Gopher or mole digging under my coop

[BrandonVercnocke]

Started a while ago but recently has dug to remove enough dirt to expose the hardware cloth covering the bottom. Any suggestions?

 

[ronott1]

Started a while ago but recently has dug to remove enough dirt to expose the hardware cloth covering the bottom. Any suggestions?
View attachment 1627396

Do you see mole hills outside?

They could be from Norway rats. You would see them in the yard at night if so. After identifying what is making the holes, you can then get rid of them based on what they are

 

[azygous]

Avocado pits are toxic to small animals (and chickens if they try to eat them), so I've heard. Last year, a mole took up sudden occupancy of my front grass patch. I had some fresh avocado pits that I stuck down every new hole I saw, and I sealed them all up.

The quick absence of all mole activity following the insertion of the pits is not conclusive evidence, nor does it come close to a scientific experiment, but you might find it worth trying.

 

[nchls school]

Not likely to be moles; possibly rats. I've the same problem, but mice. I put poison down the holes or in places where birds/dogs/cats/etc can't get at it.

 

[ronott1]

Avocado pits are toxic to small animals (and chickens if they try to eat them), so I've heard. Last year, a mole took up sudden occupancy of my front grass patch. I had some fresh avocado pits that I stuck down every new hole I saw, and I sealed them all up.

The quick absence of all mole activity following the insertion of the pits is not conclusive evidence, nor does it come close to a scientific experiment, but you might find it worth trying.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[BrandonVercnocke]

Uhhhhggg rats. Guess I’m putting out traps tonight

 

[aart]

HuH!
Good thing you put the HC down, eh?
Any evidence of holes outside coop?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wow that's some extensive tunneling. I'm thinking rats as well, with that sort of shallow tunnel (moles dig deeper usually).

 

[Doc7]

I see the HC inside. What’s the outside?

A set up like this, with no HC inside at all, and no digging / burying required, will prevent all digging animals. They don’t start that far back.0

I just laid this on my new addition I built today. The other side of the run has been covered by dirt and leaves etc.

 

[azygous]

I use the bucket/roller trap. No poisons, no traps to unload or in the case of live traps, figuring out what to do with the live critters. I made my own roller out of a wood dowel, a bit larger diameter copper tube, and little plastic bottle caps I cut the tops off to slip over the wood dowel so the copper tube would spin. Sometimes I get as many as five or six rodents by morning. This is safe to set up in the run since the chickens can't hurt themselves on it or be accidentally poisoned.