Remove the mouse, filter the sap and boil it. The temperature of boiling sap is high enough to kill just about everything.
Remove the mouse, filter the sap and boil it. The temperature of boiling sap is high enough to kill just about everything.
Russ
"Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!
1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
Four chainsaws and no chickens!
Call me a prude but I'd dump it.
A moth or a few ants in the buckets are one thing but a dead mammal is another.
1980 - 6 taps, stone fire pit, drain pan evaporator, 1 pint of syrup
2016 - 55 taps on 3/16 and gravity, new sugar shack, 2x3 Mason XL, 16 gallons of syrup
2017 - 170 taps on 3/16, 2x4 Mason XL, NextGen RO. 50 gallons of syrup
2018 - 250+ taps on gravity and buckets, 2x5 Smokey Lake arch and Beaverland pan.
2019 - 250+ taps on gravity. A few buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
2020 - 300+ taps on gravity. 50 gallons of syrup.
2021 - 280 taps on gravity and 40 buckets. 35 gallons of syrup.
have had a mouse in a plastic bucket..... picked him up by the tail and let him drip a little.... and I kept the sap. Been having raccoons visiting our buckets this year, you can see their dirty little paw prints on the inside of the buckets, and the rascals don't stand the buckets back up under the tubing after they take a drink. One morning our grove looked like a big wind came thru..... half the buckets were on their side. Makes me want to switch to sapsax. Among the other critters I have had...honeybees, ants, mosquitos, slugs, and flies. A foreign object I like to see is a maple leaf floating on the sap.
2020: 220 trees, most smaller than 20" diameter, made 25 gallons
remote location in western Cole County
5/16" plastic spiles, drain into plastic buckets or sapsaks
haul sap out of woods using atv & trailer
wood-fired pans on concrete blocks
one Leader Half Pint 24 x 33" plus 24 x 30 ss pan from a junkyard
cook batch process then finish in the kitchen;
we dont sell our syrup; its for family & friends
see website www.mosyrup.com
There was a centipede in one of the big tanks the other day. He was in there all day and when the level got low enough, I picked him out so he didn't get sucked up by the pump. I dropped the carcass on the floor and he ran away! How can a critter stay submerged for 16 hours and then just walk away? Don't bugs breathe??
Probably hard to see 'em, but that one had gills also. Or very small SCUBA gear.
Interesting story. I would have been surprised too!
2014 Upgrades!: 24x40 sugarhouse & 30"x10' Lapierre welded pans, wood fired w/ forced draft, homemade hood & preheater
400 taps- half on gravity 5/16, half on gravity 3/16
Airablo R.O. machine - in the house basement!
Ford F-350 4x4 sap gatherer
An assortment of barrels, cage tanks & bulk tanks- with one operational for cooling/holding concentrate
And a few puzzled neighbors...
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/t...uckethead1920/
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
I got you all beat. Went to my buddys farm to collect my sap one day and a half a dozen calves had gotten free and were surrounding my tank and drinking like it was free. I wish i still had the picture but my phone got destryed shortly after that.
2021 230 Taps on vacuum
Smokylake 2X6 pan set with auto drawoff
Homebuilt 2 4x40 membrane RO
Homebuilt filter press
Rebuilt arch with under and over the fire air we have named V 2.0
Smokylake steam bottler
Hoods and preheater
500 gallon vertical polytank to store sap for RO
Adding a laser eye to my bottler for autofill/stop
We've had a lot of flies this year in the sugar shack and they've been landing in the sap. I just make sure they spit out any sap before I toss them out.
Has not happened to me yet but if it did I would put the mouse in the frig and eat it with syrup made from the sap that did it in.
Seems like this question has come up every year since I joined this site. Apparently the mice aren't getting any smarter as the dumb ones drown themselves.
CE
44° 41′ 3″ N
2019 -- 44 Red Maples - My home and sugarbush are for sale.
2018 -- 48 Red Maples, 7 gallons
2017 -- 84 Red Maples, 1 Sugar Maple, and 1 Silver Maple , 13 gallons
2016 -- 55 Red Maples, 8 gallons
2015 -- 15 Red Maples, 6 Birches - 3+ gallons maple syrup
An awning over my deck is my sugar shack.
An electrified kitchen sink and an electrified steam table pan are my evaporators.