- Mar 18, 2013
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Never ever use poison. Raptors, cats, other predators and even your chickens can eat those dead and dying rodents and the poison can kill or cause serious illness
Cats are the way to go. I adopted a few feral cats which took 3 months to socialize and now sleep in the house during the day and are aggressive hunters at night. They patrol our barn and chicken coop and run - which they can get in and out of. The only downside are almost nightly gifts of live rodents which i have become adept at catching and about 2x/week i have to clean up rodent remains. Not and issue if they live fully in the barn or are mostly feral. My cats are well fed daily and dont rely on rodent dinners. Some pepole believe that you shouldnt feed your barn cats but that is not true. They should also get treated regularly for worms and have tick and flea protection. Barn cats and feral cats are usually available through local adoption services, local farms, word of mouth…Some cats wont and cant live inside = not my preference but putting them to work is better than what will happen to them in a shelter when they dont get adopted.
This is an 80gm wood rat which i took deep into the woods and released (my preference is to release them) and the kitties after a busy night working.
Cats are the way to go. I adopted a few feral cats which took 3 months to socialize and now sleep in the house during the day and are aggressive hunters at night. They patrol our barn and chicken coop and run - which they can get in and out of. The only downside are almost nightly gifts of live rodents which i have become adept at catching and about 2x/week i have to clean up rodent remains. Not and issue if they live fully in the barn or are mostly feral. My cats are well fed daily and dont rely on rodent dinners. Some pepole believe that you shouldnt feed your barn cats but that is not true. They should also get treated regularly for worms and have tick and flea protection. Barn cats and feral cats are usually available through local adoption services, local farms, word of mouth…Some cats wont and cant live inside = not my preference but putting them to work is better than what will happen to them in a shelter when they dont get adopted.
This is an 80gm wood rat which i took deep into the woods and released (my preference is to release them) and the kitties after a busy night working.