The Farm Vermin Saga Goes On

In the past the racoons have been the bane to our chicken's existence.  Over the past few years we have gradually cleaned out the racoons in the area.  Lately I have found that screaming at them like a crazy person keeps them away for an indefinite period of time.

We always have a couple times a year when we smell skunks checking out the place.  They never stick around to our relief.  This year I have opossums.  Once in a while when I go to feed the animals at night there will be a opossum in the barn.  By the time I can get armed they escape.

The other night an interesting thing happened.  When I close the chickens in the coop for the night I count them.  As can be seen in the pictures below there are always two on the ladder type roost and eight on or in the nesting boxes.  I am wearing a head lamp with a narrow beam so I turn toward the two chickens then the other way for the 8.  When I counted the two then swung around to tally the others something in the back of my mind triggered.  "Wait, something didn't look right with the two chickens."  So I swing the light back around and there is a tail sticking straight out next to the wall right next to the chicken.  There right next to the chicken is a opossum tail.

So I ran out to the wood shed next to the barn and grabbed a small piece of firewood.  When I got back in the coop it was still there.  The chicken next to it didn't look right.  I feared the worst.  I shoved the chicken to the side and it was okay.  I gave the opossum a whack with the stick.  It hit the ground and lay still.  The oldest trick in the opossum play book is to play dead.  I gave him a couple more to the cranium.  He did the running in place like I'm dying.  I carefully carried him to the dead varmint disposal place.  I didn't want the playing dead, that is hopefully really dead opossum to swing around and bite me while carrying it by the tail.

I am hoping that this rid us of another free loading varmint.  A couple nights ago, when I went to feed the animals, there was a opossum in the barn...  Was it really dead or just using the old trick?  I think we're going to have to start using the live animal trap to be sure of the ultimate demise.  Dang chickens.

Wolves Who Needs Them?

Oregon is now the reported proud owners of a pack of wolves. Now I admit that the settlers didn't always do things right when it came to "taming" a land but there were a few they got right. Wolves were killed of during the 1800's and earlt 1900's because they like to kill. Most predators kill what they need to survive.

I think the reintroduction of the wolf was a case of "the squeaky wheel" getting greased. It is a neat idea when you live in the city and make your living pushing meaningless paper around a desk. When your livelyhood relies on your herd being successful the whole picture changes.

Don't tell me they are a necessary part of the food chain. They weren't part of it for what? Fifty years and the chain seemed to be doing fine. Millions of dollars have been spent on this science experiment with what benefit?

http://www.fourcornersfreepress.com/news/2009/020904.htm

The big game populations are the hardest hit. So the State Fish and Game departments are killing their golden egg laying goose. Hunting and hunters inject a huge amount of money into the state economies. Introducing something that depleats the game populations is counter productive...

Whoever said governmental decisions had to make business sense.

http://www.huntwolves.com/how-to-hunt-wolves

Okay I feel better now.

Ma, Something Doesn't Smell Right

Sunday evening when I fed the critters and shut the birds in the coop for the night it smelled a little like skunk in the barn. Every summer we have a skunk cruise through the place. We usually smell them in the night pass by. Overall we haven't had any problems with them staying.

Monday the Mrs. took care of the animals so I didn't know anything was amiss. Tuesday morning at work I received an email that said there was a skunk in the barn, for sure. So I responded back to root it out and kill it. I didn't find out until much later that the lads had thumped it a few times with their Red Rider BB guns. Much to the dislike of the odor maker.

So Tuesday evening eldest lad and I got a .22 rifle and a flash light to go deal with the skunk. We found the skunk and it was tangled up in an old fishing net that we had used for catching chickens and wild cats. It was in a small space between the hay stack and the feed bins. While we were observing M. Le Pew it worked itself around until its backside was in our direction and ready for smelly action. We departed quickly!

We had to round up the camera and get a picture for the blog. As you can see the skunk was a bit camera shy. After a couple pix eldest lad exited. Dad had to take care of it...

Now shooting a skunk and not making it dead instantly could be a smelly situation. I took the cautious man's route with a point blank to the head lead injection. I gingerly made sure it had expired before I hauled it and the net out of the barn. I carefully untangled it and disposed of it. The air in the barn was heavy with the odor. I never got sprayed but just being in there had made my clothes skunky. My minor contact with two fingers at arms length had my hands stinking. I washed with soap, I washed with rubbing alcohol and I still had the faint essence of skunk the next day on my hands.

That is some serious stank! It was a young fellow by the size of it. I can't image what it would be like to have one several years old with lots of ammo. As usual there is never a dull moment around the farm. DMP