Rats?

Ccdance75

Songster
6 Years
Jul 24, 2015
52
22
106
I believe we have rats digging tunnels and chewing their way into our coop. I have a pest control person coming out but does anyone have any suggestions? I really just hate that they are digging up the ground under the coop. Its too late in the year for me to dig down and put chicken wire under the dirt. We are in New England and the ground is quite cold. Are they just pests? I think they are feasting on the food and it gets expensive since i have 11 chicken to feed.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Pest control person is your best choice to remedy the situation. What you can do yourself, is to keep food out of reach of these rodents. Keep bulk feed in steel barrels with tight lids. Feed your chickens the amount they will consume , rather than have it available all the time..
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Once the exterminator has rodents under control, you can go to having feeders and filled.

WISHING YOU BEST
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Ground cold?

Then use 1/2" wire fabric laying on the ground, 3 or 4 feet horizontally around the coop.
 
Last edited:
Posted to another query.
Hope it helps.:

My understanding is that rats/mice are everywhere.
They will congregate and breed where there is available food, water, and shelter.
Look closely around any fast food restaurant and you will see rat bait stations.

They will eventually come, the idea is to prevent them from establishing a colony.
If you see 1, there are probably fifty.
If you see two or more holes, expect dozens.

Keeping a rat trap/bait station baited 24/7 hopefully keeps the population from establishing near your food source. Once established, they are very difficult to eliminate.

Remember, chickens don't attract rats, food does.

That said, I fabricated black 4 inch circular x 18" long drainage plastic pipe as a bait station.
Placed along the outside of my coop, looks like drainage pipe (not unsightly).
I put a t fitting in the center, capped, for easy viewing once a week.
Inside I maintain commercial rat poison.

My run has food scraps 24/7.
My coop has food access 24/7.
Water access 24/7.

5 years, no sign of rats or mice...

Hope this helps.


 

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