grumpy":1ya8i11s said:
Have you tried a bucket trap? If you set the trap with peanut butter the mice should ignore your fodder in favor of the PB!
Edited to add: forgot the link:
http://fivegallonideas.com/bucket-mouse-trap/
FODDER: A beginning. It's comin' along. Final shots.
- Thread starter grumpy
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Have you tried a bucket trap? If you set the trap with peanut butter the mice should ignore your fodder in favor of the PB!
Edited to add: forgot the link:
http://fivegallonideas.com/bucket-mouse-trap/
jeannie
Well-known member
The "Only" thing I can figure is that a mouse :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: got in and
pee'd in that one spot. I've been fighting them little @#@%$!'s since
day one. Poison, sticky traps-regular traps--bait boxes...You name it
I've tried it. I "thought" I had that room so tight, nothing could get in.
Any chance you could keep a couple of chickens in there for awhile? They will eat every last one of those buggers.
pee'd in that one spot. I've been fighting them little @#@%$!'s since
day one. Poison, sticky traps-regular traps--bait boxes...You name it
I've tried it. I "thought" I had that room so tight, nothing could get in.
Any chance you could keep a couple of chickens in there for awhile? They will eat every last one of those buggers.
grumpy
Well-known member
Miss M":1czh1wsi said:
I'm slow responding to all of your posts.
My apologies. My reasons for this DON'T belong on this thread.
I may start one in "Around the Coffee-Table" It "won't be a short one". LOL.
Miss M.
The added bleach seems to have done the trick. I'm still cautious however
and check every portion before I feed it.
The extreme fluctuations in herd size makes it nearly impossible to predict
the exact amounts needed on a daily basis. It's a toughie...that's for sure.
Mary's old gelding "Kita" gets the leftovers....if there is any.
The mice appear to have dwindled in numbers.
I'm still AT WAR with those blasted fruit flies.
I call them by another name......when I'm all alone. LOL.
The words rhyme well.
Chickens......?? I'm not real whippy on mixing the two species.
Rabbits are messy as it is.
Chickens only exacerbate the problems with their continual scratching.
True......they're death on rodents, without a doubt. When I had my game
chickens, there wasn't a mouse to be found.........anywhere.
Again.....my apologies for responding so slowly. I'll try to do better.
Grumpy.
best of luck Grumpy, --- wish you well
jeannie
Well-known member
True......they're death on rodents, without a doubt. When I had my game
chickens, there wasn't a mouse to be found.........anywhere.
Yep, my hubby calls them little dinosaurs. They see something and *zoom*... like velociraptors :x
chickens, there wasn't a mouse to be found.........anywhere.
Yep, my hubby calls them little dinosaurs. They see something and *zoom*... like velociraptors :x
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Everybody here has a life, and sometimes life gets nutty! And anybody who has been on here for any amount of time knows that you are pretty crazy busy!grumpy":26fciqbv said:
Okay, that's great to know! Thank you!grumpy":26fciqbv said:
We just went from over 50 to 9 (including house rabbits)!grumpy":26fciqbv said:
That's a pretty big fluctuation to us... obviously, we don't deal with the sorts of numbers you do! :lol:Yep, pretty much!jeannie":26fciqbv said:
grumpy
Well-known member
Thanks everyone, for being so understanding.
It's 3:24 p.m. my time and I'm just now able to slow down enough to
check "here" and get myself a bite to eat.
Went to bed at 1:30 this morning....out of bed at 5:45 and have been
on a dead run.........................till now. I think I'm gonna eat and take a
NAP.
Grumpy.
It's 3:24 p.m. my time and I'm just now able to slow down enough to
check "here" and get myself a bite to eat.
Went to bed at 1:30 this morning....out of bed at 5:45 and have been
on a dead run.........................till now. I think I'm gonna eat and take a
NAP.
Grumpy.
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A well-deserved one, sounds like!
"The extreme fluctuations in herd size makes it nearly impossible to predict
the exact amounts needed on a daily basis. It's a toughie...that's for sure.
Mary's old gelding "Kita" gets the leftovers....if there is any." -- Grumpy
Might I suggest an experiment on top of your experiment??
How about taking some of the excess fodder production and see if it could be turned into a `hay`? That way you have some backup in the event of a shortfall.
the exact amounts needed on a daily basis. It's a toughie...that's for sure.
Mary's old gelding "Kita" gets the leftovers....if there is any." -- Grumpy
Might I suggest an experiment on top of your experiment??
How about taking some of the excess fodder production and see if it could be turned into a `hay`? That way you have some backup in the event of a shortfall.
MamaSheepdog
Well-known member
grumpy":2rdvtt6d said:
I hope things are going better now, Grumpy. :clover:
jeannie":2rdvtt6d said:
That's how I think of them, too! :lol: I continually give thanks that chickens are knee high at best... imagine if they were 6 feet tall. :x Or four. Or even three. Even small as they are, I hope I never fall unconscious while in their vicinity. I am sure they would eat me.
JohnMc":2rdvtt6d said:Might I suggest an experiment on top of your experiment??
How about taking some of the excess fodder production and see if it could be turned into a `hay`?
Lol! Another project for Grumpy!
Now he'll be on the lookout for an industrial sized dehydrator or dehumidifier... or maybe he'll just keep it low tech and dry it on some screens. But that would be too easy, so I doubt it!
grumpy
Well-known member
MamaSheepdog":1jkc3zj6 said:
Thanks for your concerns MSD.....I'm workin' on them. :x :x
grumpy.
cmfarm
Well-known member
Very interesting. It will be neat to hear how things turn out later down the line. I have considered trying some sprouted grains for my chickens before but never got around to it. Maybe I should give it a try. We have a lot of different kinds of animals here and I am sure they would all love it.
Grumpy, I wish I would have seen this sooner. After Rabbittalk vanished, today is the first day I realized it was back. Anyways I tried this setup last spring too after researching it awhile. Tired of the pellets inconsistency and price increases, on top of little profits if any, this I had to try.
Took a bunch of time to get the automatic watering to function, and never did properly. The watering was the biggest headache, I won't even go into detail. The rack I built was similar to yours except all shelves drained front into gutters, then to a drain. It held 36 of those trays. Wasn't too bad at first, just 1 and 2 trays a day to introduce it. Till I got up to six trays a day it became a pain. Also knowing more would be needed.
I spent a total of 7 weeks at it and gave up and back to pellets. Just some of issues that started it off, were the mold issues, most of that was corrected with cleaner barley. Always guessing amounts for the week ahead was a pain. You had to do it everyday, can't get sick, you miss one day and it really messes things up. Hand watering 2x a day is very time consuming. Cutting up, cleaning up trays, just the whole process was involved. If all that wasn't enough the results were worse.
After going all over to fodder I knew it wasn't going to cut it. The whole point was to eliminate pellets. Not do all the fodder work and still have to feed pellets. The rabbits were definitly struggling, missed litters, less milk, skinny kits and does. It just seemed the were wasting away and always hungry. It was tough to watch and even tougher to realize the time and money wasted. When you look at the kits and they look like race horses instead of bell shaped meat rabbits it was dissapointing. Way to slow for commercial.
It was a setback for sure and at least I won't have to wonder anymore, cause I experienced it first hand. If you had a few pets and a lot of free time then fodder would be cool to dabble with. For larger inventories of rabbits for meat purposes it is not. I really don't know where you are at with this Grumpy, but I would have to say you will be back to pellets soon if not already.
Took a bunch of time to get the automatic watering to function, and never did properly. The watering was the biggest headache, I won't even go into detail. The rack I built was similar to yours except all shelves drained front into gutters, then to a drain. It held 36 of those trays. Wasn't too bad at first, just 1 and 2 trays a day to introduce it. Till I got up to six trays a day it became a pain. Also knowing more would be needed.
I spent a total of 7 weeks at it and gave up and back to pellets. Just some of issues that started it off, were the mold issues, most of that was corrected with cleaner barley. Always guessing amounts for the week ahead was a pain. You had to do it everyday, can't get sick, you miss one day and it really messes things up. Hand watering 2x a day is very time consuming. Cutting up, cleaning up trays, just the whole process was involved. If all that wasn't enough the results were worse.
After going all over to fodder I knew it wasn't going to cut it. The whole point was to eliminate pellets. Not do all the fodder work and still have to feed pellets. The rabbits were definitly struggling, missed litters, less milk, skinny kits and does. It just seemed the were wasting away and always hungry. It was tough to watch and even tougher to realize the time and money wasted. When you look at the kits and they look like race horses instead of bell shaped meat rabbits it was dissapointing. Way to slow for commercial.
It was a setback for sure and at least I won't have to wonder anymore, cause I experienced it first hand. If you had a few pets and a lot of free time then fodder would be cool to dabble with. For larger inventories of rabbits for meat purposes it is not. I really don't know where you are at with this Grumpy, but I would have to say you will be back to pellets soon if not already.
grumpy
Well-known member
Zrab:
There was only a very short period of time that I considered going
completely with fodder. Like you said, "miss once," and the whole
shootin' match gets messed up. I came to terms with the fact that
"although" I distrust feed companies, I'll be forced to remain "joined
at the hip" with them.........so to speak.
The fodder serves its purpose, in my operation. I'm still producing
18-22 pounds per day. YES, I've missed a day or two, I can't deny that.
BUT.....I won't forsake what I still believe to be an excellent food source
for the herd. If I don't feed fodder for an evening snack, they let me know
in short order.
Is it "ALL" that it's cracked up to be??
To be honest, I don't believe so. There's drawbacks with the system
and the time sensitive schedule one must adhere to.
And, I think you're right about the stock not retaining their weight.
However, I never completely switched over, but I did get the sense that
their weight was slipping. NOT much, but a little.
COSTS: This is the one point that I support. It's much cheaper.
It takes more time...but it's far cheaper than pellets. Plus, they like it.
That must count for something. To say it's been an effort in futility
wouldn't be completely correct. I've learned a lot.....good and bad.
Health: It's a positive when fed. It reduces the "forced" growth of fryers
headed to market. With the addition of a clean cheap grass hay, I've
almost done away with the enteritis associated with young weanling
rabbits. ( I had 2 out of 150+ head in the last two-months.) I think a
pellet-only diet is begging for problems. Diversity is important in their
diet. That's just my opinion.
Note:
Checking my notes, I've been doing this for 5 consecutive months.
It's been a long haul at times because of other demands upon my time.
Overall rating:1-10 with10 being the best....I'd rank it near a 7.
We're coming into cold weather so, I'll see how well I can control the
temp in the fodder room. My water closet is in there as well, so I'll have
two temperatures to regulate. This might me fun.
Grumpy.
There was only a very short period of time that I considered going
completely with fodder. Like you said, "miss once," and the whole
shootin' match gets messed up. I came to terms with the fact that
"although" I distrust feed companies, I'll be forced to remain "joined
at the hip" with them.........so to speak.
The fodder serves its purpose, in my operation. I'm still producing
18-22 pounds per day. YES, I've missed a day or two, I can't deny that.
BUT.....I won't forsake what I still believe to be an excellent food source
for the herd. If I don't feed fodder for an evening snack, they let me know
in short order.
Is it "ALL" that it's cracked up to be??
To be honest, I don't believe so. There's drawbacks with the system
and the time sensitive schedule one must adhere to.
And, I think you're right about the stock not retaining their weight.
However, I never completely switched over, but I did get the sense that
their weight was slipping. NOT much, but a little.
COSTS: This is the one point that I support. It's much cheaper.
It takes more time...but it's far cheaper than pellets. Plus, they like it.
That must count for something. To say it's been an effort in futility
wouldn't be completely correct. I've learned a lot.....good and bad.
Health: It's a positive when fed. It reduces the "forced" growth of fryers
headed to market. With the addition of a clean cheap grass hay, I've
almost done away with the enteritis associated with young weanling
rabbits. ( I had 2 out of 150+ head in the last two-months.) I think a
pellet-only diet is begging for problems. Diversity is important in their
diet. That's just my opinion.
Note:
Checking my notes, I've been doing this for 5 consecutive months.
It's been a long haul at times because of other demands upon my time.
Overall rating:1-10 with10 being the best....I'd rank it near a 7.
We're coming into cold weather so, I'll see how well I can control the
temp in the fodder room. My water closet is in there as well, so I'll have
two temperatures to regulate. This might me fun.
Grumpy.
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Thank you for your continued, straightforward assessments, Grumpy.
wamplercathy
Well-known member
grumpy
Well-known member
I gave it the old "College" try.....
Lack of free time played a major role in my decision to cease the operation
a month or so ago. With all that I've got going on, time became critical.
So I made my decision. See below:
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/4999960892.html
It was fun, I learned a lot, but other factors in my life took precedence.
Maybe someone else can get some use out of it.
Grumpy.
Lack of free time played a major role in my decision to cease the operation
a month or so ago. With all that I've got going on, time became critical.
So I made my decision. See below:
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/grd/4999960892.html
It was fun, I learned a lot, but other factors in my life took precedence.
Maybe someone else can get some use out of it.
Grumpy.
