Let's talk Chicken.. The pets, not the food..

[jeeper]

You know what's easier than raising your fence? Take a pair of scissors to one wing per chuck. They can't fly over a 4 ft fence with a clipped wing. 90% of the time, it works every time.

We did once, and I think it mostly worked. 1 chicken was still able to escape... so like 90% stayed in..

I am not a huge fan of the tall fence now that it's been a day. So I think I will have to cut it shorter and make the kids clip wings again. That will also help keep this chickens off the hot tub, sxs, ac unit, trailers, other fences, etc..

 

[Cody]

OK hear me out...so you build this and put it at the exit of their entrance tunnel. I call it the brazen cock.


Triggering the heat source might be tricky. Maybe the flap lands back on an on switch for an internal halogen bulb? Or it triggers a torch or something? @cruiseroutfit you're an engineer. Any ideas for igniting the heat source here?

 

[N-Smooth]

I wonder if the rats live in the tunnels...? If that's the case you can attach a hose to a generator (or any small engine, really) and carbon monoxide the bastards. Pest control companies do this for gophers and it's usually just a hand truck with a small engine. Add a little oil to the gas if you want it to smoke and it make it easier to see where the exhaust gas is going...

 

[Kevin B.]

OK hear me out...so you build this and put it at the exit of their entrance tunnel. I call it the brazen cock.

View attachment 171441
Triggering the heat source might be tricky. Maybe the flap lands back on an on switch for an internal halogen bulb? Or it triggers a torch or something? @cruiseroutfit you're an engineer. Any ideas for igniting the heat source here?

Priam King of Troy would like to know your location.

 

[Cody]

Edit: I just thought---what if the laser beams mounted on the chicken's heads were used to super-heat the brazen cock?*

*I'm confident in that the last sentence has never before been uttered, by man or beast, in all of human history.

 

[jeeper]

So I checked the cameras to see if there were any active rats at about 11:30 tonight. I noticed the clear lid was off the trap box.
Review video, the hound went out this afternoon, lifted the lid, and got into the food. She got clipped by a trap and ran out.
However, that left 5 more set traps and food available for the chickens. 2 of them got straight up snapped across the neck in the traps. Murder spikes and all. Pretty sad video to watch as they panic and flap about.. but amazingly both got free and are alive and well (for now). One of the chickens decided not to go into the coop tonight and was found roosting on the fence instead. I’m sure there is some ptsd there. Guess I’m going to have to revisit the lid securement of the trap now.

 

[kmboren]

I bet your dog thinks twice about doing that again. Kinda surprised your chickens lived through a snap to the neck.

 

[jeeper]

I bet your dog thinks twice about doing that again. Kinda surprised your chickens lived through a snap to the neck.

We were too. One chicken laid down and gave up for about 2 minutes in the camera, but then flapped around again and hit its head on a post which knocked the trap off.
Looks like that chicken may actually be blind in one eye now. 😕

 

[Herzog]

New additions to the flock

The sussex (brown) are awesome. The one with the slighly less white belly chills with me, hops on my shoulder. They're not super scared. So far they are my favorites.

 

[Herzog]

 

[ID Bronco]

We added 5 new hens, the competition got our other non layers to lay for a while. It's interesting how they compete. Now, to cull the flock.

 

[glockman]

We added 5 new hens, the competition got our other non layers to lay for a while. It's interesting how they compete. Now, to cull the flock.

My 4 and 5 year old hens are still laying.

 

[ID Bronco]

My 4 and 5 year old hens are still laying.

These are at least that old. They are mostly free loaders. They are my liberal girls. Maybe I'll rename them: Hillary, Dianne, Alexandria, ect.

 

[jeeper]

What do you think.. did I get him?

My shot angle was right across the top of the brick corner. I was set up to shoot him between the buckets, not to the side of the water bucket. The rat is in line between the dirt poof and myself.
I couldn't believe I missed! I have this rubber band gun perfectly dialed. Maybe I flinched.

BUT... on my phone I can slow it down and zoom in, and his hips move just before the dirt poof.. indicating that something may have passed through his hips..

BUT but.. I doubt he'd be able to move like that had the rubber band actually passed though it, right?

On my phone I am convinced I hit him. On the computer/youTube, and the lack of death, I am sure I missed. 🤦‍♂️

 

[Kevin B.]

At .25 speed on Youtube it looks like he moves after the poof. The way his hips move makes me think you might have got him with the ground skip though.

 

[jeeper]

At .25 speed on Youtube it looks like he moves after the poof.

I agree. On the phone I get a few more frames in between that look a little different.. but I think I am just trying to convince myself that I don't suck.

I wonder how this will affect his behavior. Gone for good, or back tomorrow?

 

[jeeper]

I wonder how this will affect his behavior. Gone for good, or back tomorrow?

Not scared. Back 4 hours later.

 

[jeeper]

I got him with a high powered blow dart gun this evening.

My blow dart angle was straight on with him. He is looking right at me right before I get him. He still escapes, but has no back leg motion. I am really bummed that he got away. I wanted to measure it. I think it's a world record rat. I'm sure he went under the shed to die.

 

[jeeper]

Ha! Dog did its job today. She dug under the shed and pulled the rat out!!

 

[Herzog]

That is a big one