The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[h2oratt]

We went to the State Fair yesterday. I walked for hours, and finally broke down, and rented a handicap scooter for the rest of the day. I didn't even get out of the parking lot good, and the whole crew fell asleep, slept through the ride home. The youngest grandchild, once we got home, was wide awake. It's like she took a power nap. Needless to say, I'm moving a bit slow today. I did go out 3 times last night, on the tractor, and chased off critters. The last time I had to go out, was about 1:30 am. No more critters after that. I will keep vigil again tonight.

State fair? In feb?

 

[getaclue]

Yes. All the carnivals, circuses, etc. winter quarters down here where it's warm. Our State, and County fairs are done in Feb. It's been in the 80's the past few days. https://floridastatefair.com/fair-2020/

 

[getaclue]

I use SafeGuard, and Valbazen. One year I use one, the next the other. That way there is less chance of anything building a tolerance, or resistance.

 

[speckledhen]

Buried Amanda this morning: RIP, Amanda

 

[1muttsfan]

I'm sorry,Cyn.

 

[getaclue]

I'm sorry Cynthia.

 

[getaclue]

No more raccoon activity. No opossum activity until last night, and 1 opossum got past the hot wire. It's huge. Most of the rat activity has stopped, but there has been an increase in field mice, since there are less rats. It's one of those things that make you scratch your head, and go hmmmm.

I adjusted the height yesterday, and it seems to have worked out better overall. I began researching about better fence height to deter the predators I'm dealing with. I've got it set at heights that should work well overall, but there really doesn't seem to be a "sweet spot" that will be most effective.

The instructions that came with the fence, mentioned baiting, to train your animals to avoid the hot wire, however, that was for keeping horses, and cows inside, so I disregarded the information. After some research, that seems to be the best option for keeping predators out, too. That way you don't have to keep readjusting fence height for the one exceptionally large, or small critter that can bypass the wires. Small tinfoil "cups/open pouches" with cat food, or pieces of hot dog, attached to the fence, focuses the predator's effort where you need it, so they get a jolt. One person mentioned that they did this for 10 days. At first, they had to refill the bait every evening. Before the end of 10 days, they had to empty the old bait out, because nothing would touch it. They tried baiting for a few days about 3 months later, and still nothing would touch the bait. Later this evening, I'll be hanging bait on the hot wire, and see how it goes.

 

[1muttsfan]

I've never had to bait any horses. They pretty much learn it on their own

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We used to just tie pieces of white rags on an electric fence. All critters would come up to sniff the fluttering rags and got a jolt. It also prevented critters from running through a fence because they couldn't see it.

 

[speckledhen]

This was a laugh-out-loud comment on two different videos on my homesteading channel, same guy, same comment: