After Lambert smashed his shelter up twice in the space of 48 hours Martin moved the pig ark into his field to use if he wished to get out of the weather
Here he is inside it you can just make him out, he has taken to head butting it from the inside.
Yesterday I got a new house for the ducks
It was made as a dog kennel and has a door on the front that fastens with a bolt, it was made for some-one who never came back and collected it so the old fella sat it outside with a for sale sign on it, I spotted it on my travels yesterday and thought it would be ideal for the ducks as they have outgrown there other house.
I have now spent two nights chasing them into it hopefully they will get the message soon.
The little blue eglu to the left is Gizmo's bachelor pad, he has never slept with the girls in the big hen house, he prefers his own house.
We have an obligation to provide our animals with adequate shelter, they then have a choice to use it or not, it comes into the same category as providing them with food and water and keeping them safe from predators.
I did get another mouse today in one of the traps but not until after it chewed a hole in a bag of feed.
I did get a comment the other day from some-one who finds it offensive that I trap mice, well its no good catching them and letting them go again, they cause so much damage, we do keep loose feed in bins so they don't get into that but its the bags of extra feed they go for, there is nothing worse than finding bags of animal feed chewed open and the contents spilling out on the floor then Kara has herself a feast and makes herself sick, or finding your hay is spoiled by mice nesting in it making it unsuitable to use for feed. The answer is you have to wage war against the mice. There are cats about also Cassy the Jack Russel from next door who loves to mouse. I will continue to use traps. I know I will never win but its very satisfying to find one in the trap.
It has been cold today in the wind and we have had a bit of hail and snow showers this evening, I have no plans to go for the rest of the week, although Saturday I have arranged to pick up some new chickens, weather depending.
Hope you are staying warm :-)
In comparison to your shelters we are very small fry. Our cats have a litter tray in the conservatory but as they dig numerous holes in the garden and bring back the mud, my husband bought a plastic box with a lid, cut a door in the side and put another litter tray on the bottom - easily removed and cleaned by removing the lid.
ReplyDeleteSome people should live in the real world, mice are pest.traps work, we had to use them when we first moved in here.
ReplyDeleteLambert cracks me up with his house demolition.
ReplyDeleteJean
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Mice are vermin - they continually pee as they run around, plus they can spread disease by nibbling in feed etc. I think it is an obligation for livestock owners to trap mice, but as a friend of mine will tell you - the released mice always come back - she put a dollop of nail varnish on the back of a mouse and the darned thing was soon back!
ReplyDeleteI have not seen mice here,( cross fingers and spit into the wind) not even in the shed, mind you there are several cats around and Ben checks the garden thoroughly every day. My Grandfather always said that mice, spiders and snails will come back if you throw them out. Lambert is a true man, bless him.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had horses we used dustbins (metal for preference) for storing feed, or else it would have been ruined by mice and rats (we live next door to a dairy farm). Rats did have a go at nibbling through the plastic dustbins, but metal ones sorted them out!
ReplyDeleteWhen we first moved here, this house was alive with mice and the first thing we did was to get a couple of rescued cats from a sanctuary which soon dealt with the cheekiest ones - I can remember sitting in the bath and having a mouse coming out and sitting on the mat watching me, and having his own wash and brush up!!
You have to do what is right for you and you can't afford to have feed wasted or spoilt by mouse contamination.
I think its offensive and dangerous NOT to trap and kill mice and rats!
ReplyDeleteWhen we kept sheep we used to put bales on the field in the shape of a cross for the sheep to get out of the wind whichever way it was blowing.
I'm with everyone else, I am petrified of mice and rats, I'd have had a heart attack if one was sat on my bath mat. Anyone whose lived in the country knows they will come back if taken away. They're incontinent so any food they've been on is contaminated which I found to my cost when I bought several 15k bags of dog food for the rescue. The little tykes chewed into each one, that was over £300 of money wasted they all had to be disposed of. It was £300 that could have paid for an op for a little one coming into us. The saying is that you're never more than a few feet away from a rat but if they stay in their place, me in mine and we never meet that's fine with me. I love the pigs adventure, do you think he's holding out for heated accommodation with a jacussi lol
ReplyDeletePeg x