Mice... Who knew?!

Queenbee

Queenbee

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That mice liked Kevin bacon hoof grease! I had a whole frigging pot of the stuff in the barn, which would have probably lasted me a lifetime as I rarely use the stuff and only in the summer but I like it, a lot, and it's not cheap!

So, it was sat there full in the barn, the lid can't have been on properly, because I went to have a root around yesterday and it's all gone and there are mice droppings around it!!! Thieving scum!!!! Now I'm careful to keep them well out of my feed bins, I have galvanised lockable bins, but I never thought they'd chow down on my hoof products. That's just rude!!!

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For those of you who have seen the picture of the squirrel in the snow, perhaps I should caption the above, "please sir, could I trouble you to go and buy another EXPENSIVE pot of hoof grease for my eating pleasure? It was yummy"

:)
 
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Have u noticed the local mouse population has particularly shiny claws of late? :D

Little bligthers, I am currently on Maurice V the tackroom mouse, sadly(?) Maurices' I-IV met one of my cats......

Can't say have ever noticed hoof products going missing tho!
 
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How cute is that little guy!!

My farrier told me that the kevin bacon hoof stuff is basically almost entirely made up of lard... no wonder the mice love it, its probably brilliant for them and keeps them all toasty and fat all winter:D
 
My local rat population removed the lid of and emptied a while bucket of bait blocks. Man in the shop told me they would have lardered it and keep on eating it for months to come *tee hee, evil grin*.
Problem was that was last year and I still have a rodent population - they aren't taking from the proper bait station though.
I'm getting a barn owl nest box made in the next few weeks - if you have a barn owl in residence all sensible rodents find new accommodation elsewhere lol
 
They love anything fatty and oily and I think the hoof dressing is made of animal fat. When I was giving my horse linseed oil last winter I had to keep it inside another container because the drips on the container attracted an infestation of mice and rats and I had droppings all over my feed area.
 
Rats love it too. At a previous yard the rats used to steal the hoof oil brush we used for putting on kevin bacon and try and drag it down their holes. They're obviously not that bright because we'd find the brush jammed across the hole lengthways!
 
I'd buy them lots of food and lock my new pot of Kevin Bacon in my feed bin if I were you.

We used to put bird food down and the mice loved it....lucky because we loved them too, never caused us problems.
 
My HORSE will eat Kevin Bacon if left out, as does my old YO's horse. My farrier uses it after shoeing to leave hoof looking nice, and says all the horses root about in his kit when they smell it.

Must be something yummy in it.
 
Cute pic. Our lab ate a whole big pot of hoof grease last summer (I don't know the brand). She was explosive at both ends for several hours afterwards and had to sleep in the stable. Where she threw up on the lawn the grass never recovered, must have been fairly toxic stuff!
One of her many failed culinary experiments.
 
To be honest OP, it does not surprise me in the least. I have long since learnt almost everything has to be closed in out of rodent reach.
 
mice kept getting into my plastic dustbins one year. with the lid closed!! now have metal one. they are also partial to spillers apple treats. bloody things ate half a bag. my fault as i forgot to lock them away. im sure they are friends with my cats. have 2 of the things and stilll have rats and mice. my cats do prefer rabbits!! last rat they caught was 2 months ago!!
 
JillA said:
I'm getting a barn owl nest box made in the next few weeks - if you have a barn owl in residence all sensible rodents find new accommodation elsewhere lol
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Slightly off topic but my farrier told me he has stopped baiting as he is trying to encourage the owls into his barn. He doesn't want them eating poisoned rodents. I've stopped baiting for the same reason. Bring on the owls!
 
Digger66 said:
What are the mouse's hooves like now?
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ElleSkywalker said:
Have u noticed the local mouse population has particularly shiny claws of late? :D

Little bligthers, I am currently on Maurice V the tackroom mouse, sadly(?) Maurices' I-IV met one of my cats......

Can't say have ever noticed hoof products going missing tho!
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_GG_ said:
I'd buy them lots of food and lock my new pot of Kevin Bacon in my feed bin if I were you.

We used to put bird food down and the mice loved it....lucky because we loved them too, never caused us problems.
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Spot_On said:
What a sweet little chap! I love rodents, and have kept mice as pets in the past.... But equally know how destructive they can be!
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Lol! Love the comments, yes I'm sure the little mouse tootsie are in excellent fetter now! I used to have a wild/pet mouse, he was totally feral but everyday I opened my bran dustbin he was in there scurrying around in circles, I would put my arm in and he would run up my arm and jump out until the next day. I also had a pet mouse at my old yard, I didn't tell my ex because he would have been out with the poison ASAP. I found him asleep in som hay and straw in my feed room (the bits that had come off the bales and been swept up into the corner). So I added more hay and straw to make it a deluxe abode and cleaned around his home whenever I had a spruce up. I never told the ex, and I used to see Him scurrying back to his bed whenever I walked in, I confess to leaving the odd bit of horse feed on the floor for him too ;)
 
Many times I've found a mouse dangling from a fat-ball I've put up in my tack room, attached to the window grill. Unfortunately, it all had to stop as the rats seemed keen too (no idea what the robin I put it up for thought). So Mrs Mouse has now started munching her way through my big bag of carrots, so those have today been locked away.

Wish i could feed Mrs Mouse without feeding the entire rodent population of north yorks at the same time ;)
 
What a load of softees we are, I used to buy chocolate wafers for the 3 mice that lived under the gas fire in my living room, they would actually come out to eat while we watched, we moved house and had squirrels eating through plastic bins to reach the feed inside, they also liked petrol, chewing through a petrol can, lawnmower fuel pipe, and strimmer fuel pipe, moved the feed into our kitchen and had a very wily rat helping itself, despite our best efforts at catching it
 
I had a mouse move in with my rabbits that lived in the shed.. I'd often come in and find him curled up in there straw bed or having lunch from there bowl! He got so used to me he didn't even bother running in the end.
 
Am I the only one that is disgusted by mice? We used to get them cyclicly in our old barn, and they would chew up my numnahs (including my two good show numnahs!!!), chew my riser pads, ruined a set of clippers by chewing through the wire, chewed through lead ropes, chewed through rug backs into rush to pull out the filler for nesting, and pooped and peed over EVERYTHING. It was disgusting. I wouldn't be encouraging them. We put poison down every time we started to see poop again.
 
Yes, I found this out myself! I use the liquid dressing for Tom's feet - once used, there is usually a few drips on the top of the can. When I get it out the next day, the pot is totally clean - with the exception of a few mousie poops! They love it.

Can't say Tom has ever fancied it, though.
 
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