My cats a death walker dropped at the base of my greens bed, normally she is more artistic.
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Oops. I love them but your cat did the right thing!
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Rabbits are a front yard attraction around these parts, The foxes literally stroll through the neighborhood just sniffing things and acting like dogs they are so relaxed. I feel they stop the foxes from going after cats around here but it does not stop the coyotes. I leave them fresh wood under a shrub in the winter but if they make it past the fence its just the circle of life, sometimes i think she drags them into the backyard and they were front yarders.
She is a great kitty but definitely a little dexter and my backyard is certainly the coliseum of death. Sometimes she arranges them extremely artistically and always in front of one of my veggie garden but sometimes my fruit bushes. I actually cannot grow lingonberry as they draw in mice and she will leave their carcasses all over my berries.
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Yep - always start with the head
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One of my dogs kills the small rabbits. Wouldnât trade her for her equivalent weight in silver! Sheri got her that collar long ago and the metal studs ensure if something grabs her by the neck biting down will be as hard on them as her. Earlier this year I had a growth removed from her stomach. She was in a bandage for awhile but she is 100% healed up now. She is so healthy now you can see it in the shine of her coat.
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Be ready my fellow orchardist the war has began. Snow on the ground means the rabbits are hungry in Kansas and they will be checking your fruit trees. Make sure your checking your fruit trees as well. All summer my little dog brought me my half of the baby cottontails she killed now I donât feel to bad about it. She just checked things for me in the orchards. If you donât have a dog for this job in Kansas get one! You will run out of bullets before you run out of rabbits if you try going that route. Fence off and rabbit proof everything because if we donât they will destroy our trees and planting trees is a lot of hard work. My dogs step brother is on patrol now but itâs cold he will be back soon. The hard part is they wipe them out then new ones move in from neighboring properties sometimes in groups of 3 or more. We have owls , hawks, coyote to watch for rodents outside the main orchard. Donât let that sweet face and small size fool you on this smaller dog she kills more baby rabbits than you can imagine. They were city dogs but old dogs can and do learn new things.
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Lots of snow and very few rabbits. The dogs have been doing their work. Vole numbers and pack rats numbers are down significantly. My small dog supplements her diet with small rabbits and other rodents. Kansas has some snow on the ground but no rabbit tracks close to here yet. Will others move in? Time will tell this winter what shows up as things are very hungry right now. Opened the door so you can see the height of the snow drifts.
When they come back in the dogs get warmed up like a person.
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Was out feeding the horses yesterday. Passed by a bunch of potted pecan seedlings massed near the barn. Blasted cottontails have 'pruned/ most of them. Grrr.
Need to go check the small grafted pecans/hickories I outplanted back in Dec⊠didnât get tubes on some of them yet. Hope I havenât waited too late, and the fluffy-tailed rats havenât pruned off my grafts.
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Always protect them. Rabbit damage is just a given.
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These rabbits are busy but not like you think. Iâve got one older one out front the dogs canât catch yet. He hates the taste of my pear rootstocks and doesnât like being jabbed by the wicked rootstock thorns. He nibbled some low hanging buds but that was the extent of it. He has declared war on elms so it feels a little strange that we are on the same side. Those are elm in the photo.
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Out here I differentiate between cottontails and jackrabbits. The former canât clear a 4â fence while the latter have no problem clearing 6â. There are none of the latter in my neighborhood but plenty of cottontails. There is also an abundance of food for them supplied unintentionally by the residents. I have solid wooden fences on the sides but vertical metal bars at 4" intervals in front and back. Attached to the bars at the ground level is 2â high wire mesh fencing. There is so much food elsewhere that the cottontails donât bother trying to come into our yard.
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Yesterday, maybe 7PM, I saw 4 in the open at once on my property. Iâm not sure how many dozen that represents, not in view.
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There has been a population explosion of cottontail in my area. Every evening I see 3-4 on my small lot.
They killed off half my loquat trees and numerous apples/figs.
I plan to start trapping them.
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I put rabbit fencing from Loweâs around my espalier, strawberries, vegetable garden and sorrel. That works well to keep the bunnies out but the chipmunks have eaten all of my strawberries.
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Thatâs very sad to hear about your loquats. Please keep us posted on how the trapping goes.
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I wish I had cottontails. Few pests are edibleâŠ
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