Two Silos Farm

Today started out pretty much as usual. Did the normal "get ready for work" routine, which gets topped off by sliding on mud boots and heading to the chicken coop. The coop is in the old granary, which is divided in two sections. Chicks are in one, large birds in the other. There is a door between, and the trap door to the outside is right next to it.

So I go into the chick side (they are in a partition so I'm not walking in their pen).
Open the door to the main coop to open the trap door, and see a small grey/brown snout poking out from the rat hole chewed in the corner of the laminate we have on the walls. There is a hole in the floor in that corner also, and I knew there was no where for this rodent to go unless he came out of the wall.

I looked at him, he looked at me . . . And I didn't have anything with me to get him!! Of course there isn't a whole lot that I'd want to be firing off in that small of an area; I was about 6' away.

So I did some quick thinking, and grabbed the cement block that was on top of another hole in the floor, and put it in the corner. Just as I was setting it in place, the rodent ran out the hole on the one side of the wall, into the hole on the adjacent wall. Guess he decided he didn't have time to try to get into the hole in the floor. Hubby put a license plate over it, and the end got pushed up. Had he went for the hole in the floor, the cement block would have made it there before he did (that would have been ok too . . .)

So, figuring I had the escape route blocked off, I headed back to the house.

Son had worked that night, got home around 4:30 am and he was playing computer games when I got up. So I hollered up the stairs
"Are you still up"
"yea" he replies
"Grab the pellet gun, I got a rat trapped in the chicken coop"

He was down the stairs in no time flat, got the gun and some extra pellets and he headed out with determination in his stride.

He took a stance in the coop, and I removed the block. Figured in a bit, the rodent would poke his head out again. I went to take care of the chicks, and turned around and sure enough, there was that grey snout and beady eye looking at me again. From the angle, I don't think he could see my son. Son saw him though . . . POP!! and the snout disappeared.

We listened to it scrabble around in the wall cavity a bit (there is insulation there too) and then it got quite. Son banged on the wall a bit, and no noise.

I was late for work, so we decided that this afternoon we'll remove the screws from the bottom half of the laminate and retrieve the carcass. It smells enough in the coop without that!

So now Son can add "rat" to his list of kills.

Afternoon update:

Got the rat out of the wall, was bigger than I thought. That is my foot (size 8.5) in the picture.

This picture shows the two holes in the wall (looks like one hole, but there is an opening on each side of the corner). The rat had just enough of his nose poking out the smaller side for son to get him right in the head.

And here is the patch job. The rodents can only get into the walls if they first come up from the floor.

I tossed the rat way out back; hope something (other than my dog) will drag it off. After that I worked on the chicken fence some more. Got the rest of the old fence removed, the posts pulled (love my puller) and set them out where the new fence will go. Decided I didn’t feel up to pounding posts tonight, so I’ll leave that for tomorrow evening.

I really wanted to work in my garden, but came home to chickens on the front step and realized I'd better do something about them before I worry about plants.

I put up the fence between the two sheds.

Then took down the other fence along the south side. That got dragged over to the vegetable garden. I used short round posts for the garden, and put the fence around the parameter. Found the rest of the roll in the shed, and put that up, and came up about 3'short. Bummer!

Found another partial roll of fencing in the shed, it's not the same stuff but it will work. I've got a solar fencer too, so if I have too much trouble with the big varmints, I'll try hooking up a hot wire.

Tomorrow I'll work on putting up more fence for the chicken run. Best thing is I'm fencing in all those stupid poplar trees behind the shed. More stuff I won't have to mow around!

Once we have all the fence up for the chickens, those that fly over will get their wings clipped. And if any STILL get over after that, they'll get their heads clipped, and that should take care of my chicken problem. I've got mostly heavies, and know there are only a few that actually fly over the fence.

The chicks are growing fast. Those roasters are a lot bigger than the egg layers. Hard to believe they are the same age!

There is a fence between the hen and the chicks. This way they get use to each other long before they are put in the same pen.

The other day, someone asked for Ebay “finds” Here is a picture of my china.

My mom gave me the basic place setting set for a wedding present. It was one of those “grocery store” deals. The place settings could be earned by purchasing groceries, and the add on pieces had to be purchased separately. Mine is Bavarian China, not the newer Thailand stuff.

Anyway, there is a ton of this on Ebay, and I was able to purchase extra pieces to pretty much complete the set. There are other pieces in this pattern, but I pretty much stayed with what was available through the store promotions. But it sure is nice having something like Ebay where you can find things that you had/wanted from way back, and never thought you’d ever find again.

Anna is not too happy that I have the table covered with China right now. She thought it made a real nice sleeping spot.

I had a lot of plans for this weekend, and pretty much didn't do a
darn thing. Don't know if I should feel bad about that or not . . .

Saturday I took it easy, relaxed and read a book. Hubby changed the oil
on both cars, then got the brush hog out, did some repair work on it and
spent several hours cutting weeds. He said that made him feel real good.
He said seeing the weeds all over the place just made him feel like
things were out of control.

I realized that is how I feel about my life, the weeds have gotten out
of control and I just don't know where to start. And even when you do a
bit, they just keep growing and you never catch up.

Sunday started off real bad, but I went outside so I would not break
anything. I dug out big rocks for a while, that helped. I did get my
buffet cleaned out (it was full of my china, so I didn't deal with that
until I felt better). Got it all ready to move into the dining room.
The wind finally calmed down a bit late Sunday afternoon, so hubby and I
took out our .22 pistols and shot up some targets.

Monday we got the buffet moved, and did some basic repairs on is so I
could put the mirror on top. Here it is put back together. Some day I’ll refinish it.

I worked on catching up on that this weekend, had been over a
month since I posted. Just one more of those "weed" things . . .

Monday turned out to be somewhat decent, not near 100 and not 30 mph
winds. Sunday we looked at weedwackers and decided what we could buy
wasn't any better than what we had. Hubby took the ryobi apart, cleaned
it up and now it works better than it did when brand new. He also got
the Huskavarna working. That one is really old and won't last much
longer. But maybe I can get another season out of it.

Monday I told my hubby we needed to get out of the house, and we could
do what ever he wanted to do, provided it was OUTSIDE. He suggested we
go work on the chicken fence. I told him he missed his chance, he could
have suggested something fun like shooting our rifles. Didn't take him
long before he had everything ready to go and we went out to the
shooting berm. Son came out too, and we went through a lot of .357
rounds.

We were going to move the small shed out by the berm in the afternoon.
I had to detach the hog panels in the front, and dig them out.

Last year we had decided to use this shed as a dog house, and I had started
installing the hog panels to use for a "run". But we changed our minds
over the winter . . .

Hubby got out the skidsteer so we could move the shed, and he was going
to try and remove a few large rocks by the barn, but before he got
there, the wheels on one side locked up. He was worried he'd broke a
chain, but it turned out to be the sprocket on the part that puts
tension on the chain. Spent a lot of time getting the pieces of the
broken bearing out of the chain case, and getting the chain freed up.
He'll have to weld up a spot where the case got cracked from the chain
binding up, but all it all it could have been worse . . .

That's the problem with running old crap, something is always wearing
out or breaking. He got lucky this time, and can actually get the parts
to get it running again. Will be a few weeks, and it's not movable
right now. At least it's not really in the way - though not under
cover.

I didn't do much in my gardens, gotta get moving on them. I know it's
getting late for starting much, but it should not be a problem for
tomatoes or peppers.

I did get the shelves set up (another one for the basement and one for
the books I got from my Dad). I used the vacuum to clean up the books a
bit (they were covered with dust) and put them on the shelf. I think
eventually I'll put them upstairs, but they are ok in the dining room
for now.