Wildlife, living next to nature

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Griff

... but the chickens lack of wit around predators surprised me.

Chickens have been resting on their wit laurels since the days of vaudeville. We haven't heard anything funny from them since the crossing the road joke. Not that that excuses the fox's behavior.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

No recipe for how much turpentine to add to make it explosive. I suppose I'll have to do the stoichiometry myself, then?

If you insist on going BOOM, stick with the propane, *something* will eventually work. But the chlorine does have the advantage of NOT blowing up your house, and working continuously down, down, downward. You can get an almighty-motherfuckload of chlorine fumes from a tablet of chlorine used to disinfect swimming pools. I nearly killed myself fucking around with that shit. I was intent on bleaching a colored shirt to whiteness. I broke up a good chunk of one of those hockey-puck-sized tablets in the bathtub with water, knocking it around and briskly rubbing the shirt in the little bit of water. And then, all of a sudden like, I couldn't breathe. I mean, maybe the muscles were working, but just pumping the poison around with vigor proportional to my rapidly escalating panic. I staggered outside and lay in the junipers, gasping. It took a few hyperventilated trips back into the house to open ALL windows and doors and turn on every fan I own. It seemed like a very long time before the air was breathable again, much longer than it took to just drain the tub.

There's no doubt that such an event in the burrow would render it unlivable, driving them out to be shot if they didn't die underground.

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

The other lighter than air. I meant that other thing than air.

Um. What the hell are you talking about? Do the stoichiometry by all means, but do please give us the detailed equations ... or, hell, just blow stuff up. If you want anything of value left afterward, consult a female. We'll do the calcs for you.

[orthodoc]

Sarge ... no, please withdraw this video. This is a snuff film of a blue canary, and why you posted it is beyond me. Please take it down.
Yes, anhydrous ammonia will kill us - humans, animals, all of us.

You have control of this video and I don't ... just asking you to consider the consequences to others and not post it in this way.

[Big Sarge]

you are correct. I am rather macabre due to some events. As many have guessed I can have an extremely dark side. I apologize and thank you

[Griff]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Chickens have been resting on their wit laurels since the days of vaudeville. We haven't heard anything funny from them since the crossing the road joke. Not that that excuses the fox's behavior.

I dunno, I distinctly heard an old hen start with, "So a horse walks into..." I figure the fox was within her rights.

[footfootfoot]

V, the chlorine, even better when mixed with ammonia!, is fine and dandy but the guy is dead already. I want to collapse the gallery so it is uninhabitable. More of a pipe dream really since a major part of the gallery is under my shed and my and my contiguous neighbor's lawns and gardens. The last infestation was a few years ago and my neighbor at the time gassed them in their dens. I think the corpses kept the galleries vacant for a few years. Anyway, shooting them is all good fun and practice for the Woodchuck Zombie Apocalypse.

Ortho, thanks for the offer to help with my quackulations.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by orthodoc

If you want anything of value left afterward, consult a female. We'll do the calcs for you.

If you want anything at all left (and I ain't talking about blowing shit up), leave the calculating females out of it entirely.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

I want to collapse the gallery so it is uninhabitable. More of a pipe dream really since a major part of the gallery is under my shed and my and my contiguous neighbor's lawns and gardens.

How far down in there could you stuff a spewing can (or 5) of Great Stuff Insulating Foam Sealant?

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Ortho, thanks for the offer to help with my quackulations.

Any time; I'm a fan of quackulating.

Unrelated to blowing stuff up, our barn swallow brood has fledged, leaving a gawdawful mess right in front of our front door (the nest was directly OVER the front door). Never mind. They've been perching on the porch chairs, preening, doing little practice flight circles and swoops and coming back ... this morning none of them were in the nest. Unsurprising, since there are 5 and they were sitting on top of each other before. This afternoon they were all swooping around the front area catching bugs, babies as big as the parents, one huge gorgeous roundabout of swallows (cynics, cue Circle of Life here).

AND ... a hen turkey brought her brood of 12 chicks into our backyard today to hunt bugs and grubs. Too much cuteness. Then the big-ass groundhog that naps under our deck ran out and sat right in the middle of them, taunting us. Next time, groundhog!

[Gravdigr]

Twelve?!

I saw an old hen with nine poults once. I was stunned. As was everyone (turkey hunters, mostly) I told about it.

You rarely see more than a half-dozen in these parts.

Must not be many predators around there.

[Big Sarge]

I believe they have a different sub-species that far north. Like most of the squirrels being black (can I say that or is it racist?)

Ortho - Are there any neurotoxins you could slip 3F to take care of his ground hogs? I was talking to some guys on the internet from Yemen or something and they were more than willing to mail some bio toxins.

[Undertoad]

Are there any neurotoxins you could slip 3F to take care of his ground hogs?

The solution is obvious.

Pee down the hole. Regularly.

[footfootfoot]

I have a friend who tried that and pooping down the hole. It just pisses them off and makes them vengeful.

[Gravdigr]

Mothballs? Lots of them?