NH Homesteader's journal

[NH Homesteader]

Yeah my husband is planning on asking him if he can't come get her right away, to please drop off food for her. But even then, anything longer than this weekend will mess us up. He's even going to be nice and ask if he needs help unloading her at his house.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well I don't think my meat birds are killing each other. Or at least they might be but only because the rats are attacking them first. I woke up to 7 with missing, bitten off tails. It's on, rats.

We didn't want to use poison because, 1- we have a dog that eats gross things and I wouldn't put it past her to eat a dead rat and 2- we don't want to poison the owls. But this is not going to work for me.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I HATE RATS! In the past I've had broodies hatch a bunch of chicks and the rats would sneak off with one a night until they were gone. Now, I put the broodies and their chicks into a wire cage at night that the rats can't get into. When the chicks get too big for me to catch...they're usually safe.

Hope you find a way to annihilate the beasts without hurting the birds!

 

[NH Homesteader]

My husband runs around and shoots them at night. It makes him feel better but doesn't actually amount to much! We are going to look for a repeating trap. We have some bucket type traps set up but so far nothing. I hate them! They haven't bothered the other birds much, but then again the rest of the birds roost at night.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well the pigs are all still here. My husband is starting to get mad though so I think he'll get on that tomorrow. We can't really butcher the other one until she goes, not easily anyway. The one we sold is insanely protective of her sister so I think we would be attacked if we tried to do "the deed" if she knows about it. So next week is our time frame since my husband has to work all weekend anyway.

going to try to breed one doe to my buck next month. No idea how that will go. He's only 6 months old but I don't have another buck so I hope he can reach!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Made more spaghetti sauce today. Tomorrow night we are forecasted to have the first freeze of the year, 30 degrees. All I really have to do is pick a few pumpkins that are finishing up ripening. I have a couple more tomatoes that I can try to finish up inside but might not even bother.

Yes! My husband just killed a rat with his. 22, gotta start somewhere. He thinks it was pregnant too so hooray!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Can you send your husband to my house... I need another rat killer. But yay Gracie - found a dead rat on the back porch yesterday morning. But...ugh...gross

 

[NH Homesteader]

Eww!

I wish my dogs were fast enough to get rats. The two of them killed a chipmunk one day. They both looked freaked out when it stopped moving. It was hilarious. But the rats are too fast!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Well the garden is officially done. Pumpkins didn't do so well with the lack of rain. I kind of neglected them in favor of plants we actually eat. We ended up with a few for us to carve with our daughter for Halloween and one for our pig's "last supper". Tradition here to feed a good supper the night before butchering and say our thank you and goodbye. We do love our pigs.

Tomorrow we are going to survey the damage of our Cornish X meat birds. No more new bites, but now that we know the rats are involved we are probably going to dispose of the ones with bites. I've done a lot of research on the diseases rats carry and I am not going to feed my daughter anything that could potentially be carrying them. This is a huge hit for us. I'm really upset. I'm also never raising birds again that are so stupid they won't roost or defend themselves. Heritage birds only now. And I am trying to find more recipes without chicken to change our eating habits. Fortunately we have turkeys, which we never did before so they will fill in as chicken in some beloved recipes!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Husband just shot another rat. Yes!

We put down the most obviously chewed on birds today. And two more had died. Of course the rats bite them then they peck each other to death. I HATE these birds, did I mention that? We have 21 left at this point and we have to inspect closer to see who is ok and who isn't at some point this week. My husband can only take so much killing at a time I think. He doesn't say that but I know it weighs on him.

Except rats. He could kill every stinking one of them without it bothering him a bit.

On a good note my meat turkeys and all our heritage birds look great. Except our adult Dominique hen, she's molting and she looks terrible!