Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Chickielady]

That's how I started them--roasted with olive oil, garlic, sea salt, pepper. Sauted mushrooms and shallots in garlic butter. Crumbled crispy bacon. Mixed it all together. It was a combination of two recipes I found online, I was trying to replicate something I had a restaurant and it was very very close. So good!

YUMMY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

DH and I set our traps. 2 sticky traps, one on the coop roof, another inside the run, and two big plastic snap traps, one in the garage and one in the coop run. DH gets up long before the birds so he'll move the traps before the girls come out. I better see some dead vermin in the morning.

Oh, and on the way home from Lowe's, DH and I were discussing what one does with a rodent if you should be able to catch one on the sticky trap because it didn't really occur to me immediately that it would still be alive but just stuck. DH says, "hit it in the head with a hammer or drop a big piece of cement on it. OR Put it in a plastic bag and suffocate it". When I balked at the idea he said, "If you can't kill the rodents, maybe you shouldn't have chickens". I'm wondering if he's still downstairs inventing different methods of vermin slaughter. After 25 years I'm wondering who I'm married to. Shiver...

Yes, I want them gone, but wasn't really relishing the idea of actively participating in their death. I can't even kill spiders.
Ohh, I don't feel so good right now...

Oh, but then I read the instructions for the sticky trap which say to wrap your catch in newspapers and toss it. That could be doable.

We use the 5 gallon bucket perpetually full of water (where does it come from ????????

)
Just drop the trap in the bucket and walk away........

 

[Chickielady]

You drop the trap in a bucket of water and drown them. I couldn't wrap a screaming twitching rodent in paper. I've knocked them in the head before, but the bucket is better.

Einstein has been known to stomp them...the crunch just makes me cringe !!!!!!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

No one knows what this critter is ?



head is on right, she is cleaning her tummy and you can see the thick soft fur....








Not a pika, or nutria or musk rat or chinchilla......looks very lemming-like but has thicker, finer fur & a longer tail than a lemming...also this critter's tail was very thread-like, and kinda flattened, and had sparse hairs, not round like a rat's tail....

What could it be ???????????????

 

[SadieSue]

DH and I set our traps.  2 sticky traps, one on the coop roof, another inside the run, and two big plastic snap traps, one in the garage and one in the coop run.  DH gets up long before the birds so he'll move the traps before the girls come out.  I better see some dead vermin in the morning.

Oh, and on the way home from Lowe's, DH and I were discussing what one does with a rodent if you should be able to catch one on the sticky trap because it didn't really occur to me immediately that it would still be alive but just stuck.  DH says, "hit it in the head with a hammer or drop a big piece of cement on it.  OR Put it in a plastic bag and suffocate it".  When I balked at the idea he said, "If you can't kill the rodents, maybe you shouldn't have chickens".  I'm wondering if he's still downstairs inventing different methods of vermin slaughter.  After 25 years I'm wondering who I'm married to.  Shiver...

Yes, I want them gone, but wasn't really relishing the idea of actively participating in their death.  I can't even kill spiders. 
Ohh, I don't feel so good right now...

Oh, but then I read the instructions for the sticky trap which say to wrap your catch in newspapers and toss it.  That could be doable.

You drop the trap in a bucket of water and drown them. I couldn't wrap a screaming twitching rodent in paper. I've knocked them in the head before, but the bucket is better.

Thank you. My earlier post was a bit tongue in cheek, in that I believe it would be more humane to end a rats life quickly, rather than let it die a slow death. I was just having a hard time picturing myself hitting it in the head with a hammer and somewhat amused at the idea that my DH, who is typically a very gentle man, was devising violent ways to end their life.

It's hard to understand in print. I think I'm just looking for colorful ways of looking at a situation that is new and uncomfortable for me. And I'm not suggesting that anyone else would be either!

Dropping the trap in a bucket of water seems a reasonable compromise.

No one was caught last night, although one of the traps was sprung. We'll be setting them again tonight.

 

[SadieSue]

Ah, phooey, CL's post reminded me: I needed to get DE this weekend, and forgot.


So: think maybe Petsmart might have it? Freddies?


I just went out and got way too much of many things: Christmas clothing for Himself and both young men, Layena (at no bargain price, alas) and two sacks of stove pellets, which I use to deal with mudpits in the yard, and dog food, cat food, and more dogfood from TJ's.


And if Himself is up to leaving the house, we still need to get to Freddie's and buy a round of stuff there. He used up his shopping oomph taking Ruby to get her tonails cut this morning, and doesn't seem to have regained any while I was doing chores or shopping.

While I was hanging out in the pest control section of Home Depot, I was surprised to see a bag of DE there.  Do you have a Home Depot near you?  Maybe Lowe's would carry it too?

Was it food grade? That is what you need for having aroung chickens. So it is safe for them to ingest. I think the stuff for the garden is not food grade.

Ohhh right... I completely forgot to check. Don't know if it was food grade or not. Good reminder, thank you.

 

[SadieSue]

DH and I set our traps.  2 sticky traps, one on the coop roof, another inside the run, and two big plastic snap traps, one in the garage and one in the coop run.  DH gets up long before the birds so he'll move the traps before the girls come out.  I better see some dead vermin in the morning.

Oh, and on the way home from Lowe's, DH and I were discussing what one does with a rodent if you should be able to catch one on the sticky trap because it didn't really occur to me immediately that it would still be alive but just stuck.  DH says, "hit it in the head with a hammer or drop a big piece of cement on it.  OR Put it in a plastic bag and suffocate it".  When I balked at the idea he said, "If you can't kill the rodents, maybe you shouldn't have chickens".  I'm wondering if he's still downstairs inventing different methods of vermin slaughter.  After 25 years I'm wondering who I'm married to.  Shiver...

Yes, I want them gone, but wasn't really relishing the idea of actively participating in their death.  I can't even kill spiders. 
Ohh, I don't feel so good right now...

Oh, but then I read the instructions for the sticky trap which say to wrap your catch in newspapers and toss it.  That could be doable.

We use the 5 gallon bucket perpetually full of water (where does it come from ????????    )
Just drop the trap in the bucket and walk away........

Yep, good idea. If we ever do catch one that is what we'll do. Snap traps were loaded with pb last night, but I have garlic bread and mozzarella at the ready just in case the pb isn't effective!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

OK guys...I caught a weird critter in my rat-sized hav-a-hart trap...caught on a piece of bread with pea nut butter on it....cute little dudette is about 4-5" long & about as fat around...small ears in deep thick soft fur...this dudette reminds me of a pika...has a tail about 4" long, smaller around than a rat's tail, flat teddy bear-like face...this is no rat !
What is it ???




I dumped it in a crawdad trap & took pictures through the hole in the end....







Her face was wet...and she was busy cleaning off....cute little booger !
I let her go...so, what is it ?
A lemming ?
Any ideas ?

I think it's an Oregon or creeping Vole (AKA Oregon Fieldmouse); anything else it might be has naked ears.

 

[nikki1]

WOO-HOOOOOO!!!! We had our first 4-egg day, and our first Easter egger egg day! Our EE's (along with our buckeye) are a couple months younger than our other pullets, as they were replacements for the girls killed in the Memorial Day weimeraner attack. I figured we wouldn't see any of their eggs until spring, but there was a green egg in the box this morning. Feeling rich today!

--Nikki

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

OK guys...I caught a weird critter in my rat-sized hav-a-hart trap...caught on a piece of bread with pea nut butter on it....cute little dudette is about 4-5" long & about as fat around...small ears in deep thick soft fur...this dudette reminds me of a pika...has a tail about 4" long, smaller around than a rat's tail, flat teddy bear-like face...this is no rat !
What is it ???




I dumped it in a crawdad trap & took pictures through the hole in the end....







Her face was wet...and she was busy cleaning off....cute little booger !
I let her go...so, what is it ?
A lemming ?
Any ideas ?

Quote:
So that's where my pet ended up.

JK