I must have kicked up 10 mice out of my pen last night. - Ratproof Feeder reccommendations needed.

[Sublight]

Last night my wife and I went out to the pen together to shut the doors for the pen. We noticed the door was closed, and the chickens were roosting in strange places. So we opened the coop and placed the chickens in. I must have scared a GAGGLE of them little critters out. I had no idea it was that bad.

We need some ratproof feeder suggestions. I know there are a bunch out there, and everyone that sells them says theirs is the best. What do you people use, and what do you suggest? Im gong to purchase it ASAP.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have read that some chickens don't understand the ones for stepping on. Either way you will need to do rodent maintenance otherwise you will be overrun. If you are seeing 10 they say there are 100. We personally choose to use a bait box and poison, but traps can work well with many options available. Rodents come with chicken keeping, so it's best to figure out how you will handle them.

Rats are way different than mice, they will chew through any feeder, and will also just dump them over to get what they want. We deal with rats every fall coming into the shed, they are extremely destructive, and are hard to trap. They are also very smart and in my opinion will figure out how to get into any feeder.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think I would focus on getting rid of the mice. They aren't going away. I might try a hanging feeder.

 

[Sublight]

I think I would focus on getting rid of the mice. They aren't going away. I might try a hanging feeder.

Is a hanging feeder better then one that the chickens have to step on?
I heard that the rats can jump up on the feeder.

I want the one and done (nuclear) option. My wife isn't going back out there until the rats/mice are gone.

 

[Sublight]

I have read that some chickens don't understand the ones for stepping on. Either way you will need to do rodent maintenance otherwise you will be overrun. If you are seeing 10 they say there are 100. We personally choose to use a bait box and poison, but traps can work well with many options available. Rodents come with chicken keeping, so it's best to figure out how you will handle them.

Rats are way different than mice, they will chew through any feeder, and will also just dump them over to get what they want. We deal with rats every fall coming into the shed, they are extremely destructive, and are hard to trap. They are also very smart and in my opinion will figure out how to get into any feeder.

I put out little bait boxes from Walmart, and nothing touched them. Id love to do poision, but they didn't touch it. LIke at all.
What suggestion can you give?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Treadle feeders restrict access to feed for anything lighter than the weight of the birds. The issue that it doesn't help with its feed spilled into the bedding by birds billing it out which still draws pests. You could use a "no waste feeder" and either remove at night or cap the ends to close acces to the feed. Alternatively, eliminating access points with hardware cloth works but can be costly depending on size of the are you are enclosing

 

[Birdinhand]

hardware cloth all the way around and even under, or at least two feet down with gravel back fill is about the only real solution I know of for rats. if it's mice and not baby rats, then I'd get a bunch of snap traps, like 10 and place them all around the feeders where you saw them, using them more like snares, if there is a way of keeping the chickens away from the traps till you can pull them in the morning. when I get really serious I will even get a tote and leave the traps set and just carefully place them inside the tote for the day so I don't have to reset them every day. baiting the traps can work, till it doesn't, then you just place the traps where you think they run. if you can see places around the coop where they run (look for dander, brown smudging (they mark their trails), especially where they have to make a run for it between hiding places, this is where they run more indiscriminately and are more likely to run across the trigger of the trap. place the trap facing a wall or fence. if these are rats you are dealing with, I'd take it very seriously, they can become overwhelming pretty fast. rats eat chicken droppings, so restricting access to food is only successful up to a point, you need to get rid of the rats and make it impossible for them to get in the coop.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I put out little bait boxes from Walmart, and nothing touched them. Id love to do poision, but they didn't touch it. LIke at all.
What suggestion can you give?

We use a large black bait box for rats, some have had luck actually putting traps inside them. I believe we buy the Tom cat rat bait. Most die in their holes and are never seen again. Otherwise mousetrap baited with peanut butter placed along walls works well for mice, block access so chickens can't get to them.

 

[GGBEAR]

I have just found a rat inside my treadle feeder so it is right they do work out how to get in any its taken them a long time time for me to buy a new feeder

 

[TinyBirds]

I would take the food out of the coop at night and store it in the garage overnight.