The Old Folks Home

[chickadoodles]

Use a bucket trap so they don't get in the walls and stink.

Make sure you have enough water for the size of the rat, they take more to go swimming than mice.

Thanks Beer I was telling my husband we need to set some of these out by our chicken coop! We have some that have now tunneled under the coop!

 

[drumstick diva]

When our refrigerator and microwave went out together (not dating) the electrician showed us that the power to 3 outlets (including theirs) had full power on one side and diminished on the other. He didn't know how that happened but after he got the bad stuff out and put in a new outlets, everything worked fine. It's an old house and I wondered if rodents had gotten to the wiring. He didn't think so but, I still do.

 

[drumstick diva]

Get or borrow a Jack Russell terrier - he will get the rats and they won't stink in the walls.

 

[chickadoodles]

Diva this is an old farm house from abt. 1849. Power and water and kitchen had to be added on. I have two dogs that try to get the mice and rats. But if they make it into the house I have to get them! My hubby is calling some places to see about getting it all fixed. Hopefully we won't have to buy a new AC unit! The mice don't usually die in the walls but I do have to hunt them down to find them. UGH!

 

[bamadude]

Thanks Dude but now my outside AC unit is not coming on just the  inside fan. So we also have to get a repair man out to figure out why the AC is not working either.   The AC unit is right outside the window from the back room the incubators were in. Go figure?

Its most likely the contactor. Very very easy fix.
Part costs $30-$50

 

[chickadoodles]

I hope your right Bama. Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I know that the AC unit has it's own breakers outside but the wires do come into the house to the attic. I called my husband at work yesterday and told him the AC was not working. He had put new filters in it the day before when I told him it was not working. So it was not the filters after all. lol But we are worried about the cost of this. We have replace 4 appliances already this year! This is getting costly!

Wow, that's rough. One of our furnaces went out about 2 weeks before we wouldn't need it for the season. It was repairable and my procrastination ran the bill up more than it should have been. $275.
One of the ACs needed repair each of the last 5 years. 2 years ago one finally needed to be replaced. I lucked out and the guy that has been doing our HVAC work since we moved in was installing a new AC at a house where he had maintained the old one since it was new so he sold me the old one for 800 and gave me a 2 year warranty. That cut the price because it was the same type of Freon so we didn't have to replace the whole system.

@ronott1 If I remember correctly, you've been involved in organizing some basic backyard chicken keeping courses, haven't you? What do you feel are the most important things to bring up?

Karin is involved with a couple of locals in organizing a chicken keeping basics course, and she'll be holding a lecture on basic healthcare and illnesses. I think this thing will be pretty nice, there are already over 50 paying participants, and it's still two weeks until the event. There's going to be lectures for about 4-5 hours, lunch, and also a small market where producers can showcase their products and breeders can sell hatching eggs. Surprising how many people are interested in keeping chickens.

I've been teaching classes on chickens for 5 years at area community colleges, humane society, botanical garden and other green venues. They've been anywhere from 15 minutes to 5 hours. There's 3 different classes at the colleges. The long one for beginners, a four hour advanced class and a 2 hour one for predator protection.
I even wrote books for the 2 primary classes that we give to attendees.
I'm also one of the organizers of our local backyard chicken meetup group. We hit 750 members this morning. Nice birthday present for me.
At the beginner class I start by discussing the responsibilities and benefits of keeping poultry. Next is potential problems, focusing on predators, parasites and prevalent diseases. I start there so when it comes to housing, rearing baby chicks and nutrition it becomes apparent how to prevent the aforementioned problems. I also cover anatomy, breed selection, terminology, acronyms, etc.
For nutrition, I hand out feed bag ingredient/analysis labels and walk them through what to pay attention to and what nutrient levels to shoot for at each age. Also alternative feeding options including pasture plants and fermentation.
There's a lot of show and tell. I bring sample containers of oyster shell, DE, 3 sizes of grit, mash, crumbles and pellets. I bring a variety of chick and adult feeders and water options including vertical, horizontal nipples and drinker cups. Samples of hardware cloth, chicken wire, woven wire and expanded metal, excelsior and plastic nest pads and all the chicken books that I recommend.
I usually bring a variety of eggs and if I have them wind eggs.
If people want, at the end of class I cover culling and processing. Those that don't want can leave then.
I ask at the beginning if people are sure they are getting chickens or just testing the waters. At the end, I ask if they have changed their mind.

For the advanced class I do more in depth anatomy of the digestive and reproductive tracts. More on disease and injury treatments and home necropsy; breeding, genetics, incubation and broody hatching; exhibiting poultry.

I have the beginner class this Saturday, advanced next Saturday and the following week is the treatise on trapping and deterring predators.

 

[chickadoodles]

Chicken Canoe:
A monster storm moving through now with 2" hail and damaging winds.
The fog is so thick you can't even see the lightning. Some parts of town have the ground completely covered with hail.
I hope we don't lose power, I have 84 eggs in the incubator.

Quote:

Wow, that's rough. One of our furnaces went out about 2 weeks before we wouldn't need it for the season. It was repairable and my procrastination ran the bill up more than it should have been. $275.
One of the ACs needed repair each of the last 5 years. 2 years ago one finally needed to be replaced. I lucked out and the guy that has been doing our HVAC work since we moved in was installing a new AC at a house where he had maintained the old one since it was new so he sold me the old one for 800 and gave me a 2 year warranty. That cut the price because it was the same type of Freon so we didn't have to replace the whole system.

I hope you don't lose power!

It's a good thing you got a great deal on yours.

I can't go with out ac here it get's up to 125 in the summer and I don't have a pool!
Within the last year and a half we have had to replace the washer, fridg, freezer. My dryer is on it's last leg. And now our AC it gone ca-put! Oh I forgot my computer also died and had to get a new one. Like Diva when it rains it pours.
This does hurt the pocket book a bit. DH is hoping it only needs freon and hope it is only a relay or something simple.

 

[vehve]

CC, good things. I'll have to mention those to Karin. I hope someone will touch the subject of nutrients in feed.

The schedule for the day they've got planned is as follows:

9:00 Registration and introduction of lecturers
10:00 A functional backyard chicken coop
-Chicken keeping and the needs of a chicken
-Coop structure and ease of maintenance
-Regeneration of a flock and new generations

Discussion and Q&A session with the lecturer (He's from some agricultural school)

LUNCH

13:30 Common illnesses in chickens and prevention
(This would be Karin's bit)
14:00 Regulations and legislature
-Necessary registration and permits
-What laws affect chicken keeping and why
(Lecturer is a veterinarian who previously has worked at the Finnish Food Safety Authority)
14:15 Chicken behavior
-Natural behavior of chickens and studies in their well being
(Lecturer from the Helsinki University)
14:45 The Finnish landrace chicken preservation program
(Lecturer from the Natural Resources Institute of Finland)

Discussion and Q&A session

15:00-17:00 info fare and marketplace
-breeders
-local farmers and feed sellers
-supply sales
-chicken related crafts
-veterinarians

Personally I think the latter part is a bit rushed though. If the class is well received, a more in depth follow up course wouldn't be a bad idea. And I bet a processing class would generate some interest too. I hope this thing will be good. Apparently I'm working there too, I don't know what I'll be doing yet though. Probably providing answers to questions no one's asking

 

[ronott1]

CC, good things. I'll have to mention those to Karin. I hope someone will touch the subject of nutrients in feed.

The schedule for the day they've got planned is as follows:

9:00 Registration and introduction of lecturers
10:00 A functional backyard chicken coop
-Chicken keeping and the needs of a chicken
-Coop structure and ease of maintenance
-Regeneration of a flock and new generations

Discussion and Q&A session with the lecturer (He's from some agricultural school)

LUNCH

13:30 Common illnesses in chickens and prevention
(This would be Karin's bit)
14:00 Regulations and legislature
-Necessary registration and permits
-What laws affect chicken keeping and why
(Lecturer is a veterinarian who previously has worked at the Finnish Food Safety Authority)
14:15 Chicken behavior
-Natural behavior of chickens and studies in their well being
(Lecturer from the Helsinki University)
14:45 The Finnish landrace chicken preservation program
(Lecturer from the Natural Resources Institute of Finland)

Discussion and Q&A session

15:00-17:00 info fare and marketplace
-breeders
-local farmers and feed sellers
-supply sales
-chicken related crafts
-veterinarians

Personally I think the latter part is a bit rushed though. If the class is well received, a more in depth follow up course wouldn't be a bad idea. And I bet a processing class would generate some interest too. I hope this thing will be good. Apparently I'm working there too, I don't know what I'll be doing yet though. Probably providing answers to questions no one's asking

What a great class that will be!

There would be a lot of information in a short time. Will there be a website with the course materials too?