googled how to get rid of dead mouse smell and found these suggestions: https://www.ridmycritters.com/....

apparently there are commercial products made for this... so search amazon too

cools! thanks

We've had quite a few small black ground beetles in the downstairs. Another 2020 oddity I guess something about the record breaking yearly rainfall.. nothing much surprises me anymore.

One of our hens is down to 2 1/2 pounds, from the nearly 5 they all got to. She can't be laying at that weight.

I keep hearing the white throated sparrow. I love that thing.

Can you separate the underweight hen from the others for a while, at least at feeding time, to be sure she's getting enough to eat? Maybe supplement with some sort of poultry superfood?

Whatever the cause, "Feleena" has gone over the rainbow bridge.
'Someone' had passed some sort of weird blobby thing a week ago, maybe that one, maybe related to her demise, maybe not. We never set out to have 12 anyway. Not to sound heartless but we aren't broken up over her loss. A lot less traumatic than a predator attack! (knock on wood!)

Understandable! Felt similarly when losing 1 of 8 bettas recently... the back of the counter was pretty well filled with fish bowls.

Wishing her endless juicy worms to scratch up on the other side...

It is that time of year for the mice to start finding warm places to winter over. River pounced on one just outside the family room door the other day. Even a single mouse can make a mess in the house. Probably time to set some traps.

Good dog. Does River live with you full time? I forget..

No, but Bonnie drops him off every morning before she goes to work and he spends the day here with me. He also stays the whole weekend about once a month when she works her second job as the onsite nurse at a girls boarding school. This was one of her working weekends so he has been here. She got home a few hours ago but with the power outage, I wish River was still here. He sleeps totally under the covers and is like a living heating pad

Haha I bet. So is it a one dog night ?

I saw Shadow eating what I assume was a mouse yesterday morning (I think I saw a tail, she was still hungry for her food.
I am not sure if it is another cat or some other critter but I'm getting tired of finding poop or urine in the outside food dishes. I think whatever it is might be mad that the dishes are empty when they get there. I should get Steve to set up a camera to see if we can find out what it is.

Nasty critter! It would be great to see what's doing that.

During the day, the chickens door is open. Once in a while, a small wild bird gets in. This white throated sparrow got stuck ... we carefully cut the wire so it could go on its way.

We have a bear(s) that have taken up residence in the woods around here. For the last few months, it has gotten at my parent's birdfeeders, especially the suet, at least a dozen times. It has started going after Bonnie's too. And earlier it was going after the honey in Joey's bee hives. Not sure if it is just one or several. We've seen evidence of them off and on over the years, but not often and more like they were passing through. This is different. My parents haven't actually seen it, but Bonnie and Joey have. With the snow, Bonnie could also see bear tracks coming up around her garage and over to the feeders. Now she and my parents have started bringing the feeders in at night. Sometimes the bear just bends the pole to the ground and gets at the feed, but other times it has destroyed the feeders too. I was getting ready to put my feeders back out, but I'll have to remember to try to bring them in.

Wow...
I'd probably just scatter seed.
I guess you'll have to be careful about putting trash out too.

robinbunch5 said:I saw Shadow eating what I assume was a mouse yesterday morning (I think I saw a tail, she was still hungry for her food.
I am not sure if it is another cat or some other critter but I'm getting tired of finding poop or urine in the outside food dishes. I think whatever it is might be mad that the dishes are empty when they get there. I should get Steve to set up a camera to see if we can find out what it is.

Robin, It's been racc.oons when it has happened here. If food dishes weren't empty when they arrived, they were when they left.

I got home from the post office a little while ago. As I got out of the car, I noticed the 3 deer were in the back, under the pines. We stared at each other for a minute or so before they decided to move on. As I walked back, I noticed more movement to the side.

There were the 3... no wait... 4.. no...5 ... 6... what the hell !

As I stood there, they started getting the idea that they weren't welcome, so they started jumping over the back fence into a neighbor's yard.

1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7 !

I thought they were going to circle around, but they trotted off. And then, I noticed more movement. #8 ! ! ! ! !

WHAT THE FREAK ! ! ! My 3 deer are now a small herd of 8. And from the looks of it, all female. But, I have seen a couple of bucks roaming around as well.

Now, I have to figure out if it's going to be worth the effort of putting in a couple of veggie beds.

Monofilament. I have read good things about us9ng monofilament to freak them out. Sorry if I telling something you've already tried or dismissed.