i have mice :)

[lynda66]

it doesn't make you a monster at all, i wish someone would shoot our magpies flipping things, but i tend to leave things unless they cause a problem, i'm just a softie, why i think i could possibly have meat chickens and kill them myself is beyond me lol, personally i would try humane traps with peanut butter, if they were a problem, and let them loose in the woods, but right now they are just cute

[lynda66]

That won't help with our guinea pigs as they have the full run of the garden. The hutch is permanently open.

Here's one of them. This is Badger

awwwww he's cute i've never had guinea pigs, i always had rabbits

[Joe]

I'd rats in my compost bin. My missus solved that problem she and my daughter took the contents of my bin to the council tip. Shame it was coming along nicely.

I've got two bins on the go now. Gonna start a wormery too!

[lynda66]

i hate rats been attacked a few times, and one killed my favourite rabbit when i was young, though she killed it in return, she was a huge rabbit, and it was the biggest rat i've ever seen ..... horrible disgusting vermin.

[lynda66]

i built the new compost bin today, went to town to get some paint for that and the chicken house, came out of wilkies and it was piddling down that means it's gonna take much longer to get the compost in it and rehome the mice

[Stacey Steve]

I've often wondered about humane mouse traps,

If you catch a squirrel or rat in a trap, it's illegal to release them, don't know if it's the same for mice, although I would have thought so.

[Two_Sheds]

i hate rats ...one killed my favourite rabbit...though she killed it in return

how does that work?

btw. guinea pigs are much nicer than wabbits. But I don't think they kill rats.

[lynda66]

I've often wondered about humane mouse traps,

If you catch a squirrel or rat in a trap, it's illegal to release them, don't know if it's the same for mice, although I would have thought so.

it may be illegal, but we all love our squirrel, all the old grannies put nuts out (although most of them seem to get buried in my garden) i think it's house mice you aren't supposed to release, but sorry i'd take them into the woods and let them go, rats on the other hand .......

[lynda66]

how does that work?

btw. guinea pigs are much nicer than wabbits. But I don't think they kill rats.

dunno what happened really, the cage door was broken, she was on the floor her eye was hanging out, and the rat was dead a few feet away .......

i always looked at guinea pigs, but they always seemed weird and scaredy little things, whereas you can teach rabbits tricks and take them for walks (always good when you really want a dog, but aren't allowed one)
when i was a kid, the rabbits spent all day playing and making babies in the garden, then i'd come and shout them at night, and they would all come and jump in their cages for their tea ....... i supplied the local pet shop with babies, so they paid for their own food ... i like bunnies

[Stacey Steve]

I was unfortunate enough to get a family of squirrels move into my loft. While the young looked cute peering at us over the guttering and their antics playing across the roof, you should have seen the damage they did to my loft space.

Didn't realise untill I had electric problems upstairs. Ventured into the loft, wiring had been chewed, as was some of the rafters and plastic overflow piping. Droppings everywhere along with hay and food which could have been a fire hazard.

Expensive business, I can assure you. I had to get all the length of the house wire netted inside the loft to keep them out and then they tried moving into the soffits.

Have absolutely no sympathy for the things now, just tree rats to me.

[lynda66]

my next door but one neighbour saw one climbing the corner of his house into the loft, thankfully he caught it whilst it was just noseying, and blocked off the holes, yeah i know they can do a lot of damage, but they are cute

if they came up with a scheme to remove all grey squirrels and reintroduce reds, i would happily support it, but as that's never gonna happen, and as we don't have reds, then we just have to put up with the greys, i'm just not very good at the idea of killing things just cos they shouldn't be here ....... except rats and magpies.

[Two_Sheds]

Meeces will be trying to find somewhere nice and cosy to nest now it's getting cold. I've just evicted some from my compost heap ... I've now turned it over and given it a jolly good soak with stinky comfrey tea

[Tam]

Why do so many people make the magpie the villain of the crow family. Crows, rooks, jackdaws and magpies all seem to live the same kind of lives and it would be a scruffy old place without them. They are like the world's janitors. They do take a few young birds each year, but I suppose this is part of natural selection. I remember a few years ago seeing a pair of crows remove an "about to fledge" family of magpie babies from the nest. It was sad to see, but it is part of life. I must say that I do hate to see grey squirrels robbing nests and curse the stupid Victorians who brought them into this country.

[lynda66]

Meeces will be trying to find somewhere nice and cosy to nest now it's getting cold. I've just evicted some from my compost heap ... I've now turned it over and given it a jolly good soak with stinky comfrey tea

well it's not warm and comfy any more, i've moved the compost into the new bin, and i'm leaving the top off it for a few days .... the cats were both inside, and thankfully there were no babies

Why do so many people make the magpie the villain of the crow family. Crows, rooks, jackdaws and magpies all seem to live the same kind of lives and it would be a scruffy old place without them. They are like the world's janitors. They do take a few young birds each year, but I suppose this is part of natural selection. I remember a few years ago seeing a pair of crows remove an "about to fledge" family of magpie babies from the nest. It was sad to see, but it is part of life. I must say that I do hate to see grey squirrels robbing nests and curse the stupid Victorians who brought them into this country.

thing is, i haven't any crows etc that come in the garden, just the magpies ..... and without the magpies nesting every year the baby birds would have more of a chance ..... our sparrows seem to have moved this year.... it's more that normally the magpies terrorise the babies when they fledge, (this year we didn't have any fledging sparrows).... that bugs me about them and yes it would be wonderful to have just red squirrels, but unfortunately the grey ones seem to be here to stay, so without some mass culling programme, they aren't gonna go.

[BrideXIII]

Why do so many people make the magpie the villain of the crow family. Crows, rooks, jackdaws and magpies all seem to live the same kind of lives and it would be a scruffy old place without them. They are like the world's janitors. They do take a few young birds each year, but I suppose this is part of natural selection. I remember a few years ago seeing a pair of crows remove an "about to fledge" family of magpie babies from the nest. It was sad to see, but it is part of life. I must say that I do hate to see grey squirrels robbing nests and curse the stupid Victorians who brought them into this country.

well they are no villans to me, I love magpies, my favourite birds, I always salute them and say good day to them when i see them, and talk to them when I am out in the garden.