Spooktacular Delta, Ohio Halloween Homes awarded!

I came up with this crazy idea last year...and finally got around to acting upon it this Halloween.  Thanks to www.trophydepot.com and a little bit of effort a crazy idea turned into a whole lot of fun!
Here's a copy of what I sent to the local newspaper outlets (even though neither of them opted to publish...which was kind of a bummer...but we still had tons of fun doing this anyway).

Delta, Ohio, October 29, 2019:  If you enjoy Halloween then you probably enjoy driving around looking at your community homes to view the extravagantly lavish displays of ghoulishness and witchery.

Two Fulton County citizens have been doing just that for the past few years, driving around the Village of Delta admiring Halloween home décor.  They decided that the most FAB-BOO-LOUS displays summoned an award! 

This year, Rachel Dickson and Christina Summers of Delta had trophies made to bequeath upon the appropriate winners.  “We thought it would be grand fun to walk up to some strangers door in our community in honor of their creativeness and effort and hand them a trophy for having such lavish Halloween décor displayed,” Rachel said.  “Our communities deserve simple acts of good will. Just because.”

The categories selected were, “Most Creative”, “Most Elaborate” and “Most Creeptastic.” Thursday evening Dickson and Summers drove the streets of Delta deciding which homes would be pronounced winners of the 2019 Halloween Homes Décor contest.

The 2019 winners are:

Most Creative: 202 Adrian, Delta. Thom Gorman and Bonnie Weimer-Gorman

Most Elaborate: 406 Palmwood, Delta. Paul and Ashley Todd

Most Creeptastic: 308 N. Madison, Delta. Allen and Sheila Naiber

“We were glad folks were home when we knocked on the door. It was absolutely fantastic to see the elated reactions of everyone we presented trophies to,” Christina Summers said.  “Congratulations to this year’s winners and we’re excited to see what next year will bring.”

 And if you're wondering...yes, the choices for some of the categories were a bit difficult to choose. There are some SERIOUS Halloween decorators who live in Delta, Ohio.  It was tons of fun to walk up to each winners front door and present their award.  All were very thrilled and excited to be awarded our fun trophies!

SEE, artistic, creative ability comes in all shapes and sizes.  I'll always tip my hat to anyone who chooses to express their creativity in whatever form its presented.  Here here!!

Who knows what next year will bring!!  Halloween Home decorators beware!  You might just be the 2020 award recipients. 

Where is your art for *&^$!@ sake you may ask?

I picked up the pen again...and have started dabbling in some small projects.  I'm not sure why but I enjoy drawing on business sized envelopes.  Makes new art very portable.  All I have to do to move it around the world is address said envelope to someone and poof...art on the move!

Here's some samples of things I've drawn recently and not so recently.

Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up....abstract paintings!!!!!  Get ready....I have 2 in the works as we speak.

 

Chicken wars...and the end of it.

I've had enough.  Since my last post all of our guinea hens are gone. Poof. Sucked up by the wildlife vortex.  The culprit? Fox and great-horned owl.

While I can't do anything about the great-horned owl (besides making sure every living thing is indoors before nightfall for some reason the guineas started perching in the trees at night...and well...I couldn't really get them down from there or stop them from doing this...but a great-horned owl sure can.) However, I CAN do something about the fox.

ELECTRIC FENCE!

I can't say I had much of a choice at this point.  After losing countless chickens and now guinea fowl to the local wildlife...and also learning that two neighboring farms have also lost every last one of their chickens to what was likely the fox...enough is enough.

After trying everything else I could think of (trapping, hunting, baiting, watching out...etc etc..I bit the bullet, figured out what supplies I needed and then spent a day installing a simple single-wire electric fence.  Ironically, I haven't lost a feathered-friend since that day!!  So far...100% successful.

I had previously bucked the idea of an electric fence because I couldn't seem to figure out how to incorporate a three-wire, 4 foot high fence into the fencing that already exists and still be able to access gates and so forth.  Not to mention the expense of all of THAT.

One day in my conundrum, I came across Robert Plamondon's blog talking about this very subject.  Very informative information regarding his successes using a simple single or double-wire electric fencing.  I HIGHLY recommend you read his blog post about the "chicken saver" electric fence.

Made perfect sense to me what Robert was saying about a single-wire fence at just 10 inches off the ground. (Nose level for most chicken predators.) Why hadn't I thought of that??!!

Click here to read Robert Plamondon's blog post.

I went with a step-down version of the Parmak Super Energizer.  The one I chose is good for 30 miles of fence instead of 50 miles. Still WAY more than I need...but I like Robert's input regarding bigger is better. I have no problem zapping the CRAP out of any predator that comes sniffing around.

I found the whole process much less difficult than I expected...although one snafu that I dealt with was the electrical receptacle in the barn that I'd be working with.  Turns out most electric fence energizers don't work with the type of receptacle that has the test and reset button on it. Otherwise known as GFCI plugs.  The GFCI type plugs are supposed to be installed anywhere there is moisture present or humidity...hence why these receptacles are commonly found in barns, bathrooms and kitchens.

I didn't really like the idea of coming home from work one day and finding the barn burnt to the ground because of my war with the chicken predators...so I called the electrician.  He swapped out the plug for me and assured me that all would be well with what I was trying to do with an electric fence.  (Sure enough...has worked flawlessly since!)

The steps to install my single-line electric fence turned out to be fairly straight forward and simple.
First, I picked out where I was going to put the wire for the fence, figured out where I was going to hang the energizer inside the barn and how I would run the wires to the outside of the barn to the fencing and grounding rods.
I then walked all around the outside of my existing fence and pulled up all the weeds so there would be no issue with grounding because of weeds and tall grass touching the wire.

Next, I placed my plastic fence posts that would hold the wire.  And then I ran the aluminum wire attaching it to each post as I went.

Next I pounded the three 6 foot grounding rods into the ground and then finally I hung the energizer and ran the wiring through the outer barn wall and clamped it to the rods and the aluminum wire of course to the other connector on the energizer.

Our barn is incredibly dusty...so I also stapled a piece of a feedbag to hang over the energizer as a shield of sorts.  (seems to be working very well to keep dust off). 

With the fence complete and everything attached per the instructions from Parmak and tips from Robert's blog...I held my breath as I plugged the energizer in.  VIOLA!  Just as I suspected...it immediately started clicking (the normal click, click, click you hear from any electric fence) and the digital meter on the front read 13.4.  That should zap em!!  ( I also took a voltage tester just to be sure the fence was working and tested the voltage flowing through the wire.....yep it was zappin!)

And so far...I haven't lost a chicken yet.  Maybe...just maybe...this will do the trick and I can keep the flock size to about 36 birds or so.

Time will tell....

oh RATS!

I have a hunting camera in the barn to keep watch over the goings on in there after dark.  And I kept getting these photos of this long-tailed blur.  RAT!

These little buggars are much smarter than I expected. After multiple attempts using various bait (peanut butter of course was one I used that failed)...turns out left-over chicken wing bones from any restaurant that serves wings does the trick.  (Mice and rats both gnaw on bones and I suppose they can't resist the smell from the sauce of the remaining bits of chicken on the bone).

I couldn't believe the speed and acrobatics this rat could do inside my trap!  Amazing climbing, zipping around and maneuvering skill.  I can't imagine having one of these get in your house.  Ewww.

I actually caught two rats over a period of about 2 weeks (elusive, smart buggars).  And haven't had any more photos so I'm thinking done for now with rats. Never a dull moment.

Always something going on in that barn.  The gift that keeps on giving.

KFC drive thru

No. Not the human version of KFC, but the apparent wildlife view of our chickens.  After all...why not visit the local KFC?

I used to like our chickens to roam freely in the backyard.  Well, for multiple summers in a row now, that's not turned out all that great for the chickens.

Last year we had a fox visit regularly for about 2 weeks.  (lost about 10 birds to that buggar). And again this summer...for about 2 weeks...and again...lost about 10 birds to that buggar.  (I'm thinking was the same fox...but I suppose could have been a different one.)  Doesn't matter really.

So I've learned a few things about chicken predators over the years. 

Fox:

• Hunt during the day, usually early morning.
• They kill multiple birds at one time, then gather them all up and take the entire chicken away leaving only a puff of feathers as evidence that you lost a bird. They'll come back later if they can't carry them all at once.
• Impossible to catch in the act. They seem to know when you're home and outside and then patiently wait until nobody is around to attack.
• The photo below surprised me.  Fox at night...I'd found our rooster dead one day after a fox attack where I found no less than 3 piles of feathers. Tied his body to this tree and set up my camera.  Look who came lurking after dark.  Apparently fox hunt at night also.

Raccoon:

•  These little rascals are nocturnal. Night time hunter/seeker/troublemakers.  Is rare if you see them in daylight and if you do it's probably because they are ill/sick.
• If they can get into your chicken barn they will eat eggs and also kill your chickens right off their roosts.
• They leave the chicken bodies behind.  (Often times incriminating another animal as the culprit..such as a possum)

Possum:

• These guys are scavengers mostly....but I've come to believe they're not chicken killers but rather eat on what the raccoons leave behind (hence the incrimination). 
• They'll eat eggs and already dead chickens, but I don't believe they kill chickens.

Hawks:

• Daunting when you have these aerial predators around because apart from netting or overhead protection of some sort...you will lose chickens to these ruthless predators.
• You can't really do anything about these feathered fellas and gals because it's illegal to kill them.  If they do kill one of your birds...might as well leave the body so they get their fill.  They will come back hour after hour, day after day to eat on that dead bird until they get their fill.
• Not only do hawks kill living chickens or living things in general, but they will also eat on road kill or something freshly killed on the road.

There was a time when my chickens would free-range in the backyard.  And then the red-tail hawks showed up.  After successfully killing 5-8 my chickens figured out that upon the roosters warning call if they'd high-tailed it the the pine trees (branches were down to the ground) they would be safe until the threat had lost interest).  That is...until the fox showed up.  Running to the pines now became a very bad defense...easy pickings for the fox.

The solution?

Close up the barn at night...just before dark.  (Auto doors work great!  Battery powered, open and close automatically at sunrise and sunset).

Netting over the chicken yard if at all possible.

Shore up the chicken yard fences.  Wire fencing down into the ground at the bottom of your fences will help deter digger/tunnelers too.

Purchase replacement chickens.  Now this of course is futile if you don't first make attempt to deter predators.  Here's my latest batch of replacements.

Stay tuned.  There's never a dull moment around here.  Always some predator lurking about.

Why vehicles on railroad tracks don't mix well...

In June this was the result of a vehicle being abandoned on the Norfolk Southern Chicago double mainline in Swanton, Ohio.

An intermodal westbound train derailed around 10:20pm on Thursday night, June 6th after striking an abandoned vehicle on the tracks.  Miraculously no one was killed or even injured in this accident but nearby buildings and parked vehicles were damaged from flying debris and rocks for the railroad track.

It took Norfolk Southern crews until Saturday morning to restore railroad traffic.  Meanwhile Amtrak trains were also affected and unable to run through this area.

According to a WTOL ABC news article, Logan Guess has been indicted by a Fulton County Ohio grand jury on two counts.  She will answer trial for one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, and another count of interference with the operation of a train, a felony. 

To view more images of the wreckage and read more detail visit the following links.

https://www.13abc.com/content/news/Woman-indicted-in-Swanton-train-derailment-512804361.html

https://www.wtol.com/article/news/crime/woman-accused-of-abandoning-car-on-railroad-tracks-in-swanton-indicted/512-52da3506-2a28-4824-b5b0-b7b5f4e28502

https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/authorities-identify-driver-who-caused-train-derailment-in-swanton/512-84e49fbf-5d19-4076-8098-372fce288c36

Norfolk Southern railroad traffic has since been fully restored and all rail traffic is back to track speed.

beekeeping continues!

I was so thrilled to open my hive up this Spring and learn that the girls survived the winter!!  Originally when I jumped into beekeeping my idea was to start with one and then end on two hives.  I wasn't in any real hurry to get a second hive...but it just sorta unfolded in my lap this year.

Here's an image of the newly installed nuc (via Ramge farms...my local beekeeper extraordinare, thank you KENT!) into my second hive.

I continue to learn...somewhat by accident and somewhat by necessity when it comes to beekeeping and all involved.

My original hive swarmed this year. (can't say that I expected to experience that in just year 2...but there goes the learning again).  Fortunately, the remaining bees made a new queen and they're back to doing what bees do best...grow, gather, store, defend, repeat.

I did attempt to recapture my swarm...but they weren't having it and left to who knows where...maybe some other beekeeper was able to capture them and re-home them.  I'll never know.  But I know more than before about swarms and what to expect and what to do next, etc.  I also know that I've been delusional to think that my beekeeping adventure will end on just 2 hives.  I'll bet that in time I may have as many as 4 or 5...but I'm in no hurry to arrive at that.  Nope...too much learning still to do before that happens.

"Bees will do what bees will do.  Beekeepers are just along for the ride."  Rachel Dickson

Birthday traditon...not to be broken.

I started this tradition just a few years ago...and I liked doing this so much...that I insist on continuing this every year now.

Celebration of my birthday with a morning campfire!!  yes please!

And of course to prove that this tradition is still alive and well, here's this years photo. 

MY April 2019 BIRTHDAY Campfire!  just turned 25. :-)

Happy birthday to me!!

RHUBARB!!!

A large part of hobby farming is the innate need to celebrate successes!!  (because it seems there are an equal amount of failures)

So here's today's success!!  My rhubarb came back up this year!!  Hip HIP HURRAY!

If you didn't already know...I LOVE rhubarb pie (which is MY whole point of growing rhubarb) and this is last years plants...having survived the winter...and here we are on year two of these plants.

Supposedly I will be able to harvest from these next year.  Maybe...just maybe with some "luck" or "accidental success" (as I've learned to call it) I could harvest this year....but will have to wait and see.

Meanwhile...worth celebrating...my rhubarb came back!

Chickens are the damndest things!

So here's the thing about chickens...or shall I say...ONE of the MANY things about chickens.  They are some of THE most curious beasts known to man!!

I have to laugh...because ANY time I get involved in some sort of project in the chicken yard...here they all come to see what's new.  Gotta be all up in my business.  It makes me laugh every time and yesterday was no exception!

I've talked here in my blog about the previous mouse problem I had in the chicken barns....just so happens one of the results from this was a settling of the little chicken coop.  The ground underneath had been tunneled in such a way that the whole coop was leaning to one side.

I hatched a plan to dig up underneath one side and use a jack to lift it back up and then put concrete supports under it to keep this from happening again in the future.  Which after a little bit of a struggle and the usual tool failure and creative problem solving as these sort of projects go...you can see from the above photo that ALL the "kings horses and ALL the kings men" had to come see what was going on.  (ie...all the chickens had to investigate as to if this was something they could benefit from)

It made me laugh when I realized that they were getting in the way of my project.  The rooster is standing in front of the hole with my jack down in it, so you can't really see that well in this photo...but you get the idea of how invasive they can be.

I just had to stop and take a picture of this.  Yes...a picture is worth a thousand words!

Just another reason why it's fun to have chickens around.  Never know what they're gonna get into.

One man's junk is another's killer workout!!

Tractor tire flipping 101!

I was first introduced to the idea while watching a crossfit competition on t.v. one day.  Flipping a tractor tire must be hard because those uber-fit-folks looked worn out after flipping those things across a field in a relay.

I've been looking into adding some umph to my workout and I came across the idea of "junk yard gym" workouts on my very favorite site Pinterest!

So hmmmm, where might I find a tractor tire? After all...I live smack in the middle of farm country.  There's bound to be an old, dead, unwanted tractor tire laying around somewhere?

And then I remembered...I've seen piles of these things along the railroad track just outside of Delta, OH.  Off I went....to ask if I could purchase one said tractor tire.

BEHOLD!!!  Turns out....these piles of tires were behind a truck tire place along Airport Hwy...and they were MORE than happy to donate to my workout cause.  (I guess the proper term amongst tire folks for these old, dead tires are "flippers" or "flip tires" because that's all there good for I suppose).

Cheapest workout equipment ever! FREE. 

Turns out there a many MANY different sizes AND weights of these ole things.  The first one I walked up to and tried to lift...I couldn't even budge it.  The next one about half the size...was the one that road home with me.  (The two tires at the bottom of the photo above are what came home with me.)

Wheweeeee!  I'm in for some strengthening for sure!!

Here we come...fun...hard...strenuous...not for wusses workout!

Maple syrup season 2019!

It's that time again.  It's Maple Syrup Season!

I spent the last couple weeks gathering sap from our Box Elder trees again this year.  I was very curious as to whether this year's batch would taste any different from last year's batch.  My gut was telling me there would be a slight variation simple because it's natural.  And natural things often vary due to a multitude of variables.

The weather was perfect for sap flow from the 3rd week of February through the 2nd week of March.  For sap to flow...temperatures need to go below freezing at night and then rise back up to around 40 degrees during the day.  Which is exactly what happened during the dates listed above...and hence why also you can't make maple syrup year round.  It's a Spring thing...and....is also a Native American inspired phenomena.  Native Americans used to make maple syrup as a source of sugar.  Brilliant!!

Honey on the other hand was a European thing.  Honey bees are not native to America...but I'll get into that in another post.

So after starting with ten plus five gallon food grade buckets like this....

 

(Which by the way, hauling five gallon buckets full of sap is no easy chore.  I can't imagine the heavy lifting required at those MONSTER maple syrup farms up north in Michigan.)

And just in case you were wondering, sap looks just like water...but if you taste it...it's slightly sweet...sort of like a sugar water.

 

Last year I started the boiling process with around 25 gallons of sap.  Ended up with twelve 8 ounce jars of syrup.  This year I started with around 50 gallons of sap and yep you guessed it, ended up with twenty-four 8 ounce jars of syrup.

 

It took about 12 hours of outdoor boil time to get things down to syrup consistency and then about 2 more hours indoors to finish the process.  Lots of wood, lots of patience and a love of the outdoors and the smell of wood burning goes a looong way in this process! 

 

 The indoors process...the final hour of boiling. When the sap reaches 219 degrees you're done!

 

Interestingly, because I use sap from the Box Elder tree and not a Silver Maple, my finished syrup doesn't really have a mapley flavor...but rather more of a sugar syrup flavor with maybe a mild sorghum like taste to it.  The BEST part to me is....it's all natural syrup!!  No unknown crap added.  Just straight up, boiled down Box Elder tree sap.

 

I'm not sure it's really worth all the effort and energy and time to do all this...but...the process of it all is pretty cool.  And yet another hobby farm skill I have going for me now.  I know how to make my own maple syrup!!

Two years in a row...and surprisingly...this year's batch tastes JUST like last year's batch!  Who knew!

 

 

 

Cluttery mess inspired creation!

Like many people....our clothes washer and dryer are in the basement. And...like most basements, not a lot of functional space...as in no useful shelving or user friendly functionality.  So, the norm has been piles of dirty laundry on the floor awaiting a good wash and dry, fold and put-away.

I got tired of the mess and started looking for possible solutions.  And I came across this!!

Pinterest is my general "go-to" for inspirational ideas...and naturally I love to adapt these ideas to solve the various conundrums that surface in my daily life.  (I have also learned that just because it looks cool on Pinterest doesn't mean it actually works as described.)

So I took this idea (note the type of laundry basket in the pic above...too small of baskets for my taste...and viola...wal-mart to the rescue...turns out they now make a taller version of this same basket.  PERFECT!) and ran with it.

I also wanted to build something to somewhat custom fit into the space we had next to our washer and dryer.  (If it wasn't going to fit the space why bother? ya know!)

A visit to Lowe's for some lumber...and an afternoon free to build and POOF!  My solution to no more piles of clothes on the basement floor. YEAH!!

Time will tell whether my idea is utilized as envisioned.  But regardless I'm super stoked as to how this turned out!!!

I get so tired of "working space that doesn't really work"....so onward and upward to solutions that work!!!  Hurray Pinterest for another fantastic inspirational idea!

Ode to Jinx, rest in peace my little friend.

I'm very sorry to have to relay this here and include this post.  Have been stalling because I don't really want to write this.

But Jinx (my black and white cat buddy) passed away recently.  What a "legacy" Jinx left behind!  Full of spunk and spit and brimstone that one was. 

From day one when I found Jinx as a kitten...to the very end of her days...she was hard-headed and loaded with personality.  When she was young and full of energy you never knew what she was gonna do next.  In fact, I had to sleep with a spray bottle next to me because she took great pleasure in jumping on my chest when I was sound asleep.  I'd fly up out of the bed, yell her name and blast her with water.  It was a BIG GAME to her!

When I first got Jinx...it took me quite a while to settle on a name for her.  Then I came across this GI Joe action figure...a female ninja.  This was the card description and fit her to the T:

"Jinx studied and competed in three forms of martial arts from the time she was seven until she graduated from Bryn Mawr. Upon arriving in Japan for a vacation, she discovered that her family had been ninjas for generations and she was officially initiated into the clan. Jinx was recruited for the Joe team by Snake-Eyes.
Don't underestimate Jinx. She has been to the Secret Mountain and studied the Seven Silent Forms with the Blind Master. She has the Eye That Pierces, the Iron Hand and the Heart That Waits. She can see through your deception, batter aside your defenses and dazzle you with the strength of her will."

No, DO NOT underestimate this cat! And she most certainly would dazzle you with the strength of her will!  That was her....to the T.  So Jinx became her name.

As Jinx got a little older she developed a fetish with water.  And earned herself the nickname "lily dipper"...as depicted in this photo.  Any glass of water left unattended became her drink before too long.

Other nicknames she had were "darkness" and "jinkee."  (Our newest cat addition in the house was named after her..."darkness junior" or "DJ.  He is VERY much like Jinx was when she was younger. I'll talk about him later).

When in Tennessee she LOVED to mess with lizards.  One day I forgot to close the door that led downstairs to the garage and came home to this...tail-less little fella.  He was still alive but when I picked him up and put him outside....I said...."Now that you've experienced a little bit of what can happen to you when you come inside...I suggest you run and never return."  Seemed to work...I never saw him again.

She also loved to hang out on my computer monitor...literally.   I think it was another way to "intrude" and "impede" upon what I was doing in order to get a rise out of me...but in time I just left her be and she'd actually fall asleep in this position.  I imagine it was warm up there too.

Like every cat...Jinx loved boxes.  She loved to just lay in a box.  One day, the kids made her this box and she slept in it for hours and hours. 

You could always count on Jinx messing with stuff you didn't want her messing with.  So one day...we tested this theory.  Had some scrabble tiles laying around and take a look at what happened next.  Yep, caught in the act!! JINXEE!!!!  Apparently she could READ!!

She was never really a fan of any other cat.  Sort of a punk.  Didn't really make friends...but was pretty much the jerk (hence the nickname "Darkness"....she certainly had a dark streak).  Here's an example.  Here she is ninja-chopping it with Lito.  Jinx wasn't very nice...I guess that was the ninja in her. Hah!

Needless to say...Jinx definitely made a name for herself. She was a good buddy for me when I lived in Tennessee and so we've opted not to bury her here in Ohio....but rather had her cremated so she can be taken back to Tennessee.

Here's one of the last pictures taken of Jinx. She was always good for a selfie!

Rest in Peace Jinx.  You are missed!!

Jinx Dickson, 2008-2019

One great idea...always leads to the next problem to solve

I've mentioned here before that we live in the middle of wild-kingdom.  What do I mean by that?  Well last summer and fall through a process ...I started with a hunting camera in the barn to "discover" what all predatory animals were coming around trying to take out my chickens.

I have countless photos of various possum and raccoon and the occasional wild cat that milled in and around the barn each night. (I was leaving the barn door open at night primarily for air flow/circulation).

So...I came up with a plan to live-trap these various predators and ....eliminate the problem.  (I'm not going to say here what the specific plan for elimination was...so I don't incriminate myself...but it was successful)

I think I caught no less than 4 possum and the biggest raccoon I've ever seen!  (took both hands to carry to trap with that buggar in it...I bet he weighed 40 pounds)

But after removing something like 5 or 6 of these pests....my camera was still capturing photos of MORE.  So apparently...if you have chickens...the rodents will sniff them out...and there is a unlimited supply of these said visitors. 

I realized at this point...I was fighting a futile battle.  um duh!  Why not close the barn up at night?  Wouldn't THAT solve the problem??

Well yes it did...for a while....

stay tuned for the rest of the story

MICE!!!!

Operation Mouse Removal!

So here's the problem with closing your barn off at night.  Yes in fact it does eliminate the problem of rodents killing your chickens at night.  But....nothing can hunt the mice in the barn either.

Huh...who knew? Wild cats... raccoons and possum do help with keeping the mice population under control.  Close up the barn...and POW...out-of-control-mice-O-RAMA!

The fix of one problem seems to always lead to another problem that you don't see coming.

So...enter...Operation Mice Witness Relocation program.

I've killed many-a-wild-thing in my life...and it's not really fun...regardless the reason.  I needed to come up with a way to catch LOTS of mice all at one time.  One at a time wasn't going to cut it.

There is a five gallon bucket method that is quite successful but I'm not really interested (at least for now) in drowning these little pests.

So I found some metal box type live traps.  Cost me $12 bucks on amazon.  (figures I've since found the same exact thing at wal-mart for $7 bucks.)

Mice running into the woods upon release

I bought 2 of these traps.  Figured...the more the merrier.  I put 2 saltine crackers in each one loaded with peanut butter and place against a wall in the barn.  So far I've probably caught 30 mice over a period of 6 days.  Relocated them to a somewhat nearby woods.  Have at-em hawks and fox and such!!!

SUCCESS!!

The barn definitely feels different with less mice crawling around to leave their diseases lurking for my chickens.


Hip Hip HURRAY less mice around today!!!!