Ground predator? Hubbby saw a rat the size of a kitten.

[BlindLemonChicken]

I had very little luck catching a rat in a trap but you can always try. It might be easier to sit outside the coop with a gun. Sounds like you might be a candidate for that job than the husband

 

[Snowbelt]

I had very little luck catching a rat in a trap but you can always try. It might be easier to sit outside the coop with a gun. Sounds like you might be a candidate for that job than the husband

I started noticing some burrowing near the coop last week. Yesterday I finally set a live trap, and when I went up to check on the chickens before dark, I had a large rat. I let him go about 20 miles away in a wooded area and reset the trap. No sign of other rats yet, and no additional signs of burrowing. Hopefully that took care of the problem.

 

[Al Gerhart]

There are only two ways to successfully deal with rats. First, control the feed, clean up the pathways they use to travel between food and burrow so natural predators can get them. That is the sanitation method. Plan on spending $200 or less and it works as long as you practice the sanitation.

Or build a fort knox coop. Ten times more expensive if you hire the work done or more with the material if it is a big coop. And you have to maintain it, plug holes as they are chewed or dug, and no free range.

Trapping and poison never work long term, if they work at all after a few days. But, were you to kill off the colony, a new batch would move in as soon as they found the vacant territory.

Messing around with old wives tales just lets the colony grow and makes it more difficult to eliminate.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Hopefully that took care of the problem.

Where you see one there are many more. Now that rat is just someone else’s problem. Hopefully not if it’s in the woods but I wouldn’t ride 20 miles with a rat

 

[Snowbelt]

It was double-contained during the trip and wasn't released within a half mile of a residence. I'm concerned that there may be more, but all feed is contained in metal containers, and there is no evidence it was accessing the coop itself, just the pen. I've blocked off the burrows so I will know if there are others present. Hopefully not, but you may be right.

 

[CabritaChicks]

Last time we set a live trap to check whether we had a mongoose or a feral cat, we baited it with bacon — and ended up catching this instead.

An extremely aggressive type of burrowing nocturnal land crab, the kind that digs tunnels over 5 feet deep and about 12 inches across. That claw is no joke. Getting him out of the trap was… not easy. Welcome to jumanji.

That is actually a cat trap (for size reference).

Edit: but tonight will will set a few live traps, see what happens. Bacon seems to be the best bait for everything- it is the gateway meat.

 

[CabritaChicks]

Update: Last night the two hens chose to sleep in the tree by the coop, tucked right next to each other.

But today… the micro-chicks officially got integrated. So everyone is on lockdown in the coop/run for the next 3–7 days. The babies are a bit squirrely (sp?) — big chickens are intimidating — and the two adult hens are annoyed because they want to free-range while we’re landscaping.

Nope, everyone on lockdown. Because house chickens has officially overplayed its hand.

Honestly, I wish I could just disappear for three days and come back to a perfectly integrated flock. Hubby is attempting to keep me busy by digging holes for some tree seedlings I grew. Smart man.
No signs of predators so far.

As long as the two adult hens are together, they are happy-ish (there are micro-chick invaders)- but I realized when I tried to separate them- they are extremely co-dependent.

Therefore I am begining to think: Roo (white leghorn) just wanted to be close to Gypsy chick (junglefowl). And when Gypsy decided she was going rogue.... Roo didnt want to sleep by herself- but loves the coop so she found the closest tree- and closest branch to her normal roosting spot. Awe.