Best design to avoid rats??

[busbees]

Thanks to all of you !!! I am sure I will have more questions later, but for now I am back to planning the construction of the coop.

 

[woodenart]

Raise the House up off the floor, all of our Houses are 18 inches from the ground, don't give them any hidey holes.

It's difficult to prevent rats getting into the Run as they're expert burrowers and gnawers, the only real way is to set the House and Run onto concrete which is prohibitve for some people.

Then... try one of these.. http://www.woodenart.org.uk/pages.php?pageid=2

Mark.

 

[nivtup]

Quote:
Funny Stuff

 

[kipper]

We have two coops, both raised. The 8' by 12' coop is about 18" to 24" off the ground. We did this for a variety of reasons, uneven ground, rot prevention, and vermin avoidance. We put chicken wire over the floor joists before attaching the plywood sheeting. It won't stop them, but will make it less fun to chew through.

We have hardware cloth over the window openings and vents, plus a tight fitting human door. Our pop door is heavy 3/4" plastic like that used for cutting boards. We have too many critters that could get in the coops, we build them like fortresses.

I agree with the earlier post, don't leave food out for them! Our feed stays IN the coop, and treats are gone before they hit the ground. If you have a compst pile, enclose it in a garbage can or hardware cloth framework. Our cat doesn't go out due to coyotes, but our three German Shepherds kill mice, rats, and mountain beavers.

Good luck, we hate rats. Hope you can keep them away!

 

[JCoogle]

Of course concrete would be the best solution but if you are like me you may want to move or add on and that makes it a pain. I live next to alot of corn fields and cattle pastures so rats were always a problem. I raised my coops off of the ground by a foor or so and they are all made from 1 inch rough cut oak lumber. To this day I have never seena sign of a rat in my coops. Now i need to try to keep them out of my feed.