few new breeds in my flock... orpingtons, marans, ameracaunas. With that being said, not sure if I should get young hens or if I should do chicks.
2. If i do chicks I'm not sure if I want to incubate or have a brood sit. Or if I should find chicks.
Chicks are work but so much fun. My kids love it. I love and hate it.
3. I'm getting a rooster next week and also thought of getting hens of my specific breeds then doing chicks with my ladies and rooster later this spring.

Help me out. So many thoughts. I'd like to hear some advice from you pros out there.

I prefer to start with chicks not shipped eggs and from there breeds my own mixes from there. I have a mess of roosters if you want a free one. You just have to come pick him out.

 

[rancher hicks]

I think if I found my cat snuggled to a rat I would feed them both to the chickens. I have one purpose for cats and is they can't do it they are fired.

ain't that the truth.