Rodents and Owls

Jonny303

Just wondering has anyone much experience with owls/birds around their farm keeping rodent numbers down? Are they just naturally there or did you put up a few boxes for them?

Love the idea of it as I've a serious phobia when it comes to rats so the less encounters I have (including with dead ones) the better.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8004426.stm

Interesting piece on how its being used in the middle east.

djmc

Havent seen any owls only a few kestrels sparrowhawks but they dont really hunt rats.
There are some feral cats around here that we feed now and again that do a good job keeping rodents under control.
The females are very good hunters and I have seen them catching small birds jackdaws pigeons mice rats even one killed a mink once near where she was rearing her kittens in a hayshed.
They are not my cats but just turned up and started breeding on my farm
They are too wild to catch but will gladly take any scraps of food left out even though the dog hates them with a passion and will give chase any chance he gets.
Only downside with cats is sometimes they leave a dead rat at the door to thank us for the free meals.
I believe if they are feed too much they will give up hunting as its easier to get humans to provide food than to catch it themselves

Atari Jaguar

djmc wrote: »

I believe if they are feed too much they will give up hunting as its easier to get humans to provide food than to catch it themselves

Yes. That's why domestic cats rarely hunt they get fed by their owner so why would they want to hunt, they wouldn't be hungry anyway. I often hear of people getting a cat to catch mice but that falls through because they are being fed they won't catch anything.

djmc

They are amazing to watch hunting and can fend for themselves in a way a stray dog never could.
saw one one day pass a small bird perched on an agitator outside the slatted shed it walked passed uninterested then went in another side door and circled back around inside the shed and approached the bird from the rear creeping in stealth mode behind the bird until it was close enough to pounce and he caught his own dinner that day.

_Brian

We got two cats over the summer, about 9 months now.. They are fed here at the house and sleep in the garage but spend alot of time prowling the farm.. plenty of headless mice turning up on the doorstep and one foot long rat last week (minus the head, they seem to like the head)..

Ours are fed but hunt plenty, cats like to hunt even not hungry..

One turned up two weeks ago well covered in blood, after some epic battle, he had a few bites on his leg but he had the "you should've seen the other guy" look about him..

Havent seen a mouse about the hens or where were feeding meal to stock since getting the cats so its working.. No poison down which is a releif..

Our vet recommended an extended vaccinations for them since they prowl the farm and after seeing the bites on yer man I'm glad we did.. would a big rat bite a cat like that ??

djmc

_Brian wrote: »

We got two cats over the summer, about 9 months now.. They are fed here at the house and sleep in the garage but spend alot of time prowling the farm.. plenty of headless mice turning up on the doorstep and one foot long rat last week (minus the head, they seem to like the head)..

Ours are fed but hunt plenty, cats like to hunt even not hungry..

One turned up two weeks ago well covered in blood, after some epic battle, he had a few bites on his leg but he had the "you should've seen the other guy" look about him..

Havent seen a mouse about the hens or where were feeding meal to stock since getting the cats so its working.. No poison down which is a releif..

Our vet recommended an extended vaccinations for them since they prowl the farm and after seeing the bites on yer man I'm glad we did.. would a big rat bite a cat like that ??

Id imagine that if he was a male cat most likely he went into another tom cats territory looking for ladies
They have their own patch much lions
It could have been another animal like a dog too.

_Brian

He's a male, but in spirit only

Mooooo

Cat here is fed every morning but she hunts away. When she has kittens she is unreal, rats birds rabbits anything. Still manages to knock over and cover my milk buckets in ****e as well tho the wagon.
The big dog hunts a bit alright, only seen him kill a rat once or twice mainly rabbits he goes for altho he did for 2 foxes that came near the yard, found the first fox and was wondering what was up as he was healthy out but saw him after the other one another night.
Had to put down poison this year for rats around the pits, youd want an army of cats near maize unfortunately. Saw a bird take a rabbit on out farm earlier this year but couldn't see what it was and didn't see it since

Jonny303

Yea we did looked at getting a few cats but didn't know how good domestic ones would be.

There is a ferral one knocking around and maybe thats why I rarely see any but we also suffer from a bit of toxo with the sheep so hes a marked man as far as my dad is concerned.