Hello. I change my shavings like twice a year, but I shovel out the poop once a week. Throw new stuff in too once and a while to make up for the stuff you take out. As for the nesting boxes, I use hay. Since chickens generally like to lay in clean, comfortable spots, you shouldn't need to clean...
We have a layer of 2 inch thick slate under the run, followed by a layer of hardware cloth. All around that is a wall of cemented in concrete blocks. The rest is entirely enclosed with hardware cloth, as well as every opening and hole. We have seen no evidence of rats inside the coop, no holes...
Checked under the roost they usually sleep on.. nothing. (Paper towel wipe)
Looked the best a could at each chicken, didn't find anything.
All layer pellets, 16% protein I believe. (Looked online at ingredients)
Run is 6x12. They have lots of room to roam around.
We have 2 cameras set...
I've been having problems with rats as well. Ours are really small though, and grayish. Ours have white on their underside too. Not sure how to get rid of them now. Definitely recommend killing them off before the population expands.
Hello everyone :D
Recently (within the last 2 weeks) we have noticed all our chickens loosing feathers. Some are worse than others, but we are unsure of the cause. Molting? Mites? Other? Here are some pictures:
We have 2 barred rocks, 2 buff orpingtons and 1 Rhode Island red.
To...
Thanks, I haven't tried that yet. I guess I would have to snake through the wood pile and put some in through the gaps and stuff. Recently we've moved the wood around and have found their nests. Thanks.
Yea, I did something like that with the roll left from the paper towels. I put chicken feed and peanut butter on it, assuming they would fall in. We came close to getting one, but the water froze in the bucket resulting in nothing happening. Thanks though! I guess I'll have to try it in the summer.
Well, all we have is chickens (outside). We noticed their tracks (during a snow storm) walking from our wood pile our compost pile.
There's nothing we'd be dumping food-wise that would attract them, since we have been dumping compost for years now. Not sure.
Thanks for all the replies everyone
We know they aren't going into the run we have, as it is sealed shut with no openings.
We've tried poison, snap traps, sticky traps, bucket traps, etc. We were thinking of attaching the end of the exhaust pipe and pumping them out of the wood pile. We've...
Hello!
Not sure how to answer some of your questions, but I have one tip.
Use hardware cloth! Definitely. Cover every opening and wall with it in the run, everywhere.
About the pvc pipe, I've never seen that, so I wouldn't know.
Thanks.
Hello! That sounds horrible.
I'd make sure it's the Ameracauna. Do you have any roosters?
You should probably separate the bloody chicken and quarantine it to prevent it from getting hurt more. Blood is never good for other chickens to see.
Can you send pictures?
How bad is it?
Thanks.
Hello!
Have you noticed any signs of holes or openings in your enclosure?
That would be a potential problem.
What type of predator do you think is getting in? Are you sure it's a predator?
Good luck.
Hello
Ever since late summer, we've developed rats all around our garden. Not inside our house (as we know of yet).
They're very small, bigger than a mouse but not as big as the average rat. We have no clue what kind they are, etc. We got them when we moved the chickens into the coop.
They...