Foiling Bugs and Bambi
 

On 3/21/2018 7:22 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 3/20/2018 10:25 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 3/19/2018 5:58 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:

We have a neighborhood feral cat that the neighbor has been feeding off
and on so it has decided our block is it's domain.Â* My husband
thinks it
may be sleeping under our house and getting in through a small hole,
but
he also said he hasn't seen any mice at all in the house or around the
house, so I guess the cat is eating everything it can find!
Â*Â* Miss Kitty isn't feral , but doesn't like to be held , and will only
take a little petting before she jets off . That's just right for us .
We feed her , but not necessarily enough to totally meet her needs .
Some may disapprove , but she also manages to catch and eat an
occasional bird . I call that natural selection ... and it hasn't seemed
to affect the local population other than to make them more watchful .

We used to have an orange tabby cat that was strictly and outdoor cat.
He'd catch birds every now and then, but one time he caught a some sort
of animal, either a gopher or a large rat, in the back yard.Â* I saw it
out the kitchen window and by the time I got out the back door to
dispose of the thing the cat had half of it eaten! ugh!Â* I just walked
away and let him finish.Â* Tiger looked like he was pregnant with a
litter 10 kittens for a week after eating that thing, too.Â* He wasn't
meowing for food for a while, that's for sure.

Â* I've seen Miss Kitty with a tree rat (a rat, not a squirrel) that was
easily half her size . Squealing like crazy until she shook it , I went
out to see what was the ruckus . I don't know how long it took her to
eat it , she was way up under the deck . We don't see ground squirrels
any more either ...


That reminds me, we have a brand new young pair of hawks taking up
residence somewhere near our house. All I can say is squirrels beware!

Those tree rats eat more tomatoes from our garden than any other
critter. I hope the hawks eat well!

--
Maggie

Foiling Bugs and Bambi
 

Terry Coombs wrote:
....
Â* He was putting his hives right in the road ? Doesn't matter who owns
it , that's just plain ignorant . Did you discuss the birdbath problem ?
The beekeeper should provide water closer to the hives or move them ,
might make them stop . You might be able to stop it by leaving the
birdbaths dry for a while , maybe move them , the bees will find another
source and might not come back when you resume filling them . I see my
bees getting water from just about any still water source . My hives are
now in an addition on the northeast corner of the garden . The wife
thought - and I agreed - that in the orchard less than 50 feet from the
deck was too close .

the access road is supposed to be shared
between us and the northern landowner. he
didn't think we had any part of the road until
i showed him the platt. just the location
where they were placing the hives off to the
side was blocking my access. if they go back
further east then it would be ok. i just
need to be able to walk through there once
in a while. he understood my points/issues
so we'll see how it goes this year.

there is much closer water to the hives, the
large drainage ditch runs all year, maybe 20-
40ft from the hives depending upon where they
put them. the birdbaths are another 100-150ft
east.

we can't move the birdbaths. we do let
them go dry now, but that is more due to
the grackles than the bees, but between those
two things it sure has changed the diversity
of birds using them.


songbird