Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Great Rat Shootout of 2010

It was finally time to move the chickens and ducks into their new chicken house.  We had been noticing that we hadn't been getting as many chicken eggs as we thought we should be.  Upon further investigation we uncovered a rat problem.  We could tell that they had been burrowing under the old chicken house and were stealing the eggs.  Obviously, you never have just one...no, they had found the motherload and invited their friends!

We had to move the old chicken house before we could build the outside run for the new house. We knew that when we did this we would have those rats to contend with.  So, we called in the troops....Ryan's brother, Evan. 

This turned into quite the little project for these guys.  They were like two little kids plotting out how this was going to 'go down'.  First, we moved the chickens and ducks into the new chicken house.



Then, they decided that Ryan would lift up the old chicken house with the tractor and Evan would shoot the rats.  They originally decided on using my pink pistol for the job. 


Although Evan does look like a real stud with my pink gun, it didn't get the job done.  They both came walking up to me with grins on their faces (I could tell something was up) and Ryan said, "Hey, don't we still have a bag of fireworks leftover in the basement?  Go get 'em!"  Oh yeah, this sounds like a great idea!


The fireworks didn't really work either, but the kids had fun watching the show anyway.  So, it was time for a new plan of attack.  Go get the proper supplies:  a couple pops, a box of ammo and the shotgun.

Nothin' says redneck like a good rat killin with your shotgun!

Okay, back at it again.  Ryan lifts the house up while Evan gets in ready position.

This next picture is a little blurry, but it's one of my favorites.  It shows just how determined these guys were to shoot the rats.  Evan saw one on the other side of the tractor...


It took a lot of shells...

..but in the end....the score was settled..
Slater Boys 10
Rats 0
(a couple of the victims)

SWEET VICTORY!


6 comments:

  1. Good work on a job well done. I discovered I have a rat living in my duck, peacock, and chicken pen. I'm still trying to find someone to come target practice here. My only way of getting it is almost scaring it to death when I come in. It ran pell mell across the room bumping into chickens and through the feed pan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my goodness, that brings back memories for me. My dad and his brother use to do the same thing at our chicken houses. I would be so excited to watch (was a tom boy).

    Good job, hope the chickies like their new home!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That too made me laugh, as a kid we did just that also. My cousins were older and all boys, and since they worked on the farm in the summer..that was a treat for them. I remember one getting away from them and racing for the tractor, my Dad stepped off and took his hat (that summer he wore a mental/canvas sort of hunting helmet ..he claimed it was really cool) anyway he flung it like a frisby killing the rat in its tracks. One of those memories that makes me smile. What a funny post on the running photo shot too, I can Just imagine all that HooHawing going on. Too Good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. haha....that's awesome!! I remember when I was little we moved a building that had rat tunnels under it and we took a garden hose and stuck it in one then turned on the water and flooded the nasty little guys out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OMG you had 10 rats? Yuck! Glad you guys got them outta there though!

    ReplyDelete
  6. YUCK...RATS!!! EEK....glad you got rid of those suckers!!

    Stop over for a visit sometime! :)

    ReplyDelete