Washingtonians

[Ogress]

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We've got a marshmallow pit!

We are on glacial till on a hillside, and we still grow lakes, funny how that works!

The old North Bend "Garbage Dump Road" used to run through my property. The road was gravel, but is heavily compacted, and it does not drain well at all. We spent a fortune on french drains and stuff to try and channel the water to the french drains, all of it a waste of $.

Sounds like you will have a beautiful, fun, and useful yard. How long have you been on your property for?

We moved in when I was 1 week away from giving birth to out almost 9 yr old son.
I was going to be $6000.00 just to have the dirt moved out of the front yard so we decided to buy the tractor and slowly do it ourselves. We are way behind schedule cause I burnt myself out doing the front yard 3 yrs ago(not to mention frying my shoulders lifting all the heavy rocks for the retaining wall.) But I'm over it now and getting excited that the back yard is starting to take shape! It just takes a lot of time.

We are on the same schedule ... completed building the house in 2003, and slowly working on the landscaping, only we did not buy the tractor. Sometimes we rent one, other times we save up to hire someone to do the heavy stuff and then I put in all the trees, plants, bark, etc... It's a lot to keep up with, especially the weeding. I'm bad at that. Blackberries quickly take over any slope that is too steep for the lawn tractor. I think I'm gonna use weed killer in the front (non chicke/pet) area this summer because that will give me more time to focus on the back where I need to be.

 

[Ogress]

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I have a cinderblock wall like that too, and I am planting it full of mint plants because I heard rats don't like mint.

I have never seen a rat here but that doesn't mean they aren't here. Lots of deer mice, shrews, voles, and even some sort of small weasel looking thing.
One of the kids opened a feed bag and didn't put it in the sealed container, and sure enough, the little boogers were up in the bag and gnawing holes in the bottom of it! YUCK!!!! I want to get a zapper now! Where can I find one?

Farmtech - there are 2, I think $48 and $54, We got the $54 because it can zap 40 rats with 4 D-cell. I think the other lasts 10 rats.

Other than finding the nests with babies when we moved the woodpile, the woodrat babies in the mower, and the dead one the cat left at the doorstep, I've only seen 1 rat and that was at night when I realized I left the feeders out. I have not found any tunnels, but the one was enough to give me the creeps! I was surprised to catch a rat right away and even more surprised to catch 2 days in a row! But I read a post where a guy had never seen evidence of rats near his coop, and he caught 40 rats in less than that many days!!!! I want to stop the problem before it becomes one.

My cat is a great rodent catcher. Dang - I just heard raccoons on my roof. I haven't seen them around in over a year. Whew! just investigated. It was only my cat. She jumped from the trelis onto my metal roof.
Anyways, today she left 3 field mice and 2 voles at the door! Every day I have to go check all the doors as she leaves them at whatever door is closest, often the front door!

 

[broodytood]

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Thanks for that info.

 

[broodytood]

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I have never seen a rat here but that doesn't mean they aren't here. Lots of deer mice, shrews, voles, and even some sort of small weasel looking thing.
One of the kids opened a feed bag and didn't put it in the sealed container, and sure enough, the little boogers were up in the bag and gnawing holes in the bottom of it! YUCK!!!! I want to get a zapper now! Where can I find one?

Farmtech - there are 2, I think $48 and $54, We got the $54 because it can zap 40 rats with 4 D-cell. I think the other lasts 10 rats.

Other than finding the nests with babies when we moved the woodpile, the woodrat babies in the mower, and the dead one the cat left at the doorstep, I've only seen 1 rat and that was at night when I realized I left the feeders out. I have not found any tunnels, but the one was enough to give me the creeps! I was surprised to catch a rat right away and even more surprised to catch 2 days in a row! But I read a post where a guy had never seen evidence of rats near his coop, and he caught 40 rats in less than that many days!!!! I want to stop the problem before it becomes one.

My cat is a great rodent catcher. Dang - I just heard raccoons on my roof. I haven't seen them around in over a year. Whew! just investigated. It was only my cat. She jumped from the trelis onto my metal roof.
Anyways, today she left 3 field mice and 2 voles at the door! Every day I have to go check all the doors as she leaves them at whatever door is closest, often the front door!

Speaking of raccoons... Yesterday morning I hear these dogs going nuts and think that the neighbor dogs are in a fight. The ferocious barking went on long enough that I started murmur about how people should not let their dogs just bark constantly. Then from the bottom hill of our property comes OUR dogs and one had a coon the size of an adult opossum in her mouth and some nice gashes on her nose.
I felt sooo bad for the little thing but it was already dead. She dropped it as soon as I yelled her name, but it was too late.
Definitely putting up that hot wire!

 

[Ogress]

Quote:
Farmtech - there are 2, I think $48 and $54, We got the $54 because it can zap 40 rats with 4 D-cell. I think the other lasts 10 rats.

Other than finding the nests with babies when we moved the woodpile, the woodrat babies in the mower, and the dead one the cat left at the doorstep, I've only seen 1 rat and that was at night when I realized I left the feeders out. I have not found any tunnels, but the one was enough to give me the creeps! I was surprised to catch a rat right away and even more surprised to catch 2 days in a row! But I read a post where a guy had never seen evidence of rats near his coop, and he caught 40 rats in less than that many days!!!! I want to stop the problem before it becomes one.

My cat is a great rodent catcher. Dang - I just heard raccoons on my roof. I haven't seen them around in over a year. Whew! just investigated. It was only my cat. She jumped from the trelis onto my metal roof.
Anyways, today she left 3 field mice and 2 voles at the door! Every day I have to go check all the doors as she leaves them at whatever door is closest, often the front door!

Speaking of raccoons... Yesterday morning I hear these dogs going nuts and think that the neighbor dogs are in a fight. The ferocious barking went on long enough that I started murmur about how people should not let their dogs just bark constantly. Then from the bottom hill of our property comes OUR dogs and one had a coon the size of an adult opossum in her mouth and some nice gashes on her nose.
I felt sooo bad for the little thing but it was already dead. She dropped it as soon as I yelled her name, but it was too late.
Definitely putting up that hot wire!

Yeah, cute but they can be trouble! Also be careful with your chain-link. DD's friend in town gave away all her remaining chickens after a raccoon attacked. They had a dog kennel with a copp in it. The kennel was lined on the inside with chicken wire, and between the chicken wire and chainlink was a sheet of clear plastic. The kennel had a roof similar to the one we had built on ours. Usually the hens slept in the coop, and they felt the run was secure so they usually leave the coop door open at night. One morning, the little girl got up to feen her hens and found a limbless, headless blob of meat and feathers in the corner of the kennel. The raccoons had stretched a link in the chainlink,torn the plastic and tore/crumpled the chainlink at one corner, and pulled the hen through the chain link limb by limb, and then grabbed what meat it could off the body. Not exactly what you want your 8 year old finding in the morning. They suspect that racoons were working the coop in a pair at opposite sides to confuse the hen and scare her into a corner. I would line the inside of the runs with 2' tall 1/2 inch wire mesh.

I'm sleepy now and need to put a nicer picture in my head. Goodnight!

 

[VelvettFog]

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[VelvettFog]

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[VelvettFog]

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How many hives to do I need to build you?

 

[VelvettFog]

Update on Raiinwolf's quail hutches:

First one almost complete. Need to finish up the doors. It will need three dividers, but I will make all 9 of those last when the other two units are finished.

Plans:

All the lumber cut for units 2 and 3

I've promised delivery next weekend, so no lolly-gagging this week. Should make loads of progress today. I woke up in a place I swear is more like Carnation. Grey skys, and an annoying drizzle. DW doesn't work out side in the rain, so I get a kitchen pass today!

 

[VelvettFog]

I like canned peaches.