A few days ago neighbor Bill killed a woodchuck for me over my lunch hour that we had trapped. I was telling this story to a coworker, who was judging me for killing such a big, furry creature. Coupled with the 'inability-to-kill-baby-mole' story, this brings up the question; at what point do we kill something on the farm?
Well, what we do is weigh how much damage the creature is doing and multiply that by what the creature is damaging (venue), subtracting a few points for cuteness.
For venues the creature is damaging, in ascending order of importance is:
yard < garden < barn < chickens
So if a mole is ripping the hell out of the yard, we have big damage, less important venue. If a possum bites a chicken but doesn't kill it, we have small damage but most important venue. In conclusion, we would attempt to drive the moles out of the yard through humane solutions, and shoot the possum.
When we first started trapping the woodchucks, we attempted to relocate them. However, the barn is freakin' GROWING woodchucks like it's a petri dish. We trapped seven woodchucks last year and we're having massive tunneling already in April. So we will continue to relocate them when it's convenient, but lets be honest, I'm not going to drive every woodchuck in Monroe County out to a farm. The huge tunneling is a problem because it compromises the foundation of the barn and also creates huge entries into the barn for raccoons and other chicken eating predators. So we have big venue damage to both barn and chickens. Even with the points they get for being cute, it's just impossible to treat them like pets when there's an ARMY of them.
So ends the explanation of how we determine what gets dumped in the back field for coyotes and what gets to live another day to annoy the crap out of us.
Showing posts with label critters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label critters. Show all posts
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Friday, October 30, 2009
Raccoons and possums
You know you're living on a homestead when you go home for lunch and have to change before returning to work because a possum bled on you.
A raccoon has killed three of our chickens. Ripped the heads right off and then left the bodies relatively uneaten. Raccoons, we have learned, kill for sport.
I bought a larger trap, this one with two doors. Pictures to come. I set the old trap on one side of the barn and the new one with the chickens and baited them with stale bread and catfood.
The first day we caught a chicken. I went down in the morning and noticed it was sprung and got excited... especially when I saw what we caught was huge and striped.
But it was just a black and white chicken, standing rather dumbly waiting to be freed. It of course had seized the opportunity to eat all the bait while it was waiting for me to find it.
The second day I caught a possum. Neighbor Bill shot the possum for me, and while disposing it of I got blood on my pants... big clots of blood. It was pretty disgusting.
The good news is that the chickens are laying like crazy! We had 5 eggs yesterday!
A raccoon has killed three of our chickens. Ripped the heads right off and then left the bodies relatively uneaten. Raccoons, we have learned, kill for sport.
I bought a larger trap, this one with two doors. Pictures to come. I set the old trap on one side of the barn and the new one with the chickens and baited them with stale bread and catfood.
The first day we caught a chicken. I went down in the morning and noticed it was sprung and got excited... especially when I saw what we caught was huge and striped.
But it was just a black and white chicken, standing rather dumbly waiting to be freed. It of course had seized the opportunity to eat all the bait while it was waiting for me to find it.
The second day I caught a possum. Neighbor Bill shot the possum for me, and while disposing it of I got blood on my pants... big clots of blood. It was pretty disgusting.
The good news is that the chickens are laying like crazy! We had 5 eggs yesterday!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Botulism
It was 50 degrees this morning and it was so cold! I got my first taste of what it’s going to be like to stomp down to the barn and feed the chickens in the morning when it’s cold. It’s going to be particularly terrible when the days get so short it’ll be dark, cold, and wet. The chickens are usually up and running around at 7:45 when I get out there, but this morning half of them were still sleeping. I don’t blame them.
So another horror story. (This has just been a bad few weeks!) So, remember the bird that had botulism? Well, after I dispatched her, I left her way out in the field under a bush. Frankly, it’s way too much work to continue to bury everything that dies. Dia reaaallly wanted to eat it, but we have a rule based on what other people have suggested who have chickens: dogs can eat chicken as long as it doesn’t look like a chicken. No drawing correlations between tasty food and hens in the field. Anyway, so I put her in the backyard and went to work. I got home and THE GATE WAS OPEN. She was in the backyard, but as we have learned by now, when she lets herself out she explores and goes back in before we get home. I hadn’t tied the gate shut because after a few weeks of tying the gate she stopped trying to open it. So I walk down in the field to where I left the chicken and… all that’s there is the head. Sans flesh.
I am horrified.
I continue to walk around in the area and find the rest of the bird. (Thank God.) I roll her over and inspect her and she’s all in one piece. You know, except for the head. No bite marks. This makes me pretty sure it wasn’t Dia. Dia’s a bit of a pig when it comes to eating animals in the field… freshly caught or rotting. I know, it’s gross. I really wish things would stop dying in the field.
So I go back up to the house and start thinking about it. I wonder if something that ate an animal that had botulism could get sick? I internet research. Yes… yes they can.
Fortunately, dogs and cats are apparently very resistant to botulism. Probably an evolutionary thing, because birds seem to get it easily and eating dead birds is tasty for wild predators. All the same, dogs can get it and apparently always get it from eating something dead. Symptoms (weakness and paralysis of legs) are supposed to show up in 12 – 48 hours. We spent a worrisome 48 hours, and now it appears we are out of the woods. Dia is just fine.
I’m not convinced at all Dia was the one that ate the bird’s head. But it is odd that something found it in the 4 hours I was at work. In the middle of the day. It makes me wonder what goes on in that field when we’re not there. I know we have lots and lots of snakes out there. The snakes are pretty bold too… one of them just showed up to a neighbor’s bonfire in the middle of the night… just slithered on into the middle of the party. We also have lots of mice and therefore, lots of owls and hawks. We also have coyotes, but I can’t imagine a coyote would have showed up in the middle of the day. Also a handful of feral cats. Still, I don’t know if a cat could have dragged the bird as far as it went.
It’s a mystery.
So another horror story. (This has just been a bad few weeks!) So, remember the bird that had botulism? Well, after I dispatched her, I left her way out in the field under a bush. Frankly, it’s way too much work to continue to bury everything that dies. Dia reaaallly wanted to eat it, but we have a rule based on what other people have suggested who have chickens: dogs can eat chicken as long as it doesn’t look like a chicken. No drawing correlations between tasty food and hens in the field. Anyway, so I put her in the backyard and went to work. I got home and THE GATE WAS OPEN. She was in the backyard, but as we have learned by now, when she lets herself out she explores and goes back in before we get home. I hadn’t tied the gate shut because after a few weeks of tying the gate she stopped trying to open it. So I walk down in the field to where I left the chicken and… all that’s there is the head. Sans flesh.
I am horrified.
I continue to walk around in the area and find the rest of the bird. (Thank God.) I roll her over and inspect her and she’s all in one piece. You know, except for the head. No bite marks. This makes me pretty sure it wasn’t Dia. Dia’s a bit of a pig when it comes to eating animals in the field… freshly caught or rotting. I know, it’s gross. I really wish things would stop dying in the field.
So I go back up to the house and start thinking about it. I wonder if something that ate an animal that had botulism could get sick? I internet research. Yes… yes they can.
Fortunately, dogs and cats are apparently very resistant to botulism. Probably an evolutionary thing, because birds seem to get it easily and eating dead birds is tasty for wild predators. All the same, dogs can get it and apparently always get it from eating something dead. Symptoms (weakness and paralysis of legs) are supposed to show up in 12 – 48 hours. We spent a worrisome 48 hours, and now it appears we are out of the woods. Dia is just fine.
I’m not convinced at all Dia was the one that ate the bird’s head. But it is odd that something found it in the 4 hours I was at work. In the middle of the day. It makes me wonder what goes on in that field when we’re not there. I know we have lots and lots of snakes out there. The snakes are pretty bold too… one of them just showed up to a neighbor’s bonfire in the middle of the night… just slithered on into the middle of the party. We also have lots of mice and therefore, lots of owls and hawks. We also have coyotes, but I can’t imagine a coyote would have showed up in the middle of the day. Also a handful of feral cats. Still, I don’t know if a cat could have dragged the bird as far as it went.
It’s a mystery.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Will it survive?
Ever see David Letterman's segment 'will it float?'... they take strange, random objects and toss them in water and see if they float. There's also a YouTube spinoff of this called 'will it blend?', where they take random objects and put them in an industrial blender.
Well, here, we play a game called 'will it survive?' Not that we intentionally put anything in harms way, but often there are those moments when something goes wrong. For instance...
An infection sets in a creates a bulb the size of a tumor on a chickens face that does not respond to antibiotics. Will it survive? (yes... she's strange looking, but fine.)
A chicken runs away and spends 48 hours living in the woods with coyotes. Will it survive? (she sure did!)
A chicken is caught and squashed by the dog but is rescued without outward trauma. Will it survive? (no... it didn't.)
A baby chicken is accidentally doused right in the face with organic pesticide. Will it survive? (yup!)
The 'cold' spreads to the baby chickens and 3 of the 10 have it so bad their eyes are crusted shut and can't see at all. Will they survive? (unknown.)
I've been flushing the crusted eyes with warm water and wiping them and trying to get them open enough so they can see... I worry that if they can't see they'll just lay around and get dehydrated. I also gave the really bad ones a tiny tiny shot of tetracycline.
Still no eggs. Three of the larger flock have all the signs of being ready to lay. Their faces are red, their combs are large... just no eggs. Not that I don't go out there and look three times a day.
Well, here, we play a game called 'will it survive?' Not that we intentionally put anything in harms way, but often there are those moments when something goes wrong. For instance...
An infection sets in a creates a bulb the size of a tumor on a chickens face that does not respond to antibiotics. Will it survive? (yes... she's strange looking, but fine.)
A chicken runs away and spends 48 hours living in the woods with coyotes. Will it survive? (she sure did!)
A chicken is caught and squashed by the dog but is rescued without outward trauma. Will it survive? (no... it didn't.)
A baby chicken is accidentally doused right in the face with organic pesticide. Will it survive? (yup!)
The 'cold' spreads to the baby chickens and 3 of the 10 have it so bad their eyes are crusted shut and can't see at all. Will they survive? (unknown.)
I've been flushing the crusted eyes with warm water and wiping them and trying to get them open enough so they can see... I worry that if they can't see they'll just lay around and get dehydrated. I also gave the really bad ones a tiny tiny shot of tetracycline.
Still no eggs. Three of the larger flock have all the signs of being ready to lay. Their faces are red, their combs are large... just no eggs. Not that I don't go out there and look three times a day.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Woodchucks
We have gone an entire day without catching a woodchuck, so we MAY have gotten them all. But we're not convinced yet. A brief scan of the internet says that woodchuck litters range from 2-9 babies. Nine? NINE?? We shall see.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Why don't we have eggs yet? It is now week 18, and according to my calculations based on our breeds and other people's experiences, we should at least have some tiny eggs by now. I've noticed more urgent digging in the barn lately as well. So I set up an experiment.
I set the live trap next to a hole in the chicken coop. (We've done this many times before without success using our previously successful baits: broccoli and lettuce) I baited the trap with an egg.
WE HAVE CAUGHT TWO WOODCHUCKS IN TWO DAYS. Both times the egg was devoured.
There you have it.
These are probably the babies of the woodchucks we caught in March as they are smaller and have really small tails. The theory goes that they were babies and were not doing much digging and just hanging out under the barn and coming out to eat grass and such. But now they are big and digging and at the very least, eating chicken feed, and at the worst, EATING MY EGGS.
How many woodchuck babies are in a litter? I will google this and report later.
I set the live trap next to a hole in the chicken coop. (We've done this many times before without success using our previously successful baits: broccoli and lettuce) I baited the trap with an egg.
WE HAVE CAUGHT TWO WOODCHUCKS IN TWO DAYS. Both times the egg was devoured.
There you have it.
These are probably the babies of the woodchucks we caught in March as they are smaller and have really small tails. The theory goes that they were babies and were not doing much digging and just hanging out under the barn and coming out to eat grass and such. But now they are big and digging and at the very least, eating chicken feed, and at the worst, EATING MY EGGS.
How many woodchuck babies are in a litter? I will google this and report later.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Basil, the farm at night
Rog took some good photos of the farm during the sunset.
We have another intruder in the barn. It has been digging tunnels. We filled in the tunnels, and it redug. We laid chicken wire, and it ATE THROUGH THE WIRE. See pictures. Any hints on what the hell this is would be helpful.
We also trimmed back some of the basil and are in the process of drying it in the dehydrator.
We have another intruder in the barn. It has been digging tunnels. We filled in the tunnels, and it redug. We laid chicken wire, and it ATE THROUGH THE WIRE. See pictures. Any hints on what the hell this is would be helpful.
We also trimmed back some of the basil and are in the process of drying it in the dehydrator.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
NAIS
A few weeks ago I wrote my senator regarding NAIS, the animal tracking proposal that keeps resurfacing. I basically expressed the often seen argument that if our dearest value is freedom, it is anti-American to track every farm animal everyone owns and to make it more difficult and more expensive to RAISE FOOD for ourselves. It is RIDICULOUS to think the government wants to know how many chickens I have, where I bought them, how many died, WHY the died, and if they ever leave my property (and where they went and how long they were there...) And of course, in order to do this without mixing everything up, the best way is to plant a chip in every farm animal. Let's just go ahead and tattoo a bar code on the forehead every animal and be done with it.
The government wants every state to do this, but the small farms have been pissed off enough to hold them back so far. Except in Wisconsin. Sucks to own chickens there.
Anyway, so here is my senator's response.
Dear Ms. Rood-Emmick:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about animal identification proposals currently being considered by the federal government and individual states.
The incidence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Exotic New Castle Disease, and Avian Influenza in the United States, as well as the known interest of terrorists in attacking our food supply, suggest that it would be helpful to discern quickly the origins of food in our supply system.
However, I agree that each of these proposals must be considered within the individual freedoms enumerated by our Constitution. I also agree that any program that would financially harm small farms and hobby operations, as well as provide disincentives to our youth participating in county and state fairs, would not be beneficial to rural Indiana.
I will continue to closely follow the debate surrounding potential identification programs. Thank you, again, for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator
The government wants every state to do this, but the small farms have been pissed off enough to hold them back so far. Except in Wisconsin. Sucks to own chickens there.
Anyway, so here is my senator's response.
Dear Ms. Rood-Emmick:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about animal identification proposals currently being considered by the federal government and individual states.
The incidence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Exotic New Castle Disease, and Avian Influenza in the United States, as well as the known interest of terrorists in attacking our food supply, suggest that it would be helpful to discern quickly the origins of food in our supply system.
However, I agree that each of these proposals must be considered within the individual freedoms enumerated by our Constitution. I also agree that any program that would financially harm small farms and hobby operations, as well as provide disincentives to our youth participating in county and state fairs, would not be beneficial to rural Indiana.
I will continue to closely follow the debate surrounding potential identification programs. Thank you, again, for taking the time to contact me.
Sincerely,
Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Shrubbery
Today we went to a greenhouse and bought 8 Holly bushes. Our plan is to plant a wall of shrubs along the street to block the noise from the street. The bushes are very small and won't get big enough to create a hedge for a few years, but we've got a good start. We're going to need about 14 shrubs 5 feet apart to get all the way across the front. However, we could only fit eight in my car. And it turned out to benefit us because as I was walking into Kroger to get some dinner stuff I spotted some sadder looking but very distinct Holly bushes outside. They were $12 a piece, which was significantly cheaper than what we paid at the greenhouse. I snagged three of them and we're going to go back tomorrow and see if they have any left and get another two. I was going to leave them all there tonight but there were only a few and I saw a few people eye-ing them, so I grabbed what would fit in my cart with the food.
In other news, we took the recycling and trash in today. We don't have trash pickup, so we have to pay per bag to throw out trash. We were already extensive recyclers, but with the added motivation of paying per bag, we've really managed to cut down.
This is ten days of garbage and recycling. (Granted, much of the cardboard is packaging from buying stuff for the house, so it's pretty excessive.) All the stuff on the right is recycling and the one white bag on the left is garbage.
And this is a picture of a bloom from a tree in front of the house. Any ideas of what this tree is would be appreciated.
And finally, in last news, we caught a cat in the trap. Apparently we have several either outdoor or wild cats around here. We've seen one short haired orange cat, one fluffy tailless cat, and one small black cat (the one in the trap). It started to freak out when it saw us, but we were able to free it before it hurt itself. We decided to halt the quest for catching the possums. We haven't seen any new digging in the barn, so it's possible we got all the woodchucks!
In other news, we took the recycling and trash in today. We don't have trash pickup, so we have to pay per bag to throw out trash. We were already extensive recyclers, but with the added motivation of paying per bag, we've really managed to cut down.
This is ten days of garbage and recycling. (Granted, much of the cardboard is packaging from buying stuff for the house, so it's pretty excessive.) All the stuff on the right is recycling and the one white bag on the left is garbage.
And this is a picture of a bloom from a tree in front of the house. Any ideas of what this tree is would be appreciated.
And finally, in last news, we caught a cat in the trap. Apparently we have several either outdoor or wild cats around here. We've seen one short haired orange cat, one fluffy tailless cat, and one small black cat (the one in the trap). It started to freak out when it saw us, but we were able to free it before it hurt itself. We decided to halt the quest for catching the possums. We haven't seen any new digging in the barn, so it's possible we got all the woodchucks!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Woodchuck #3 and painting
Three woodchucks in four days. This one was more scared. It's funny how they all had very distinct personalities; dopey, grumpy, and nervous.
Also, right now we're working on painting the living room. It's been a long process.
Also, right now we're working on painting the living room. It's been a long process.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Woodchuck the 2nd
We caught another woodchuck. This one was not as friendly, so I didn't bother taking pictures since it looked exactly like it's friend, just grumpier.
We're going to keep a running tally of woodchucks caught. This is two in three days, so I'm guessing we haven't seen the end of them.
A couple people have raised the question, in concern of the woodchucks, 'what if they have babies and you're taking away the mom?' Well, as we have discovered from the internet, woodchucks have their babies in April after mating in March. Supposedly, March is the best time to catch them because they're hungry enough to be enticed by bait, and it's early enough for them to redig a nest if they're pregnant. And no motherless babies.
More work on the barn and painting in the house tomorrow! We're also going to get tetanus shots. Pictures to follow!
We're going to keep a running tally of woodchucks caught. This is two in three days, so I'm guessing we haven't seen the end of them.
A couple people have raised the question, in concern of the woodchucks, 'what if they have babies and you're taking away the mom?' Well, as we have discovered from the internet, woodchucks have their babies in April after mating in March. Supposedly, March is the best time to catch them because they're hungry enough to be enticed by bait, and it's early enough for them to redig a nest if they're pregnant. And no motherless babies.
More work on the barn and painting in the house tomorrow! We're also going to get tetanus shots. Pictures to follow!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Success!
Woodchuck: 1, Helpful Gnome: 1
We've caught the first one!!! He's out on the porch right now. I went and got the neighbor to look at him. Our neighbor is this really old guy who's lived here for a long time and apparently has shot many of these. I told him we caught a woodchuck and he was like, 'is it alive?' 'yup' 'wanna shoot him?' 'uh, no thanks'
There's probably more than one, so after this litter bugger goes to the freedom farm I'm going to reset the trap.
We've caught the first one!!! He's out on the porch right now. I went and got the neighbor to look at him. Our neighbor is this really old guy who's lived here for a long time and apparently has shot many of these. I told him we caught a woodchuck and he was like, 'is it alive?' 'yup' 'wanna shoot him?' 'uh, no thanks'
There's probably more than one, so after this litter bugger goes to the freedom farm I'm going to reset the trap.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
We're going to need a bigger boat
A la the movie 'Jaws', we had a horrible realization today that we might be dealing with a monster. I went out to check the trap at lunch and the trap was sprung, the bait was gone, and there was no groundhog. The only rational thing I can think of is that it is SO BIG that the trap is too small and it sprung it while it's body was not entirely in the trap. I put a piece of broccoli way way in the back and reset it. We back later, trap was sprung, but broccoli was still there. Reset again. We may have to get a bigger trap. Right now we're at a fox and raccoon trap... the only size bigger is a coyote trap.
Updates as they become available.
Updates as they become available.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Groundhogs
We have them.
After filling in all the dug holes with dirt we went back the next day and they were re-dug! Not just a couple, but LOTS of HUGE holes. After some internet research, we decided to buy a trap and catch the sucker and release him on someone's property we don't like. (We're really not, but only because we couldn't think of anyone we didn't like enough to unload a groundhog on them.)
After filling in all the dug holes with dirt we went back the next day and they were re-dug! Not just a couple, but LOTS of HUGE holes. After some internet research, we decided to buy a trap and catch the sucker and release him on someone's property we don't like. (We're really not, but only because we couldn't think of anyone we didn't like enough to unload a groundhog on them.)
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