Yes, it’s really me. I am renaming this blog “Unrealiable blogger”, and you will all get a refund.
The main reason I haven’t written anything recently is because I won the lottery in August and have since been on a world cruise…. No, you’re not going to fall for that, are you!! In fact, it has been very quiet here on the garden front and I have been spending my time catching up on other stuff. I’m also useless.
Let’s just clear up the one thing you really want to know and about which you have so kindly filled up my inbox in recent weeks…
The chickens DID, honestly, lay quite a few eggs in August. I even had enough to SELL some to Richard, our local bee expert, and I made around TEN euros to buy more grain!!! Yes, indeed, great news. However, as soon as August ended and the days grew cooler, they slowed right down to none a day. So I am now back to square one.
Anyway, another wwoofer has arrived to give me a hand sorting everything out for autumn. We spent the whole of yesterday digging couch grass roots out of the future strawberry patch, and when we decided to turn the compost heap next to it we found a rat’s nest in the bottom of the heap and six little baby rats snuggling in it (the big rats had taken off, of course!) Here’s our wwoofer B with three of the cute babies, who haven’t even opened their eyes yet.
I couldn’t bring myself to kill babies, so we’ve put them back in their burrow, but now the question is what to do about a family of rats (albeit country rats) living in (and eating!) the compost…
jolynna said
I hate to say it, but those baby rats are really cute. I couldn’t have done anything to them either.
Maybe their mother will smell that they’ve been handled by people and move her babies somewhere else?
Thanks for the chicken update.I kept checking back to see if they had reformed or ended up in the pot. How disappointing to find out that your chickens have gone back to their lazy, non-laying ways.
But, it is good you are back posting. Once I found this site, I went back and read all of your posts and really enjoyed them. You have a way with words and your life is interesting.
LittleFfarm Dairy said
Oooh dear,
I hate to say it, but you really should steel yourself & do something to exterminate them – babies or not – it is frightening how quickly that one family of rats will become a literal plague which will steal food from your corn bins, eat your eggs (& indeed chicks & chickens, I kid you not)& will soil other feed & water supplies with their urine & excrement – to the extent it could at worst kill pets such as dogs, at best give them raging mange. They’ll also gnaw through straw baling twine & render any supplies useless.
And of course even country rats are virulent carriers of all sorts of really nasty disease – so dead or alive, young or old, they should never be handled without gloves.
Trust me as a fellow smallholder, unfortunately rats are a menace you really can do without. At the least I suggest you invest in a fearsome feline or two, such as we have here….
A good, non-chemical, safe-for-other-animals-&-birds product, is Eradirat – we’ve used it successfully here, although you’ll never get rid of ‘em all. Whilst they may be cute when small, they most certainly aren’t when they grow up!
Best of luck & nice to ‘meet’ a fellow blogging smallholder,
Jo, Tony & menagerie.
http://littleffarmdairy.wordpress.com
Debbie said
Love your blog! I’ve never seen a chicken catch mice before.
howlingduckranch said
Well, I once caught an adult rat in a trap, skinned it, and cooked it for my dog. The darn thing smelled so good I nearly ate it myself, and that was back when I was a vegetarian! Incidentally, I tanned the skin too, so nothing went to waste. It was beautiful.
Scarlet said
I grew up in South America, where guinea pig is a common meat. I tucked into quite a few during childhood (they’re yummy, by the way!) but I will NEVER be tempted to eat rat!!
eagoodlife said
Sorry for the squeamish, but you need a cat or two! Chickens are also great at catching small rodents,snakes and all manner of creatures.I’ve seen them catch, kill and eat small highly toxic snakes in about 30 secs.
You need to do the responsible thing or your whole neighbourhood will be over run,rats and mice breed so fast you have 600 before you know it.As a smallholder myself,is 12.5 acres a smallholding? I can tell you from experience you have to learn to get tough and unsentimental if you’re going to make a go of it.It’s a hard fact of life, not easy because life/death is so confronting all the time .Good luck!