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Monday, July 7, 2014

It's been a bad weekend for rodents on the LLF...

Every day since the snow melted, I've been battling squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks - especially, chipmunks.  There are hundreds of them!  They've eaten my strawberries, sunflower shoots. They have holes everywhere.  They are consuming quantities of chicken feed.  And they are hard to catch!

No more.


The Chipmunkinator arrived Thursday. My money has never been better-spent.

Since Friday night, the score stands at:  Chipmunks - 0  LLF - 7.  The worst offender in the stealing-chicken-feed category is the grey squirrel.  They go in the coop, stand on their hind legs and shovel the *expensive* feed in with both paws.  The chickens come in, get freaked out, everyone goes shooting up everywhere, more feed is spilled on the ground, the Chipmunk Clean-Up Crew comes in and I feed the World's Rodents.  I cannot get a clear shot at the squirrels because the chickens crisscross in front of the opening.  It is very frustrating.  Too bad they don't make a Squirrelinator....

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Can you close up the coop during the day, and/or put a 2nd feeder outside, where you could hit them?

jaz@octoberfarm said...

they do make a squirrelinator. it's called a gun. good target practice!

Tombstone Livestock said...

I need a squirrelinator, hundreds of ground squirrels everywhere ...... chewing off all the leaves on the fruitless mulberry trees I have been planting for shade for the sheep. Two have drown in water tubs so I put one out in the pasture that they have the most holes in, going to add a tall garbage can with some grain, get them in where they cannot get out, make my own squirrelinator.

Susan said...

Nancy - Would that I could. That's the only access to their nesting boxes, though. I am trying to peel off the chipmunk layer first, then work on the squirrels...

Susan said...

Jaz - Hey, I have one of those! My aim, however, is not what you'd call Annie Oakley-ish. The squirrels have figured out that the chickens make good cover.

Susan said...

TL - That sounds brilliant! Like shooting fish in a barrel...

Mama Pea said...

Squirrels and chipmunks can be cute, no doubt about that. But we can't afford to feed them as much as the miserable little buggers will eat! And when it comes to stealing from the garden . . . that's curtains for them as far as I'm concerned. We catch them in a Hav-A-Heart trap and then don't have so much of a heart. If you know what I mean.

Susan said...

Mama Pea - We call them Have-No-Heart traps. One chipmunk did make an unexpected trip to VT - under my sister's close supervision...

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Most hysterical account of chipmunk war ever : http://15minutelunch.blogspot.com/2010/06/just-chip-of-iceberg.html

Includes a video clip of a catch and release attempt. I do not often laugh out loud but this one got me :)