Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

Her insurance conpany said they wouldn't cover damages, which is on brand for that industry.

Yep, very true. I’ve been with USAA since I was a kid, and even with them, I don’t always bother to file. (Laying low in this newly-recognized hurricane country, hundreds of miles from the Gulf of Mexico, trying to keep the premiums from exploding.)

 

[fuzzi]

Happy birthday to one of the best threads on BYC!

One of the best? I vote THE BEST!

 

[Perris]

I confess I feel only passing sorrow at the mice my 90%-indoor cats lay out on the kitchen floor for me to admire.

I am still thinking about this one. I appreciate Vulpes' point that domestic cats didn't make the world they're brought into and up in; and it's natural that young wild cat family members learn how to hunt for food by playing with specimens mum brings in; so maybe we turn domestic cats into eternal children or grumpy teens.

And I'm glad the feral ginger tom turns up periodically and keeps the rat population under control. And I suspect the chickens are too, because while they'll have a go at any size rat that tries to crash their mealtime, or snatch a chick - and Lulea is living proof that they'll try that if opportunity presents itself - ordinarily the chickens can only catch very young rats. That ginger tom never leaves bodies lying around btw, and I have assumed he is eating what he catches; but maybe he's taking them to someone who does appreciate his gifts. How do the cat owners here react to their cats giving them dead or dying presents? Do you reward the behaviour, consciously or unconsciously?

So, issue still unresolved, I guess I'm just like the roos, who gather and shout at the cat till it leaves I missed what would have been a great photo of that a few weeks ago, when I responded (minus camera) to such a cacophony to see Killay, Hensol, and 4 of their lieutenants stood in a line and shouting at the ginger tom, who had parked his butt on the terrace steps overlooking the lawn, the bottom of which is a rat run between dense foliage cover. He scarpered when I joined in

 

[Perris]

Wild bobcat got in a friend's turkey yard. He had heavy 2 inch gamebird netting on top.... which it tore up to get in and kill all 5 turkeys. Ate part of one and came back the next night so they were able to get a game camera picture. With that picture, they were able to get a permit to trap it.

I assume he wanted to eat, and one would have been fine, but he couldn't carry that one out, or eat in peace with the others trapped in close proximity, so he killed the rest. Confinement kills again.