Re: Big Beavers
Jeff Forbes (forbes@vail.net)
Mon, 09 Dec 1996 11:31:29 -0700
Virginia, you wrote:
Has anyone out there found a great
> product that will curb the urge to chew? 2x8 walls have
> flush seams and all exposed edges have been covered in metal
> but we have a friend with a newer barn and his horses have
> eaten huge holes in walls that were very tight. We are
> currently looking at covering the walls with a non-toxic roof
> sealer, plastic mesh, or lightweight mesh wire. Any help
> would be greatly appreciated as it's getting cold here in Idahoand the beavers are getting wooly.
Hi Virginia,
Good luck! I've tried all kinds of comercial no chew stuff, and made my
own concoctions of cumin, dry (hot) mustard, red hot chile seeds,
tobasco and sczchewan hot oil, and my paint beaver chewed it right up.
One thing what helped a litle was to have a trace mineral block for them
to curb that wood mineral (?) craving, but the thing that finally worked
was to side the barn in metal siding (barn red!) and to electric wire
(the kind that looks like baling string) all four corners of each post
that holds up the shed roof of the barn. It looks ugly but they stay
away. (A 6x6 post had been whittled down to 3x3!) This spring when we
replace the posts we will wrap them in some kind of wire mesh, but I can
see it now - he'll appreciate the wire "floss" and chew right past it.
The other thing that will help is to free feed plenty of hay so those
natural born grazers have something to do all day and night. This works
for my neighbor who has skinny TBs but not for a couple of my fat QHs.
Again - good luck!
Bambi