Dealing with rodents in the orchard

[GarethM]

I'm not sure Mouse & Traveller poison will be a good seller!.

[Conor Wright]

Is there one available that doesn't harm the mice? Asking for a friend.

[manco]

2 minutes ago, GarethM said:

I'm not sure Mouse & Traveller poison will be a good seller!.

i think you lack vision

 

[GarethM]

10 minutes ago, manco said:

i think you lack vision

Damn my shortsightedness!

[Tikay Musiiwa]

On 27/04/2024 at 02:54, AHPP said:

Are you a robot?

No, how could I be one? 

 

On 27/04/2024 at 11:29, Doug Tait said:

Wondered the same but didn't think a bot would edit posts.

 

On 28/04/2024 at 01:04, AHPP said:

I need a better Asimov challenge. That one has never got a reply. You could argue the lack of reply is the proof but it doesn't feel conclusive enough. I want to force the thing into admitting it's a robot.

Why do you all say that I'm a bot? Can't a normal person engage with the community to ask for their experience and offer a good recommendation? lol 

[GarethM]

That would depend if Deckard had a discussion about your childhood memories, do you like sitting on rooftop in the rain ?.

 

You weren't asking for our experience or questions, you directed us to presumably your Amazon affiliate store.

 

In the old days dodgy salesmen atleast tried to sell miracle elixirs or more recently UPVC and hoovered door to door.

[Doug Tait]

5 minutes ago, Tikay Musiiwa said:

No, how could I be one? 

 

 

Why do you all say that I'm a bot? Can't a normal person engage with the community to ask for their experience and offer a good recommendation? lol 

 

You are very welcome to engage, I don't think anyone meant to be rude. It's just quite often we see posts that are a cover for advertising something or other and your post read a bit like an advert, possibly churned out by a bot. No offence intended.

[allheatingone]

On 25/04/2024 at 14:12, Tikay Musiiwa said:

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of my fruit trees were looking a bit stressed, and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t see any signs of disease, but then I found some chewed branches and tiny teeth marks on the bark. Rats!
 

I have a small orchard with apple and pear trees, and the last thing I want is rats damaging them. I thought about using traps or poison, but I have pets and was worried about safety. Plus, I didn't want to harm any of the other wildlife that wanders through. I needed something that would keep the rodents away without causing harm.
 

That’s when I remembered seeing a mouse repellent spray on Amazon. I figured I’d give it a try since it's made from natural ingredients and wouldn’t harm my trees. It’s got peppermint oil as the main ingredient, which is supposed to repel rodents. I sprayed it around the base of the trees, focusing on the areas where I saw signs of chewing.
 

The scent is pretty strong at first, but it fades pretty quickly. The best part is that it worked. I haven't seen any more signs of rats, and the trees are looking healthier already. It's been a couple of weeks, and the damage seems to have stopped. The trees are starting to recover, and there's no more chewing.

Did the repellent damage the trees?

[CTTree]

Chickens should keep the voles down/ away if you wanted an incentive to keep some. I worked in a large orchard for a while that had a couple of thousand laying hens and they would go for anything, I never saw any problems with vole damage. 

[Stere]

Seen  my chickens eat a mice a few times.

 

Once the mouses tail was still sticking out of the hens mouth for a while before it managed to sallow it. 

 

Rest of the chickens  were chasing the one with the mouse in is throat across the field at hi speed trying in vain to steal it.