Ugh, how I hate it when rats move in. We've had problems with them in our woodshed (And consequentially, our chicken coop nearby) for years, and discovered live traps work better than the type that looks like a very large mousetrap--they can sometimes escape from those.My sweet, cross beaked, chicken Sophie died today. I am going to miss her so much. She laid olive green eggs and she was almost 5 years old. The winters were very hard for her and it has been so cold. Her beak made it difficult for her to get enough food. The last few days I noticed that she was snuggling up with Janet. She never snuggled, she always wanted to be alone. Today at 5 when I locked up the chickens she was gone. I found her dead in the run with the same horrible damage to her neck as Chrissy. Rats!
My chickens are very upset. They are on edge and not making happy, content noises anymore. I hate seeing them scared. Since catching the big rat I have seen a single smaller one in the coop. No more nests since the tiny one I found. No more new holes. Finally tonight the small rat is hopefully history. DH removed the cabinet off the wall that I use to store chicken supplies. And there she was and away she went. She ran on the top beam next to the ceiling all the way around the coop. Then she vanished into the eave. So I went outside and finally found what I hope is the last entrance. It was between the window frame and the cinder block. I positioned the dogs outside the window just in case she jumped out. DH blocked the entrance from the eave into the coop with a big square of hardware cloth. Then he went outside and emptied 1/3 of a can of rat/mouse repellent expandable spray foam into the hole. 15 minutes later when he went to take out the trash he heard a loud noise coming from the coop. It was the sound of the rat throwing herself up against the hardware cloth trying to get back into the coop! The wet spray foam will stick like glue to her face if she tries to go out the way she came. I’m not sure what I’m going to find in the morning.
DH blocked up every crevice and crack we could find and entombed the one rat we saw. But then I started thinking. Why aren’t these things eating my chicken food? There are enough rats that they are bolding eating my poor dead Sophie in the middle of the day. Where are they living? And why when I fill my chicken’s water dish outside is all the water disappearing? They have a big heated dish inside so I didn’t really worry about it. I thought maybe it was the sparrows. But why am I finding sunflower seed shells all over the place when I’m not feeding any seeds? And why are the dogs dashing to the wood fence every morning when we go through the goat pasture? They seem to be hitting on something that is coming under the fence.
Then it hit me! The rats could be coming from Crazy Lady’s yard! She’s got a dozen birdfeeders over there. That’s the food source, not me! That’s why the rats are not chowing down all my chicken food. Sunflower seeds taste better. Her shed is right on the other side of the fence where the dogs are hitting. Those rats could all be living under that shed and coming over here to drink my chicken’s leftover outside water every night. Maybe the two rats I have seen were just branching out from the large colony and looking for a new home!
So here’s the plan. The chickens are staying in tomorrow. I’m going to fill their outside water and throw some cracked corn around. Then I’m going to set up the game cam so I can see if the rats are coming from our wood pile or from the direction of Crazy Lady’s house. Then if I can get any evidence of large amounts of rats coming from under her fence I’m calling the health department!
