I need ideas to keep this digger out...what in the heck!

[hayley3]

So I'm assuming I have a rat.
We just had heavy rains so he's digging in the mud when I am not even able to level the dirt because it's so heavy and wet.
But I can't believe he dug approx. 3 feet....AND under the hardware cloth AND under the stone AND then under the door threshold. I even put out poison and it has not stopped him. Those stones are so heavy I can barely pick them up. I do not feed inside my coop so there is no food in there.
I moved to the city and I have never had a rat problem before when I lived in the country, so I came here to see if anyone had any ideas since the hardware cloth is not working. TIA!

 

[McChooky]

Rats live in colonies and don't travel far for food.Wild rats arent the same species as domestic rats and aren't known to cause this sort of damage . Poison is very dangerous and kills wildlife that eat the rats. Please set traps in cages instead so no chickens or pets will get trapped accidentally. Rats will kill small birds and eat baby chicks. Weasels travel in rat tunnels and an get inside your run or coop thru the same tunnels.

 

[cmom]

I use poison. Sometimes they don't like certain brands. I would switch bait. I have had the best success with this. I do put it in bait stations with the bait stations in pet carriers on shelves in our barn. The rats will travel so they will find the bait. I rarely find a dead rat. I think they go down into their tunnels and die. I haven't seen it in stores in quite awhile. The last bait I bought was on Amazon. Good luck...

 

[hayley3]

I use poison. Sometimes they don't like certain brands. I would switch bait. I have had the best success with this. I do put it in bait stations with the bait stations in pet carriers on shelves in our barn. The rats will travel so they will find the bait. I rarely find a dead rat. I think they go down into their tunnels and die. I haven't seen it in stores in quite awhile. The last bait I bought was on Amazon. Good luck...

I do have that brand of poison, it worked well at my last place, but not now, because they are not trying it at all. I ordered the bait stations but they were out of stock. I should have one delivered soon. I currently put the poison in a box inside a box, for safety reasons, but they are too busy digging into my coop to even try the poison. And I've had the flu so haven't been able to fight them, lately.

 

[Ankarankar]

https://pethelpful.com/farm-pets/preventing_chicken_predators Are you sure it is a rat? It could be another predator. This article gives you an idea of which predator it is by the way it kills. There are foxes in the city. In fact in Brooklyn NY they have sighted them. Anyway it may help to look at this. Good luck!!