Chickens eliminate gophers in the garden?

[Bokbok]

I just wanted to throw this out there. When I first threw the chicken tractors within the garden area to selectively fertilize patch by patch, there were gopher mounds everywhere. I figured I would deal with them later, because I am a little lazy. To my surprise, the gopher mounds began to disappear. The last gopher mound in my garden, I planted the chicken tractor directly on top, and that was the last of those irritating guys. They did not come back till about a month after my small chicken flock was cleaned out by the cleverest raccoons on earth. Never have I heard of such a theory proposing chickens to be effective gopher-scarer-offers, but I would love to promote it to others, gaining a little outside experience to support my observations. A friend of mind is very into roses, flowers, the like, and has poisoned, fire-bombed, and gassed the gophers out, at much expense and stress on her mind. But I don't think she believed me when I told her the chickens scared all my gophers away. Has anyone found this to be true?

 

[PortageGirl]

Interesting! I can see how though, not so sure they'd 'scare' them so much as annoy the heck out of them... heh. That's good to know and I'll be really interested to see what others say too!

 

[waynesgarden]

They avoid having exposed nests in areas with lots of human activity. if you are out moving your chicken tractor around frequently, feeding and watering daily, etc, they are going to avoid the area.

It likely is your presence and the regular changes to their environment that scares them off, not the birds. I think it would have been just as effective to move cages of canaries around.

Wayne

 

[NMbirds]

Darn! I was hoping it was the chickens too but I haven't found that my activity has eliminated the gopher mounds. We have pocket gophers and not only are they destructive but they are mean looking and ugly.
I have trapped over 20 of the little suckers but they must be breeding elsewhere and then migrating back to the network of tunnels dug by their predecessors. Neighbors own a gas powered Rodenator that puts a combination of oxygen and propane into the tunnel and then they pull the trigger and BLAM! But it's expensive at $2000. I will just keep finding their main tunnel and set a trap in either direction per instructions. I used to dispose the body but have taken to burying it back in the tunnel hoping that it would serve as a warning to any newcomers. Any other suggestions welcomed.

 

[EweSheep]

You should call on GopherBoy!

 

[TexasVet]

The gophers in my neck of the woods have gotten so smart that they tunnel into the chicken run and eat the feed at night. In fact, I've even seen them throwing dirt out of a hole in the middle of the day!

The best trap I've used so far is the cat!

Kathy in Texas

 

[CityChook]

I remember Gopher Boy's rodent terminator....

 

[Iceblink]

I didn't have gophers in my yard, but I did have voles and squirrels........for as long as I had chickens.

They would actually tunnel under the run and eat out of the feeder right next to my chickens. Best buddies

 

[cluckychick]

Shoot, I got a gopher that tunnels straight down the middle of the run. We tample down his mounds and the next day their back.

 

[Henrik Petersson]

Could it be the chickens' scratching that scares the gophers off?