Going down to China Soon...

[twocatslaughing]

Good morning fellow Chicken people, my name is Jan. Problem is something has made tunnels all under my 20ft. x 20ft. x 8ft. chicken yard. It has a 3 inch river gravel floor wall to wall with a 4 ft. x 4 ft. dirt play/scratch area. There is no opening anywhere in this yard where anything comes up. You sink down 3 or more inches when you walk around in their yard. We laid concrete block's all the way around the outside fencing and this cage has been predator free for the five year's we have used it. It is all undermined by what looks like giant mole trail's. What do we do? Happy Hen's so far. Jan

 

[mtngirl35]

Hi and welcome to BYC! If you want to keep the moles out from under your run dig a trench about 12"-18" deep around the run and install a hardware cloth barrier and cover it back up. That should divert them. Of course the best solution would be to eliminate the moles all together. You have several options on that depending on how much you want to spend and whether or not you want to use poison. Catch and release traps take longer and are more expensive but are safer if you have other critters in the yard. There are also electronic repellents but I don't know if they would affect your chickens or other pets.

 

[twocatslaughing]

Thank you as we are willing to try anything. Never see any holes of entry or exit, as our floor is not dirt, and gravel rolls around when walked on. We have put chicken feeders up on concrete blocks.

 

[gawildlife]

Hi and welcome to BYC! If you want to keep the moles out from under your run dig a trench about 12"-18" deep around the run and install a hardware cloth barrier and cover it back up. That should divert them. Of course the best solution would be to eliminate the moles all together. You have several options on that depending on how much you want to spend and whether or not you want to use poison. Catch and release traps take longer and are more expensive but are safer if you have other critters in the yard. There are also electronic repellents but I don't know if they would affect your chickens or other pets.

Dig deeper than 18" I have personally observed a mole run at an 8' depth.

Forget poison it DOES NOT WORK. Nor repellents or juicy fruit or castor beans or ground glass or ad nauseum.

Catch and release???? Someone give me a link, please. Been in the business for over a decade never seen one.

Hire a pro OR www.themoleman.com has the straight skinny as does www.traplineproducts.com. I use both the Victor OSS and Steve Albano's trapline traps.

Seriously, whether you do anything or not read the mole man and learn the biology of the mole and why so much you hear is bull.

 

[gawildlife]

Trapping is the only option.