Rat - 21 / Flock Mistress - 1

Now I know what you are thinking, these are terrible odds!  How can you be proud of this to the point of posting it?  Well, think about it.  The rat could have all the points in the world, but each one of my points means there's one less rat in the world.

I knew that rats would be an issue when I decided to get chickens.  I bring in their feeder each night but chickens are messy eaters and there's always some left on the ground.  And with all the juniper and ivy in my neighborhood, like it or not, rats are going to be an issue.

I remember one morning, standing at the kitchen sink watching this lady try to walk her dog.  But the dog was fixated on a juniper bush.  She was tugging on the leash and trying to encourage him but this dog wasn't budging.  He was sniffing and pacing back and forth around this small bush.  This went on for maybe five minutes before a rat finally shot out of the bush and took off down the street.  The dog took chase and this poor lady unfortunately, went along for the ride.  We now affectionately refer to him as Rat Dog when we see him out on his walks.

I refuse to put out poison for all the obvious reasons so I started with one old fashioned wooden Victor rat trap.  Each night I set it with peanut butter, cheese, walnuts or sunflower seeds, and every morning, the food was gone and no rat.  I was so frustrated.  Last night, I upgraded to the Victor Power Kill rat trap.  Pretty much the same design as the original but with an easier mechanism to set and thus, a more efficient release.

And this morning - BINGO!