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hideandshoot

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Everything posted by hideandshoot

  1. hideandshoot
    Hi All, I'm part of a small DIY shoot, and like many shoots we normally release 2 or 3 white pheasants with a £50 penalty charge for onyone who accidentially shoots one. This seems a waste of perfectly good birds especially as we only release 300-400, and no one has shot a white bird for several years now. In fact the last one which ended up in the bag was pegged by a spanniel. I'm thinking of making this a little more interesting this season which made me vaguely recall a 'Reader's Letter' in Shooting Times a number of years ago, whereby a Reader shared the rules of his syndicate. I
  2. hideandshoot
    Hi All, Does anyone have a vasectomised hob they no longer require. Happy to pay a fair price (depending on age). I'm near Colne in Lancashire, but willing to travel up to an hour or so by car. Alternatively, does anyone have one I could borrow to knock my two jills out of season. Again, happy to pay for the service. I would also give you a deposit as security. I've also got a spare polecat jill (born last year) if anyone wants it.
  3. hideandshoot
    Vasectomised Hob Wanted (near Colne, Lancashire) View Advert Hi All, Does anyone have a vasectomised hob they no longer require. Happy to pay a fair price (depending on age). I'm near Colne in Lancashire, but willing to travel up to an hour by car. Alternatively, does anyone have one I could use to knock my jills out of season when the time arises. Again, happy to pay for the service. Advertiser hideandshoot Date 17/03/19 Price
  4. hideandshoot
    Hi All, Does anyone have a vasectomised hob they no longer require. Happy to pay a fair price (depending on age). I'm near Colne in Lancashire, but willing to travel up to an hour by car. Alternatively, does anyone have one I could use to knock my jills out of season when the time arises. Again, happy to pay for the service.
  5. hideandshoot
    Put a small handfull of sand in your water bottles and shake them for a few seconds - hey presto, algae gone.
  6. hideandshoot
    I had five kits from one of my jills this summer. I had to knock one on the head because its back legs had gone. They all looked OK when they first started venturing from the nest box, but I soon realised one of them had a dickie back end. A mate of mine had a whole litter like this 15 years ago. I thought it may have been some kind of deficiency.
  7. hideandshoot
    I always understood a greyhound ferret to be a small, sleek, type - usually albinos. I once had a ferret, back in the early 1980's, which I understood to be a greyhound type, it was very small and thin, but a great little worker. It was so small I called it Mouse. It rarely killed below ground as it always seemed to push the bunnies out, probably too small to hold them down (although stoats seem to manage). Ideal for the small burrows (1-8 holes) typical of east Lancashire in the days when ferret finders were an unaffordable school boy's dream. I always though the term 'greyhound' was misle
  8. hideandshoot
    You can buy un-perforated land drainage pipe which is better as you don't get daylight entering through the drainage slits. Black is also best colour as the white and yellow pipes let some daylight through - I guess you want it as realistic (in a light sense) as a rabbit burrow. 100mm (4") diameter is fine, but don't go any smaller. You can buy it online at https://www.draindepot.co.uk/100mm-x-25m-unperforated-land-drain-coil.html You'll also pick the perforated variety up at most agricultural stores and builder's merchants. Most farms and building sites also have part rolls kicking about
  9. hideandshoot
    Great advice guys. I feel more confident now keeping them all together, which is what I preferred to do anyway. I've already got two nest boxes in the cage so that may reduce any potential stress between the jills. Tsteve999 - I assume the 20 kits you mentioned was the result of multiple litters and not just from a single jill? The most I've witnessed was 14 kits in one litter, but my personal best is only 9. I guess I'd prefer half a dozen strong kits than a large litter which the jill may struggle to adequately nourish. I'll offer any surplus kits on here FOC, so long as any takers don
  10. hideandshoot
    I have two jills (sisters) which are housed together in a large cage, and they have not been separated since they were born 3 years ago. I would like to breed from one of them, but not both as I only have homes for 3-4 kits. I only have the one cage which is a large two-storey affair, so I guess I could simply block-off the chute which connects the two levels and add a sleeping box to the lower level, effectively making it in to 2 cages. Is this really necessary though? I'm wondering if the jill which isn't mated will become a kind of foster mother if they are put back together after matin
  11. hideandshoot
    I've harvested barley also, and shovelled tonnes of the stuff by hand, and you're right, barley grain does make you itch. I guess it has something to do with the summer heat and perspiration as well. However, barley straw doesn't make me itch, and it's relatively dust free. I've even slept in straw-filled barns - when I was younger - without itching, and most people have sat on barley straw bales at some time or other without itching (country shows, pigeon hides etc.). I've shaken-out 1000's of bales of barley straw when bedding down livestock pens and never had a problem with itching. It
  12. hideandshoot
    I've always used straw (on its own) as bedding, and never had a problem. Straw is fairly inert, therefore shouldn't harbour any pests/mites. I use barley straw as it's softer and more comfortable than wheat straw. Don't buy it from a pet shop, get it from an agricultural store or from a livestock feed supplier. A full bale is less than a fiver. Hay is too dusty and does harbour mites. Shredded paper is also quite dusty and it makes your cage look like a rubbish tip. Course sawdust (NOT the fine dusty stuff) is best for the toilet end of the cage as it's very absorbent. Sorry for harping on abo
  13. hideandshoot
    Not really relevant, but one of my ewes had dead triplet lambs this spring. The first one was massive, which the vet managed to eventually pull out backwards, the other two were normal size. Unfortunately all dead. It appears the ewe couldn't part with the larger first lamb and they subsequently all died due to being blocked in for too long. Maybe the same thing happened with your litter. I suppose it could be due to being overfed as the extra size of the first one had to ultimately come from the mothers diet.
  14. hideandshoot
    Hi Liam6, Hope I didn't get your hopes up. I spoke with a bloke I know to see if he had any spare jills, but unfortunately he's had three ferrets die over the last 6 months. This has left him rather short of ferrets for himself. Good luck in finding something decent.
  15. hideandshoot
    Sorry to hear your unfortunate news. I've worked in agriculture for a number of years, mainly livestock farming, and it's usually young, inexperienced mothers that lose their offspring or have problems giving birth. I doubt very much if the bedding was a major factor, although giving birth in a pile of dusty wood shavings doesn't sound like much fun. Just as an extra point, hay is also very dusty, so I always use straw. It's clean, relatively dust free, and doesn't attract mites etc. That's why all livestock farmers use it for bedding. It's also cheap if you buy a bale at a time, or free
  16. hideandshoot
    Hi Liam6, Whereabouts in Lancs are you? If you're local I'll ask a mate if he has anything spare.
  17. hideandshoot
    Just out of interest, why wouldn't someone let their hob go to someone elses house? If I had a vasectomised hob I'd be OK about someone else feeding it for a couple of weeks. The hob gets to go on a club 18-30 holiday, and the jills get knocked off heat. Everyone's a winner. £100 deposit though and either a day out ferreting or a good bottle of wine as payment.
  18. hideandshoot
    Share a vasectomised hob with someone. Myself and two friends use the same vasectomised hob. Given they live for approx 8 years, and given the cost of the vasectomy at £90. Split three way equals £30 each. Even though I only keep two jills, that works out at a cost to me of £15 per jill. If my jills live through eight seasons then £15 divided by 8 years equals £1.87 per jill per year. Great value I'd say. And the lucky hob get more action than he could hope for ;-)
  19. hideandshoot
    Oops, just seen how old this thread is. I'm sure you've found some collars by now ;-)
  20. hideandshoot
    Hi DazBrowne13 - Two posts previous to yours mentions a chap called David Arthurs (07951 286630). Give him a call or send him a text, as he makes 8ft collars for the grey rectangle Deben locators. I seem to remember he told me they were £30 each. He's just repaired/recallibrated two of my locators. Nice chap too.
  21. hideandshoot
    I always feed fresh meat (all year round) unless I forget to defrost it, then I'll give them dried food on the odd day that happens. Rarely get fly/maggot problems as I don't overfeed them. What I give them is consumed within half a day. I sometimes suspend sticky fly papers outside the cage when flies are most prevalent.
  22. hideandshoot
    Ferrets are naturally curious animals, and instinctive hunters, so they'll likely want to explore any burrow to place them in. Try them in several burrows near to where you live first, just in case they play-up and you have to hang around for a while until they decide to give themselves up, they'll soon get they hang of it. Most of the burrows in your area are small with only a few holes, so they're ideal for trying out inexperience ferrets. If you're serious about ferreting then it's better to get an electronic ferret locator and a spade. Good luck.
  23. hideandshoot
    I used un-perforated land drainage pipe to link the top half of my cage to the lower tier. It lets less light through, therefore more realistic. A little harder to find though. Just cut a hole in your plywood the same size as the outside diameter of the pipe and screw through the inside wall of the pipe in to the middle layer of the plywood. If this isn't clear then let me know and I'll take a photo tomorrow evening and post it here.
  24. hideandshoot
    My two jills have been eating a grey squirrel for the last two days. Checked the nest tonight and only the skin remained. No flies, as there was nothing left for the flies. Freezer full of goodies anyway, but I never turn down a free meal, and the variety is good for them. Never thought of feeding them raw fish though, I'll give that a go when I next get chance. Cheers
  25. hideandshoot
    Sorry to hear that.
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