squirrels

[DOVEScot]

Do squirrels pose any danger to your birds as they are basically tree rats???

[Chatrace]

They can and will distroy eggs and scare the birds. The stress they cause can mess up a whole breeding season

[chickadee]

Are they like mice? can the birds catch anything off their droppings or urine?

[Guest slugmonkey]

I have had them chew through the wire on my prisoner pen and release prisoners they will chew through to get at the corn I feed

Here you can shoot them all year as they are in season they are very tasty I like them fried with potatoes and eggs for breakfast !!!

Seriously I don't mind them as pests as I do eat them after I have shot one usally I will shoot the other members of their family as well all of my neighbors feed them and dont like me shooting them but I don't care they turn my birds loose AND taste good its a damm shame all pigeon pests aren't as tasty as squirrel !!! if I ever get a taste for cat look the hell out I don't know if you have seen pictures of me but I am 6' and 260 lbs. I like to eat if, hawk or raccoon turns out to taste good these people will have a REAL problem on their hands I think I will start a new forum question what wine goes with hawk ???

[chickadee]

I have had them chew through the wire on my prisoner pen and release prisoners they will chew through to get at the corn I feed

Here you can shoot them all year as they are in season they are very tasty I like them fried with potatoes and eggs for breakfast !!!

Seriously I don't mind them as pests as I do eat them after I have shot one usally I will shoot the other members of their family as well all of my neighbors feed them and dont like me shooting them but I don't care they turn my birds loose AND taste good its a damm shame all pigeon pests aren't as tasty as squirrel !!! if I ever get a taste for cat look the hell out I don't know if you have seen pictures of me but I am 6' and 260 lbs. I like to eat if, hawk or raccoon turns out to taste good these people will have a REAL problem on their hands I think I will start a new forum question what wine goes with hawk ???

 

Hey slug, as far as I'm concerned you can eat as many of these creatures as your guts can take, maybe if we had more cavemen type people like you around, we would have less pests for our birds. ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Roland]

They can and will distroy eggs and scare the birds. The stress they cause can mess up a whole breeding season

 

and more, will eat youngster in nest etc. there diet is huge. As the mises etc. like to see themI am restricted and have to be content with just shooing them away as soon as I see them.  I ence don't see a lot too near, but once they get fed....

[chickadee]

 

and more, will eat youngster in nest etc. there diet is huge. As the mises etc. like to see themI am restricted and have to be content with just shooing them away as soon as I see them.  I ence don't see a lot too near, but once they get fed....

 

That is an eye opener, I had no idea that they ate youngsters as well, didn't think they were meat eaters.

[Guest j.bamling]

We used to catch the greys when i was gamekeeping we got a grant which supplyed the traps and corn ect we used to use Maize as the bait -- When we caught them thay have big teeth just like rats & rabbits

[john robo]

I have had them chew through the wire on my prisoner pen and release prisoners they will chew through to get at the corn I feed

Here you can shoot them all year as they are in season they are very tasty I like them fried with potatoes and eggs for breakfast !!!

Seriously I don't mind them as pests as I do eat them after I have shot one usally I will shoot the other members of their family as well all of my neighbors feed them and dont like me shooting them but I don't care they turn my birds loose AND taste good its a damm shame all pigeon pests aren't as tasty as squirrel !!! if I ever get a taste for cat look the hell out I don't know if you have seen pictures of me but I am 6' and 260 lbs. I like to eat if, hawk or raccoon turns out to taste good these people will have a REAL problem on their hands I think I will start a new forum question what wine goes with hawk ???

 

there nice with dumplings aswell  . there tails makes great flys for fishing. but they are nightmare once they take hold just as bad as rats if not worse.

[Guest]

Do squirrels pose any danger to your birds as they are basically tree rats???

 

make a good pot of soup  ;D ;D

[john robo]

http://www.chefrick.com/html/squirreldumplings.html

 

http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

 

dont knock it till you try it

just if anyone is intrested

[Guest slugmonkey]

 

Hey slug, as far as I'm concerned you can eat as many of these creatures as your guts can take, maybe if we had more cavemen type people like you around, we would have less pests for our birds. ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

If we had more " caveman " types like me we would have a lot less of a lot of thingslike child molesters, hawks, thieves, you know all the things we really need !!!

[Guest paulrstokes]

I have had a squirrel take an old hen that used to roost in an outside aviary.

Very much like a rat just seemed to kill for the sake of it.

 

there is also a local butcher that looks after some woods locally, and when they have has a squirrel cull he makes a squirrell pate, not tasted it but apparently it is superb.

[pault]

dovescot & john robo

where did you get you avator from

[Guest]

Think a squirrel is a basic rodent which will eat anything it comes across. Tons of them around here especially in Callender Park [where constant fights with crows over the food scraps] seen odd one walking along my fence [no more] and once on loft roof when the birds were out - certainly gave me a start when it popped its head over the roof apex.

 

Greys are classed as vermin and cause reds grief, reds are endangered and a protected species, so don't go making pate or sarnys out of them  

[Guest j.bamling]

The Greys were imported from America they dont stress the Reds they eat too much food and the Smaller Reds go Hungry !! Ps I know a bloke who used to eat the ones i caught

[Guest]

As far as I know the two species originally occupied different spaces in UK, think red was more associated with the old Caledonian pine forests: grey import was more general woodland and therefore more widespread;

 

the major problem now is where they are forced to share the same space, the reds are outcompeted as you say, but the greys also carry a virus which the reds have no immunity against ... seen TV footage of its effects, face & eyes..

[Guest j.bamling]

As far as I know the two species originally occupied different spaces in UK, think red was more associated with the old Caledonian pine forests: grey import was more general woodland and therefore more widespread;

 

the major problem now is where they are forced to share the same space, the reds are outcompeted as you say, but the greys also carry a virus which the reds have no immunity against ... seen TV footage of its effects, face & eyes..

 

Quite correct Bruno they carry a diesese that kills the reds but the grey are nearly twice the size they try and eat all the food -- 10 years ago where i live you could go 2 years without seeing a grey squirrel now you cant go a week ?

[DOVEScot]

 

Quite correct Bruno they carry a diesese that kills the reds but the grey are nearly twice the size they try and eat all the food -- 10 years ago where i live you could go 2 years without seeing a grey squirrel now you cant go a week ?

 

What about salmonela?

[DOVEScot]

dovescot & john robo

where did you get you avator from

 

GO TO IMAGES ON BASICALLY ALL THE SEARCH ENGINES. MSN, GOOGLE ETC

OR DOWNLOAD SMILEY'S

[THE FIFER]

a lot in a park near me, very tame, they eat peanuts,

[DOVEScot]

a lot in a park near me, very tame, they eat peanuts,

 

Have ye seen the price of peanuts ;D ;D ;D

 

We have had a number of problems lately with birds being spooked, chicks dissapearing, ybs being chewed

We thought the usual but found it strange because no evidence of anything like a rat, a cat or a fox, we put birds in new loft and set traps in old loft, the only thing we found since was squirrel and by former posts looks like it may be the culprit

 

[Guest]

 

What about salmonela?

 

 

Don't know if they carry anything specific, but I think its a good rule-of-thumb that any wildlife should be kept outside the loft.

[DOVEScot]

 

 

Don't know if they carry anything specific, but I think its a good rule-of-thumb that any wildlife should be kept outside the loft.

 

Yes we must do everything to keep then out our lofts, but cross infection doesn't just happen in the loft, squirrels for instace can urinate on your loft roof, branches, garden, basically any place your birds can land outside the loft

Equaully so rats, mice  seagulls crows sparrows all potential carriers etc

Do we wipe out nature or let our birds build up an immune sytem to fight all these

[chickadee]

 

 

Don't know if they carry anything specific, but I think its a good rule-of-thumb that any wildlife should be kept outside the loft.

 

Yes totally agree with you, last time I saw the squirrel I squirted it with the water spray. It didn't show face for a few days after that, but we now  see it crossing over the trees.