Washingtonians

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
Go to your local pet store, if they ave ferets ask for a bag O' poo. Place said bag O' Poo out of the way of chickens, preferably where you see signs of rodents. Sounds gross, I know. But it works wonders. I do this at the barn I work at, have stashed feret poo bags, in my mothers pump house for her well, and under my house as well... See ferets are a natural predator of rodents, so when rodents smell the bag O' poo, they naturally want to get far away from the smell. No it will not stink, so long as it stay dry.

I don't have a pet store, but what a wonderful idea. I will see what our local feed store has. Thank you so much. If not I will go and look on line.
It makes sense to me.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

I wanted to ask again...how do you guys worm? There are so many methods. I know there was interest from some newbies too. I am got the birds some AVC and pumpkins seeds but I am going to get Wazine and then follow up with Ivmec topical or with Fenbendazole (goat wormer). If I use the Ivmec topical - 5 to 6 drps per big bird...do I dilute this with something? or just straight?

I would love input into this subject to see what you think and how you do.

 

[cheryl98117]

These chicks crack me up!!! 17 happy bouncy little balls of feathers! I put them out into there seperate fenced pens, and they all exploded! Hehehe Nothing better in the morning than a hot cup of coffee and happy jumpy chick TV!!!

My husband is sad that I have to swap cockerals with someone. He has grown attached to the little guy. Im starting to think maby I should get ahold of CGG and see if she still wants to trade cockerals sooner rather than later. If not, I gotta figure something out quik. I would rather get a cockeral that is about the same age, and raise him up to know that I am above him in the pecking order. That and I wanna watch and witness just how much Wheaton Ameraucana cockerals change from fledgling to adult. This little guy has so much color coming in, and he's getting SO big!

And he is just SO darn sweet, I love the little guy!

On the egenda for today. Mow the lawns if the weather holds out, haul 4 horses to a group dental appointment, make some calls on the BBS Ameraucana chicks, do some laundry, and dont forget to pick up DH around 4PM...

The weather in the South East is scary. Wonder how my inlaws are doing..? We havnt been able to reach anyone in a couple days, sure hope everyone is ok...

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Go to your local pet store, if they ave ferets ask for a bag O' poo. Place said bag O' Poo out of the way of chickens, preferably where you see signs of rodents. Sounds gross, I know. But it works wonders. I do this at the barn I work at, have stashed feret poo bags, in my mothers pump house for her well, and under my house as well... See ferets are a natural predator of rodents, so when rodents smell the bag O' poo, they naturally want to get far away from the smell. No it will not stink, so long as it stay dry.

I don't have a pet store, but what a wonderful idea. I will see what our local feed store has. Thank you so much. If not I will go and look on line.
It makes sense to me.

In your coop?

You need a Sumatra or two or some Muscovies. They eat mice like popcorn!

The muscovies have a harder time catching them but the Sumatras hunt in packs!

Other than that--have you considered getting a barn cat? Lots of shelters have them available for cheap and they are spayed/neutered/ up-to-date on their shots, etc. I have gotten three from Forget Me Not Shelter in Republic (they will meet you in Omak). Black kitties really need homes.

How is your feed stored? Are the mice eating the feed and living in the coop?

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
I don't have a pet store, but what a wonderful idea. I will see what our local feed store has. Thank you so much. If not I will go and look on line.
It makes sense to me.

In your coop?

You need a Sumatra or two or some Muscovies. They eat mice like popcorn!

The muscovies have a harder time catching them but the Sumatras hunt in packs!

Other than that--have you considered getting a barn cat? Lots of shelters have them available for cheap and they are spayed/neutered/ up-to-date on their shots, etc. I have gotten three from Forget Me Not Shelter in Republic (they will meet you in Omak). Black kitties really need homes.

How is your feed stored? Are the mice eating the feed and living in the coop?

Got cats. In fact I have let the youngest (5 years old) spends the night in the coop/run quite frequently. My feed is kept in tightly closed rubbermaid tubs (tight fit lids)....it is the feed in the feeder and the kicked out they are getting, so they are fed and then sleep tight in the insulation of the coop. I have started to rip out the fiberglass insulation. All the pink styrofoam insulation has little to no mouse damage....fiberglass - ya, they pretty much made castles and tunnels in it. All of it is coming out. When pulling out one long piece a momma and older babies fell out. Unfortunately no cat or chicken around. I decided to wait until I got a face mask to pull any more down.

The feeders are the orange buckets like CL has. Only two of them. I am going to set some sticky traps, tonight after everyone is in bed, along the walls of the run, near the food and check them first thing in the morning. I can just see one of my fat girls checking out the sticky trap and getting it stuck to her foot. That would just be hilariious, wrong, but hilarious.

On another note....I have dug out the run and I have 10 yards of washed sand being delivered tomorrow....

Guess I know what I will be doing this weekend. LOL.

Well off to work. Oh, and no ducks or geese for me. I have limited space (at this time) and am saving it for chickies.

 

[DuckLady]

Ok, this is just ridiculous.

MORE snow!!

I am hereby Officially sick of snow til late Autumn.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
One thing I learned the hard way: if you have mice in the house, nothing will work to get rid of them until you seal all the gaps around your plumbing; a mixture of coarse steel wool and expando foam works best.

Ugh, the weather. I remember cold springs before, but I didn't have as much joint pain back when it snowed on my 22nd birthday (after being 90F on my 21st). I have to move the chicken tractor clear across the unmowed lawn tomorrow because they've reached the fence, or I have to magic up a temporary coop and finish the run today after I get the 6X6 dog run gate that was supposed to be in at Del's by Monday, except they forgot.

Not much help if they've got an advanced computerized ordering system and know where each and every item in their entire inventory is, down to the last two-inch resin longhorn model and assorted bantam chick if the guy loading the truck forgets to put your item on or has to take it off to get to something else and leaves it in Chehalis. Not anywhere near Helen's level of impact from the phenomenon, but my life would be a lot easier if human beings were not so blasted imperfect all the time.

In other news, I probably should stop trying to read BYC and eat breakfast; testerday I forgot to take any of my eight morning pills. Better than the days I forget to take insulin, right?

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
In your coop?

You need a Sumatra or two or some Muscovies. They eat mice like popcorn!

The muscovies have a harder time catching them but the Sumatras hunt in packs!

Other than that--have you considered getting a barn cat? Lots of shelters have them available for cheap and they are spayed/neutered/ up-to-date on their shots, etc. I have gotten three from Forget Me Not Shelter in Republic (they will meet you in Omak). Black kitties really need homes.

How is your feed stored? Are the mice eating the feed and living in the coop?

Got cats. In fact I have let the youngest (5 years old) spends the night in the coop/run quite frequently. My feed is kept in tightly closed rubbermaid tubs (tight fit lids)....it is the feed in the feeder and the kicked out they are getting, so they are fed and then sleep tight in the insulation of the coop. I have started to rip out the fiberglass insulation. All the pink styrofoam insulation has little to no mouse damage....fiberglass - ya, they pretty much made castles and tunnels in it. All of it is coming out. When pulling out one long piece a momma and older babies fell out. Unfortunately no cat or chicken around. I decided to wait until I got a face mask to pull any more down.

The feeders are the orange buckets like CL has. Only two of them. I am going to set some sticky traps, tonight after everyone is in bed, along the walls of the run, near the food and check them first thing in the morning. I can just see one of my fat girls checking out the sticky trap and getting it stuck to her foot. That would just be hilariious, wrong, but hilarious.

On another note....I have dug out the run and I have 10 yards of washed sand being delivered tomorrow....

Guess I know what I will be doing this weekend. LOL.

Well off to work. Oh, and no ducks or geese for me. I have limited space (at this time) and am saving it for chickies.

How are your walls sealed? I have insulation in my coop, too...but I have moisture barrier and OSB over the top and caulked along the bottom...sealed tight. Since letting the cats in the coop every night and keeping the mouse nesting areas down to a minimum (I no longer store anything in my coop other than extra light bulbs and bags of shavings)--no mice issues. I hate mice! LOL

Oh good for you with the sand!!! Where did you get it? So far this year I've put in (well, not me but a teenage boy) 5,300lbs of sand. I still need another load or two to finish the last three runs.

 

[cheryl98117]

Quote:
Got cats. In fact I have let the youngest (5 years old) spends the night in the coop/run quite frequently. My feed is kept in tightly closed rubbermaid tubs (tight fit lids)....it is the feed in the feeder and the kicked out they are getting, so they are fed and then sleep tight in the insulation of the coop. I have started to rip out the fiberglass insulation. All the pink styrofoam insulation has little to no mouse damage....fiberglass - ya, they pretty much made castles and tunnels in it. All of it is coming out. When pulling out one long piece a momma and older babies fell out. Unfortunately no cat or chicken around. I decided to wait until I got a face mask to pull any more down.

The feeders are the orange buckets like CL has. Only two of them. I am going to set some sticky traps, tonight after everyone is in bed, along the walls of the run, near the food and check them first thing in the morning. I can just see one of my fat girls checking out the sticky trap and getting it stuck to her foot. That would just be hilariious, wrong, but hilarious.

On another note....I have dug out the run and I have 10 yards of washed sand being delivered tomorrow....

Guess I know what I will be doing this weekend. LOL.

Well off to work. Oh, and no ducks or geese for me. I have limited space (at this time) and am saving it for chickies.

How are your walls sealed? I have insulation in my coop, too...but I have moisture barrier and OSB over the top and caulked along the bottom...sealed tight. Since letting the cats in the coop every night and keeping the mouse nesting areas down to a minimum (I no longer store anything in my coop other than extra light bulbs and bags of shavings)--no mice issues. I hate mice! LOL

Oh good for you with the sand!!! Where did you get it? So far this year I've put in (well, not me but a teenage boy) 5,300lbs of sand. I still need another load or two to finish the last three runs.

Quik question on sand in the runs...

How deep is your sand? Whats the best depth for chicken runs?

 

[ReiMiraa]

Quote:
Maybe if you changed your Avatar to not show a goose with snow on its beak then The clouds might get the message you don't want them around.....