What did you do in the garden today?

[Lazy Farmer]

What part of Florida are you in? We just moved to Virginia last month from Bradenton! I did not even try to grow veggies there for years. But we had a good garden in TN, and i have hopes for a good one this year, even with our late start. Yeah, the fleas down there were bad at times. Now we worry about tick borne diseases. Always something! We even have a black bear with a cub on our land!

North west Marion county.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I guess you didn't have wildfire problems with all that rain. It was bad for a while, they even had to close the interstate due to heavy smoke!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

The bad part about rats and mice in the barn and pens is that the snakes begin to move in to feed on the critters and will take a chick as a snack.

I have told folks here on BYC a few times now. They kill the snakes that are near their poultry. I tell them the snakes are there because of rodents and just stumble upon your chickens/eggs etc. Control the rodents and the snakes will leave. Balance of nature. No rats no snakes. Thank you!

 

[CapricornFarm]

I'm great with a 22 long rifle loaded with ratshot...got 63 out of 64 shots last year...really put a dent in the population around the chicken pens and the barn. They were eating feed from the feeders in the breed pens. They can raise three litters a good season. The grandkids started calling me Annie Oakley.
I've been after the one in the garden...think I got him today.
The bad part about rats and mice in the barn and pens is that the snakes begin to move in to feed on the critters and will take a chick as a snack.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I guess you didn't have wildfire problems with all that rain. It was bad for a while, they even had to close the interstate due to heavy smoke!

My BBQ charcoal would not lite. My rubber boots are my most used footwear. Matches for BBQ grill dissolved off the sticks. You can see the air on a good day. I mow the grass every 3 days.. I can do this all night.. Hehe. No fire ban or hazzard.. Thank God

 

[CapricornFarm]

I am not a fan of wild rodents. The mice were a real problem for us in TN. It got so i carried around a deep bucket they could not jump out of. Caught them by the tail, toss them in. Traps, poison, snakes, husband with pellet gun, it just was out of control.We even had hawks and owls take mice. In the end, we sold the animals so the feed no longer attracted the mice. And we had to move back to FL anyway.

 

[NanaKat]

I am not a fan of wild rodents. The mice were a real problem for us in TN. It got so i carried around a deep bucket they could not jump out of. Caught them by the tail, toss them in. Traps, poison, snakes, husband with pellet gun, it just was out of control.We even had hawks and owls take mice. In the end, we sold the animals so the feed no longer attracted the mice. And we had to move back to FL anyway.

I keep my feed in metal trash cans until it goes in the feeders. That helps keep mice and rats from chewing holes in the feed sacks.
For the garden, henhouse and barn, I put Tomcat rat/mouse poison cakes in cottage cheese containers that I have cut a one inch hole in the lid. This keeps the chickens, dogs and cat out of the poison, but the varmits can eat it and take it back to their nests.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

The rats chewed the Romex electrical wiring in our pole barn. If we did not have a gfci system, it would have burned down. They carried more than a 50# bag worth of pig pellets from the pig trofts up into a box stored on the rafters. The weight of the box filled of feed broke open a roof truss and sagged the roof. We thought it was rotten wood or termites until we went to fix the calapse and it rained down all of the swine pellets like a hail storm.
They chewed some of my chickens feet while they were sleeping, I caught them in the act .
We are at war with the giant rodents. The rain chased them to our dry spots I assume.

 

[NorthTexasWink]

The rats chewed the Romex electrical wiring in our pole barn. If we did not have a gfci system, it would have burned down. They carried more than a 50# bag worth of pig pellets from the pig trofts up into a box stored on the rafters. The weight of the box filled of feed broke open a roof truss and sagged the roof. We thought it was rotten wood or termites until we went to fix the calapse and it rained down all of the swine pellets like a hail storm.
They chewed some of my chickens feet while they were sleeping, I caught them in the act .
We are at war with the giant rodents. The rain chased them to our dry spots I assume.

Eeeek!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I keep my feed in metal trash cans until it goes in the feeders. That helps keep mice and rats from chewing holes in the feed sacks.
For the garden, henhouse and barn, I put Tomcat rat/mouse poison cakes in cottage cheese containers that I have cut a one inch hole in the lid. This keeps the chickens, dogs and cat out of the poison, but the varmits can eat it and take it back to their nests.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/homemade-v-s-store-bought.1180448/page-2#post-18659511