Food location - coop or run?

[henless]

If you could fashion some kind of cap for your feeders or maybe even use a different kind of feeder? If you put your feeders in the coop, I would assume the gopher would find it's way into your coop anytime the pop door is open.

I've never had to deal with a gopher. We have them here, but they are few & far between. Never had any problems with them.

 

[RadiantJay]

I agree with rosemarythyme, it would be easiest to just cap the feed at night and uncap it in the morning. I don't have gophers but had rock squirrels that burrowed under the barn. Our dog killed them one by one two summers ago and they never came back. Gophers are just about impossible to control. @RadiantJay you have my sympathies.

I like it!! A cap is needed

 

[wild chick]

One more question though. I see the gopher hole under the hardware cloth, but I don't see that they are actually in the pen? Are they just digging open holes where the excess food drops down to them? Or do they actually come into the pen and take food out of the feeder? If they are not actually IN with the feeder, then what if you put a plywood floor on top of the hardware cloth so the feed can't fall to the dirt, through the wire and into the hands of the varmints?
Edit to say, I'd still cap the feeder at night to keep the mice or other night critters from being attracted.

 

[RadiantJay]

One more question though. I see the gopher hole under the hardware cloth, but I don't see that they are actually in the pen? Are they just digging open holes where the excess food drops down to them? Or do they actually come into the pen and take food out of the feeder? If they are not actually IN with the feeder, then what if you put a plywood floor on top of the hardware cloth so the feed can't fall to the dirt, through the wire and into the hands of the varmints?
Edit to say, I'd still cap the feeder at night to keep the mice or other night critters from being attracted.

Hi wild chick, there are 4 holes in the floor where they chewed through the wire. I put cinderblocks over the holes. Once they make the tunnel as you see in the photo, they chew through the wire. I bet tomorrow morning that spot has a hole there.

J

 

[wild chick]

omg. That is just awful. Looking at you PVC pipe feeder, looks like you've cut it to make it easier for the chickens, now a regular cap made for probably won't fit? You might have to replace that joint with a new piece and the cap that fits it. I've seen lots of photos of this type of feeder, and in fact I wanted to make one for my chickens. They free range all day and I don't keep food OR water in their coop because of mice. The mice only came back when I had a broody and chicks in a section of it with food and water for a couple of months. So removing the food source is the best start. Since it's a small area, you might have to spring for a concrete block floor...

 

[PirateGirl]

https://www.homedepot.com/s/pvc%20pipe%20cap?NCNI-5

You still have some easy options!

 

[TwistedSteel]

Sounds like you might need one of these http://ratproofchickenfeeder.net/

 

[Chickengene]

My girls must be savages.
They capture kill and eat the field mice that get in the run. And I have had to rescue a squirrel that got cornered in the coop. I don't always remember to take my feeders down at night.
That said, I took my wall feeders and hung them about 12" from anything a mouse could climb up on. I haven't seen any mouse droppings in the feed since.

 

[ChickNanny13]

When we lived in AZ, we had gophers ... I tried the smoke bums which was fun but never worked as they always reappear. Then someone told me to use Juicy Fruit Gum (the yellow wrapper one). You roll a stick into a ball & send it down the hole. Supposedly they eat the gum & get "clogged" up
It worked Every time I saw a mound/hole, I'd roll a stick of gum down and I did buy several packs of gum. The gophers disappeared, no clue if it was the gum or what but the mounds/holes disappeared ... I never blocked the hole & it's easier to roll the gum after warming in your hand. I'd roll a bunch & put in a zip lock during the Summer cause Winter it was harder to roll (yes it does snow in AZ).

I was skeptical but desparate, it was worth the try & easy enough to do. Didn't happen overnight but all the gophers were gone That's all that mattered to me.