What did you do in the garden today?

[chickengr]

We have tons of huge wild rabbits, too, so if they hunt rabbit they must only hunt what they need & leave the majority to reproduce. Foxes enjoy playing in my yard, bringing all their kits from the farm field den to roll around in my grass & relax in the sun, back by the big barn, not near my flock at all. I told them they could hang out there (kinda joking) but much to my amazement, they seem to understand my request & respect it. I asked them to stop peeing on my truck tire & they haven't done it since. Go figure! Furthest back part of my property is their playground, that's their hangout, I get some pretty good photos, too. The seem to enjoy posing. I have videos of their kits playing. View attachment 3299263View attachment 3299264View attachment 3299265View attachment 3299266

isn't is amazing how animals understand what we say. I told a feral cat not to look at my aquarium with 2 fishes (ages ago) and she didn't. I told to a feral dog not to look at my chickens and she didn't. I told to an egg eating hen not to eat eggs and she stopped. unfortunately I don't have that much luck when I talk to people.

 

[Ascholten]

RatX bait on it. It works, once the rat eats it it has from 2 to 5 days depending on the size of the rat. Our test rat died after 3 days. The stuff keeps the rats (or mice) from feeling thirst so they stop drinking and eventually go to sleep and don't wake up. And since they are really dehydrated, they kinda mummify themselves and so don't stink as much as a dead rat tends too. You can even add peanut butter to the bait to make it seem tastier. I'll make sure the hens and Penny can't reach it but the company swears only rodents are in any danger.

I did an analysis on the Rat X bait and found it is essentially.. bread. Bit of grain powder and sugar / yeast. You bake them a cake. They can't vomit, so the sugar makes it become toxic or it expands in their gut and they can't process it or something and die that way.

My original point when I brought up that stuff was, you pay 12 dollars for it, which essentially paying 12 dollars for a table spoon full of dry bread dough. Make your OWN for about a dime. It worked that time but Id rather have good ole fashioned eye fluttering nerve twitching, brain break dancing DDT on my rats baby !!!

Aaron

Edit:
Here is the old post I put up concerning Rat X products.
Interesting thread now that we are back on rats

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ive-been-bamboozled.1464764/#post-24397835

 

[chickengr]

the last week, I have been with our club, the Nassau County Beekeepers Association, at the county fair, representing....

One building over they have one of the livestock displays, bunch of chickens in cages, geese, rabbits, you know, typical county fair stuff. There is a goose there, I go visit her every day, and give her a big hug thru her cage bars. Today I brought her some scratch grain treats, she loved them !! The HOA would kill me but I am Sooo tempted.. but No NO NO, do NOT need Lucie Goosie running around here ! she is so sweet though and her owner can't believe she is so friendly towards me.

All the chicken cages, they have straw below them, it's got like 10 days of poop on it. I wonder what they are going to do with ALL that straw once they take the displays down and clean up the place. That would be so totally awesome to augment compost with, but NO I am NOT filling the truck with chicken s41t to drive home !! It has plenty in the drivers seat Maybe I could get them to put it in a dump truck and make a delivery, put that in my back yard and Ill distribute it out from there, plus I won't charge you dumping fees !!

Do I like REALLY need mental help for even thinking of stuff like that or what.... I mean, as rich as that stuff is, and FREE compost? I got it, I'll take it off their hands, ONLY if they deliver the goose with it !!! In all seriousness though, I really Do wonder what they will do with all the poopy hay and straw?

Aaron

I understand you about lucie goosie but if you get her you need plan b where to keep her. geese are loud. the only reason my neighbors tolerate my geese is bc they hate our mean neighbors who hate animals.

 

[chickengr]

I've picked most of the green and better tomatoes so hopefully I can pull the rest of the plants soon. I've got a pot of green tomato jam cooking on the stove with plans for a couple kinds of pickled green tomatoes for tomorrow.

And regarding rat issues. Do not read on if you are squeamish: We caught an adult small black rat (a common pest along the southern coast) and tested the RatX bait on it. It works, once the rat eats it it has from 2 to 5 days depending on the size of the rat. Our test rat died after 3 days. The stuff keeps the rats (or mice) from feeling thirst so they stop drinking and eventually go to sleep and don't wake up. And since they are really dehydrated, they kinda mummify themselves and so don't stink as much as a dead rat tends too. You can even add peanut butter to the bait to make it seem tastier. I'll make sure the hens and Penny can't reach it but the company swears only rodents are in any danger.

And go for it Aaron!

glad about rat experiment. chickens will not be harmed by rat poison but cats, dogs and any animals with fur will be. my neighbor's tiny pinscher ate a rat bait and luckily I saw it and they ran to the vet. my german shepherd ate a small quantity of it and vet told me not to worry as a rat dose cannot harm big dogs.

 

[chickengr]

I did an analysis on the Rat X bait and found it is essentially.. bread. Bit of grain powder and sugar / yeast. You bake them a cake. They can't vomit, so the sugar makes it become toxic or it expands in their gut and they can't process it or something and die that way.

My original point when I brought up that stuff was, you pay 12 dollars for it, which essentially paying 12 dollars for a table spoon full of dry bread dough. Make your OWN for about a dime. It worked that time but Id rather have good ole fashioned eye fluttering nerve twitching, brain break dancing DDT on my rats baby !!!

Aaron

Edit:
Here is the old post I put up concerning Rat X products.
Interesting thread now that we are back on rats

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ive-been-bamboozled.1464764/#post-24397835

would cookies/cakes kill rats?

 

[Acre4Me]

Trying to cleanup garden in this nice spell of weather. It’s slow going with other obligations. Have my garlic ready to plant, and chose the two beds they will go into. I have 3, maybe 4 varieties to plant.

I have one variety that I’m going to leave in the ground overwinter. We received “bulblets” so, not a head with cloves. But, doesn’t seem like the other bulblets where we got a clove to cure them plant this fall. This one looks almost a bit more like an onion right now (except it’s deep in the ground), and the ones I dug two months ago were still a bit green as of yesterday. So, I’m going to leave that variety over the winter and just see what happens.

Still have one more variety of parsnips to pull. Then we should try them out.

So, my curing area for sweet potatoes is a tent with heater and bowl of water. It’s been just over two weeks, and one sweet potato in there has put off a slip!!! Lol. I guess it’s suitably warm, moist and dark in there, and I guess I should get those off the curing racks soon.

 

[WIchickMama]

Eh... Let's just say broody hen didn't do a great job....

Oh no, did you lose the babies?

 

[Ascholten]

would cookies/cakes kill rats?

Apparantly so, read the ingredients of those things. Maybe not baking them but just the ingredients.

Edit: and if you MUST have a definitive answer then... judging by my Ex's cooking... YES they can !

 

[Ascholten]

I understand you about lucie goosie but if you get her you need plan b where to keep her. geese are loud. the only reason my neighbors tolerate my geese is bc they hate our mean neighbors who hate animals.

Its more a wisting fanciful. I'll never get a goose here. I MIGHT get away with her because we have those damned Canadian geese who are squatters and spend the entire year around here and are loud and poop all over but seriously though, I can't see keeping a goose going well. I bet she'd take care of that miserable Hawk though ~~ !!

Also the person who owns her, I dont see them letting her go either. She was pretty much a show animal and those don't just get let go generally. (well maybe if they got last place hehe)

Aaron

 

[Liz Birdlover]

One building over they have one of the livestock displays, bunch of chickens in cages, geese, rabbits, you know, typical county fair stuff. There is a goose there, I go visit her every day, and give her a big hug thru her cage bars. Today I brought her some scratch grain treats, she loved them !! The HOA would kill me but I am Sooo tempted.. but No NO NO, do NOT need Lucie Goosie running around here ! she is so sweet though and her owner can't believe she is so friendly towards me.

Aaron

You're not alone, I met the most wonderful Sebastopol that would get happy & start honking whenever she saw me. She loved being hugged & pet, giving gentle goose kisses, nuzzles, leaning into my hugs & laying her neck around my neck, getting her head under my hair & muttering soft honks in my ear. I've never ever met a goose like her & I couldn't believe a goose could just love a total stranger & single out one person among hundreds at a fair.

The owner was even amazed, said y'all must know eachother from a past life, we had a good laugh. Funny thing is, I've actually had many dreams as a kid, where I was flying in a V formation & honking with a bunch of geese! Makes ya wonder, huh!

I had some videos of her, but this is all I can find, she was so awesome. I'd have brought her home in a heartbeat if her owner could've parted with her.