Mouse Follow-Up

I knew that my last post would provoke feelings of sympathy in folks of a more gentle nature. The comment was made that mice have a purpose, this is true and I can even tell you what those purposes are.

Mice provide protein for other living creatures, they are on my cat Garfield's preferred delicacy menu. Followed closely by beautiful song birds. Mice also provide nutrition for snakes, foxes and hawks to name only a few.

They are also used in research for diseases, product, pharmaceutical and food safety, they are sacrificed for our well being and the well being of our pets.

You could say that the mouse is a very useful creation, he is also noble to give up his life for the benefit of others.

That said, I do not condone the use of mice or the killing of mice strictly for human entertainment, even though I do admit to laughing when the chickens are fighting over one.

I have not been able to photograph the feeding frenzy that a group of chickens will lower themselves to when one catches a mouse. It is just too comical to see the owner of the mouse run for it's life with 25 other chickens in hot pursuit.

The mouse is usually stripped away several times and the pursuit changes direction with each steal, the pursuers sometimes lose track of who they are suppose to be chasing. It reminds me of a football game.

I have been able to snap a picture of the capture of a frog but when a hen is running for it's life, it is very difficult to get the shot while running with the rest of the chickens, they don't play fair, they try to trip you.

A Better Mousetrap

In my opinion, it has finally happened. Someone has finally built a better mousetrap. Now if you have had these mousetraps in your home for years, you will have to excuse me, because I don't get to town very often and these are new to me.

When we bought some sacks of grain cheaply at Orscheln because they had holes in them, we became inundated with mice. I believe that these were foreign mice who came here from Orscheln in the feed sacks. Where they came from before that, I do not know.

This theory is supported by the fact that while at Orscheln, I seen mice in several different locations scampering about. As a matter of fact, I was surprised by the fact that I didn't hear people screaming all around me but then I think we were the only customers in the store.

This may have been a good sales gimmick used by Orscheln to sell mousetraps. There was just something about the store that made you remember to pick some up. I had three choices:

1. The traditional, wooden, finger crushing traps that bring fear to my heart every time I see one.
   
2. A newfangled plastic clothespin type trap
3. A more expensive, more complicated plastic trap.

I chose number two and here it is:



All you have to do with this trap is smear some peanut butter up under the top lip and the little mouse comes along and while trying to reach the peanut butter with his tiny mouth, he steps on the metal trigger and SNAP, he is history. This trap is easy to bait, set and empty, they come two in a package.

Since I was so happy with this trap, I thought that I would try the other plastic trap the next time I was at Orscheln. So, I bought them last night and have them set but haven't caught anything yet. But I haven't seen or heard any mice in a long time, they must have all heard that I got some new, more sophisticated traps.

Here is the other trap:


Now with this trap, you put your bait of choice into the well in the center of the trap by raising the lid on the well, as seen in the second picture. Next you close the lid then pull up the spring loaded bar by the handy loop provided, this sets the trap.

The tiny mouse comes along, smells the bait, hears his little tummy growling and sticks his twitching nose into the hole on the front of the lid over the well. As he sticks his nose farther into the well the lid lifts up and springs the trap. The bar then SNAPS down onto the cute little mouse and he or she is history also.

I should be ashamed of myself, I should have compassion. Who am I, that I should judge the life of a tiny mouse as less valuable than the life of any other creature. I should get live traps and relocate the cute little mice to your house.

Egg Shells

We save all of our egg shells to be recycled. When we use an egg the shells gets tossed in a bowl and left out on the kitchen counter to dry. After a couple of days of drying, I crush them with my hands into a big mortar and pestle for grinding.

Then I put the ground egg shells out for my chickens to eat, they love them. It puts the calcium and grit that they need right back into their bodies to make their next eggs.

The trick is to make sure that they don't look like egg shells to them, so that they don't eat their own eggs or another hen's eggs. Birds love eggs as well as egg shells and when they start eating eggs it is hard to make them stop.

When babysitting our neighbor's parrot, I feed her boiled eggs and she loved them. I haven't done it but I'll bet my chickens would love boiled eggs as well.

Chickens love protein and will eat meat, worms and insects are their favorite food of choice, they prefer these delicacies over corn and seeds.

I noticed the other day, one of my Barred Rock hens running for her life past the bedroom window. So I went to see what was chasing her, it was the other hens and the rooster. The funniest thing you ever saw was this hen running all over the place with a dead mouse in her beak with all of the other chickens in hot pursuit. One of them finally grabbed it and a tug-of-war began until the other hen won the battle and ran for the hills. She found a good hiding place and enjoyed her trophy. I tried to get some pictures of the chase but they were too fast for me.

I Can't Hear You

It seems to me that this should be a two way street, I know that several people are reading my blogs daily but for some reason you never leave a comment. I wouldn't mind a little feedback occasionally. You can leave a comment anonymously, so no one will know who you are.

Now for some unfinished business. On January 5th, I posted a blog called, "This is War". I have persevered, my long suffering and patience have paid off. I have won the war and have my revenge.

The trap that I set after that terrible first encounter was sprung this evening. It was with great satisfaction that I heard the snap of that trap. I am thinking about skinning the little devil and using his fur to patch the hole in my jacket, but the color just isn't a match.

This Is War

He has gone too far this time, I can be tolerant to a point but he has pushed me over the edge. I have been noticing mouse droppings around the house, in drawers and such since Christmas. But being in the Holiday mode, I didn't really go on an all out offensive, that has changed, I don't care if he is cute and just trying to make his way in this world.

On New Year's Eve we went to the neighbor's for the evening and to ring in the New Year. I wore my favorite Orvis wool jacket that I got on eBay for a song. Orvis does not sell a jacket like this one now and I always got complimented on this coat.

Well I stuck a couple of small Hershey's chocolate bars in my jacket pocket and forgot about them until today when I noticed little shreds of paper and foil on my jacket. To my horror that evil mouse had chewed a big nasty hole in the front of my beautiful jacket.

He is dead meat now! I will hunt him down and snuff out his miserable life if it takes me till doomsday. It's bad enough that he ruined my good coat but you just don't mess around with a woman's chocolate bars!