Washingtonians

[Hinotori]

Hi.
We are also having a rat invasion. Never like this before. My DH bought some big rat traps with the spring action. He tried the bucket & water idea but no go. Anyway, he places a wire cage around the set trap and uses a piece of cheddar cheese for bait. The wire cage keeps any other larger animal from getting its nose or paw snapped. He has killed 5 rats so far.

Not sure if you have thought of this scenario with the poison so thought I'd throw it out there for you to mull over. When a rat eats the poison it may wander out into the yard or nearby to die. If a dog or other animals finds it and eats it the poison may kill the animal and/or severely injure its internal organs. Recently this happened to a dog breeder I know. Her AKC champion got off her property when a breach in the fencing occurred from a tree falling on it in the wooded section of her property. She didn't know it until she went hunting for her missing dog. Tragically the dog found and ate something... vet said probably via poisoned mouse or rat. After agonizing weeks she had to have her best dog & friend put down. Since this story is still vivid in my mind and broke my heart for her I needed to warn you about this possibility. Anyway, just some food for thought.
~Dee~

I don't put out poison because I know both my chickens and my dogs eat rodents. Our GSD is obscessed with hunting down and killing the things. Apparently me just leaving out the 1 inch plastic mesh or the bird netting on the ground is as good as a trap for the voles. They are STUPID. I find dead ones caught up in stuff regularly. They can't really chew through stuff like rats. They can dig like champions though. I can't wait until the rains come back and some of those deep holes start filling with water. Those things like to eat the chicken food, but leave everything else alone.

 

[CarolynF]

Well, the Building Inspector just left.
he is a super nice guy !!!
Very educational, and spent alot of time explaining what we need to do & where, what types of Hurricane ties we need, etc.
he was very impressed with our framing job, and said we have done alot that was not necessary, extra blocking & extra large headers, etc.
So, we passed with flying colors !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats! Getting through a building inspection is no small task!

 

[Chickielady]

I've been told that vermin & pests are moving closer into human territory due to lack of water & food out in the woods.
Everything is dired up, so they are coming to human territory for food & water.
I dump ALL outside water out or lock it up every evening....also lock up dog food.
Skunks, racoons & rats/mice and all sorts of creepies are coming round to drink & eat !!!
I really figured the 5 gallon bucket water traps would work great in this case, but so far, nothing.
I did trap 2 big brown rats last week with the Victor Rat Traps baited with motzerella cheese...but nothing since.
Rats learn, once one family member is killed in a trap, the rest see it & steer clear of the trap.
Darn it all !!

 

[Hinotori]

Shoot, can't believe I didn't notice until now but one of my Exchequer Leghorns lost the rear point of her comb. Don't know if it was to the raccoon or another hen. It looks OK, though, and she seems fine. This might be a stupid question, but it won't grow back, will it? They're not like fingernails?

No, it wont grow back. More like our earlobes. It will heal over just fine and not bother her any.

 

[Chickielady]

I don't put out poison because I know both my chickens and my dogs eat rodents. Our GSD is obscessed with hunting down and killing the things. Apparently me just leaving out the 1 inch plastic mesh or the bird netting on the ground is as good as a trap for the voles. They are STUPID. I find dead ones caught up in stuff regularly. They can't really chew through stuff like rats. They can dig like champions though. I can't wait until the rains come back and some of those deep holes start filling with water. Those things like to eat the chicken food, but leave everything else alone.

I thought they ate bulbs & root vegies too...like radishes or beets, daffodill bulbs ?
They are fun to run over with the riding mower too !
They cannot run very fast or near fast enough.
DH stomps them.....yuck, I cannot stand the crunch !

 

[Hinotori]

I thought they ate bulbs & root vegies too...like radishes or beets, daffodill bulbs ?
They are fun to run over with the riding mower too !
They cannot run very fast or near fast enough.
DH stomps them.....yuck, I cannot stand the crunch !

They do. They come in and will eat the pellets, though. We have a lot of them out by the edge of the pond. Little tunels through the grass down to the water. We have quite a few acres with grass marsh here. Normally the hawks go for them and not for the chickens. And yes, I've ran over many a vole while mowing. Don't usually see the suckers until I'm coming back for another pass and it's lying in the previous path twitching.

I'd had them all cleaned out from near the coops, but we went down to visit family a few weeks ago and had food down for the chickens the whole time. After it's up for a few weeks at night, they head on back out into the grass since no easy food.

I have pits out in the grass I have to watch out for where the dogs have dug them out. Our GSD is so pleased with herself when she gets them. Has to bring them in to show me. The chickens have gotten smart to her digging as well, there are always things in the dirt. She turns up nests occasionally and the chickens have a party. They have no qualms about taking stuff out of the dog's mouth and because she's so good tempered, she lets them.

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Perhaps a donation/gift is in order and then maybe you could take the full appraised value as a tax deduction and net more money then from a sale?

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Whooooot! Yes I can. My CB handle on the 18 wheeler was the "Blue Knight".
Whatta think about that for his name? Or maybe someone can come up with something else?

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I just had a lovely nice reply written to CL that was hardly whiny at all (except for the part where I was griping about Ian beating up on his hanging feeder this morning and spreading Layena all over outside his run, so that there's been offspring of the Blue Auraucana rooster in the yard all day eating up everything he's spilled).

Anyway: I'm not in need of an apple picker that I can fill with eating apples, just one I can strip apples off the trees for the cattle, who need green food to go with their hay: the only grass here is where I've been putting misters to stop a little dust before it comes in the house. I basically feed animals all day: cats, dogs, chicken feed, sheep pinned out to graze, apples for the cows (lunch for me), chicken treats (today it was baked sweet potatoes) cats again, then the sheep gets his alfalfa for the night and I do one more check of feeders, waterers, see if there's late eggs...I'm supposed to make real dinner tonight (Pad Prik Kring, thai chicken with basil, onions, peppers, and green beans; the chicken and onions are from off the place) but since that's always a question of what I feel like when the time comes.

We had pasture into late July, the latest we've been able to go without hay here since we stopped irrigating, but it's like the dust-bowl out there now. I hope the weather people are right about rain Friday, seems strange to say, doesn't it.

 

[mikeyb]

Well, the Building Inspector just left.
he is a super nice guy !!!
Very educational, and spent alot of time explaining what we need to do & where, what types of Hurricane ties we need, etc.
he was very impressed with our framing job, and said we have done alot that was not necessary, extra blocking & extra large headers, etc.
So, we passed with flying colors !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hurray for you and Einstein!!! I always say; "when in doubt, build it stout" ; "its not fun to redo your work".