Killing rats with salt?

[CrealCritter]

I'm assuming you have to paint all the surfaces with the saltwater/borax? Would you need to redo it occasionally?

Best to spray though, since it can get into cracks and crevices. I use a 3 gallon pump sprayer, like you would use in the garden.

If the surfaces are exposed to the weather, then yes you'll need to recoat often. But works well for interior framining members and should last many years.

You want a very salty water brine then add some borax. Make sure it's all desloved in hot water.

 

[CrealCritter]

I suppose you could use a cat to control rats. Thought...Live Trap a bobcat (think PETA here) then let it go in the area you want to rid rats of. I would guess after a few days all rats would be gone. Just be very careful when you open the door to let it go (again think PETA here)

 

[Britesea]

PETA? People Eating Tasty Animals?

 

[CrealCritter]

PETA? People Eating Tasty Animals?

Nope it's the people that rescue broadbreasted white turkeys from the slaughterhouse days before Thanksgiving.

https://www.peta.org/blog/peta-rescues-turkeys-thanksgiving/

 

[sumi]

I've been supporting an animal welfare charity for many years (Compassion in World Farming), but even I think PETA is nuts... And don't get me started on the HSUS

 

[NH Homesteader]

So... what's up with the HSUS? I am admittedly uneducated on animal welfare groups. Other than PETA, because they yell so loud you can't ignore them. And you know, the stealing livestock from farms stuff . Though I guess that's technically another group but heck, PETA would do it too.

 

[sumi]

The HSUS not long ago pushed through a law in Ohio, making ownership of gamefowl a felony offence. Cockfighters defy the law, and on national television no less · A ...https://blog.humanesociety.org/2017/.../cockfighting-segment-hbo-bryant-gumbel.ht...

Which to me makes as much sense as forbidding dog ownership, because dogs can be used for illegal fights as well. A good friend of mine over there have been working with gamefowl and preserving the old breeds for many years (he doesn't fight them) and is now forced to give up his flock because of this. People had their farms raided and flocks destroyed because it was assumed they were fighting their birds! People who were doing no harm, wasn't breaking any laws are simply not allowed to have this hobby or breed this type of chicken. My friend told me how the HSUS went about the whole business and it was so underhanded and wrong, it's disgusting. They have politicians and lawyers and unlimited funds in their pockets and can cause endless harm in the name of "caring" for livestock. The only thing they care about is power and money.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not pro cockfighting. I do find it wrong that old breeds that were used as the foundation for so many of our modern breeds have to be killed just because a few people use them for fighting. And the only thing this law is going to do is force those fighters further underground and hurt the people who want to do good by the breeds. I know a few people who keep those amazing birds purely for exhibition and conservation purposes. I keep gamefowl myself and am actually going to import a strain of OEG from England next year. In Ohio owning those birds is a felony now?

 

[NH Homesteader]

Oh wow! I hadn't heard about any of that! Is your friend able to sell off his flock to someone out of state?

 

[sumi]

Oh wow! I hadn't heard about any of that! Is your friend able to sell off his flock to someone out of state?

He did sell some of them to a friend in another State. He was talking about fighting the law, if they can, to protect the rights of the gamefowl keepers and breeders, but it's such a complicated mess and most of the lawyers he spoke to won't touch it.

 

[Britesea]

Two of the major reasons that jungle fowl (chickens) were originally domesticated were because the roosters crow at dawn- the original alarm clock, and because they will fight each other (NOT because they lay eggs, as back then they only laid eggs for a few weeks in the spring, like every other bird). Gambling is as old as man, and will NOT go away because someone makes a law. If fighting cocks and dogs disappear, people will find some other animal to bet on-- used to be bears and bulls, and humans.