Illinois...

[Louise Waffles]

Lol Moose is massive. I'd love to see a height and weight on him when he finally stops growing and filling out! Lol you sure he's not half turkey?!

We are super excited to be getting closer to setting up our breeding pens just need to get more spare cockerals processed and separate them out. We also need to buy chicken saddles still.

We are so glad we enlarged the chick grow out on the back side of the cooler coop for those littles. All of the youngest birds have been pulled from the main flock and from the introduction crate to spend some more time just being babies(The group in the large dog crate included the two youngest silkies, the two EE from our Olive's last eggs, and the little lavender boy that got injured by the rat.) This has also allowed us to give the little lavender boy some much needed physical therapy while knowing he is safe from being trampled on by the adults or picked on for being a younger mature boy. While we had started letting them out during the day I still wasn't comfortable leaving them out all the time because of his previous injuries. I don't know at this point if he will ever fully recover. He is, however, completely healed and can walk. Although sometimes his injured leg doesn't seem to do what he wants it to. We believe and hope that some more exercise will improve his mobility and strength. He's had a long road. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of his previous injuries as I was too busy being chicken doctor.

That first night we brought him in(he muct have been attacked the night before) he looked completely normal from the top, except that he wouldn't or couldn't get up. We brought him in and layed him on the dining room table on a towel to examine. Doesn't everybody keep chicken surgical supplies in a cupboard and a towel handy to protect the wood of the table? Lol wow that makes it sound like we're always having injured birds lol some weeks it feels like that but no other than bumble foot and a couple broken toes we've had very minor injuries. A few cuts and scratches from pecking order disputes a couple busted blood feathers(that same quail snapped the same blood feather again last night idk what to do about that- thankfully it wasn't as bad, as we don't know how it's doing it), one English orp cockeral that devoped an abscessed feather follicle, and the one chocolate orp pullet that had the very large infected gash in her side.

Yikes. We've run the mill thankfully nothing horrible. Fingers crossed. Although I would say that the chocolate pullet, Hope, was a severe injury. I still can't believe we never saw any blood or anything when it happened. We believe it was probably a predator.

Most injuries we've had have required nothing more than an application or two of iodine or blue kote. We keep syringes, blood stop, blue kote, gauze, drawing salve, neosporin, gentle iodine, surgical scissors, vet wrap, hemorrhoid cream(for prolapses) and I'm sure there's a few things I've forgotten to include lol. We also have a couple of kinds of antibiotics in case we ever have a problem and can't get to the vet. Of course they're as a last resort and only if we're sure they're needed. Especially since you can't buy them over the counter anymore. Probiotics, electrolytes, Epsom salts, peroxide, corid etc. Etc.

Anyone sorry I got sidetracked. So it wasn't until we brought him inside that we could really get a good look at him. It was then that we confirmed he was injured and to our horror we found bite marks up and down his leg and all over his hock. He had dried blood all over up in his feathers and down his leg. He also had a wound that seemed to be weeping periodically. He also seemed a bit shocky and lethargic. We got him to drink and eat a bit and began cleaning up his leg to get a better look at the injuries. At thos point we were still not sure where the injuries had come from. With how high up the injuries were we decided against dipping him in water not wanting to wet his feathers and chill him. So we got the solution ready and painstakingly washed him up by hand. When we got nearly all of the blood cleaned up(some of it in thick dried clots that had run down his leg) to our horror we discovered that we had seen injuries like this one other time. A month or so before a younger chick had been killed the first night we put in in the grow out run. Something had chewed it's legs and then tried to drag it through a one inch gap under a board. The chick got stuck there and the predator ate the crop and skin off of the chest and neck but left the meat. Due to the small space and the injuries as well as us seeing a rat a few nights later we decided a rat had killed the chick. We blocked off the gap into the run. After the little lavender boy was injured, we moved them that night to another grow out in the cooler coop.

We tried repeatedly over the late summer and fall to fill a hole that something was eating out of the concrete under our porch. Continually filling it with concrete, large rocks, chunks of concrete and metal. The hole kept being eaten back out larger and larger. This went on for a while before the chick was killed and the other injured. Also before we saw the rat. DH2B thought skunks or maybe groundhogs(which we have out back by our wood shed- they're very huge and docile) thinking it was the groundhogs he thought we should get rid of them. Until I saw a rat one night! Lol he didn't believe me. A few days later he saw it too.

In December I discovered much to my horror that the rat had eaten it's way into our laundry room which is also used for storage it had also dug a new escape tunnel out underneath our fuel tank.

We began trying to trap it however before we bought rat traps DH2B again thinking maybe I hadn't seen a rat in the house but an overly large mouse(we do have 5 cats and two dogs in the house- but they're not allowed in the laundry room) set mice traps where we knew it was going. The next day we were to get rat traps. The traps were set off in the morning when we checked but nothing in them. Uh oh. We haven't seen the rat in the house again. We believe that it ran out after being "attacked" now we've been finding some very large holes around our chicken coop. I think the rat is trying to find its way into the coop. We've been setting out traps daily. We caught a mouse once. Yesterday DH2B decided to set mouse traps BC the rat traps have been getting set off but empty so he thought maybe there were more mice. Last night we found the mice traps set off but one of them was dragged down a hole barely visible. I guess tonight we will be setting as many as we can tonight all around the holes both kinds of traps and hopefully we'll catch something. Before they ruin our coop or worse we lose more birds.

Let's just say I've never been bothered by mice but I now hate rats. It's also been stealing the insulation out of the hood of our car too!!!

I'm leery of poison for the obvious reasons, dogs, chickens, wildlife, feral cats, possible gross rotting animal in or under our coop. Anyways sorry just needed to vent and hoping some of you guys might have ideas. This feels like we're never going to get this thing. Or God forbid things!

 

[Louise Waffles]

Oh, no. Rats. I'm having that problem. My closest neighbor has what is pretty much a junkyard, so...they found my poultry yard. I moved all of my coops to the other side of my property, but they are still around, chewing through a coop. I'm afraid to use any poison, there's a lot of hawks and owls that would be happy to snatch up a rodent, and I REALLY don't want to hurt anything....I don't even want to kill rats, but I'll have to figure out how to do it. They are crafty creatures, avoiding traps...and if you relocate them, they can find their way back from like 5 miles away. I have a great big tomcat, but he's not as tough as he looks, and is no help. My little terrier is only telling me where they've been. So...I'm at a loss. They gotta go, dead or alive, for the sake of the flock, I'm just not having any success.
My most secure coop is a converted resin shed. The wood ones are getting chewed. I need to put hardware cloth on the ground under the wooden ones. I have even tried used cat litter around the perimeter thinking it would deter them, but no luck.
What I've read about rats is that they are even more apprehensive of new things than mice. So, just place unset traps around, keep them along walls. They use their whiskers to feel their way about, and stay close to walls. After a while (a couple of weeks maybe?), start setting the traps.
This is what I'm trying. I can't afford an exterminator, so hopefully I'll have some luck.I'm sorry for your troubles, I wouldn't wish rats on anyone.

 

[chickendreams24]

New member,jumping in to say hello from St Clair county, IL!

Welcome!!!! I explain this to all newbies so they don't get confused lol but I'm actually in Wisconsin but I'm pretty close to Illinois and more importantly I've found some good friends on this thread. I love these people!

Well, your lav orps won't be too far behind.  I kept telling you that my orps run big!  When Moose crows, his comb is at my hip level.  I doubt he'll get any taller, but he's slowly adding more muscle weight.

Of course I know your birds are big but these are the first cockerals I've grown out from you(the two cockerals we got in 2015 we lost to cocci remember so this is crazy!) I wonder if they will get as big as Moose?! I hope they're as sweet as Mr Dummy and Brick. Gosh I love that roo. You ever move him out you let me know. he always makes me think of a cloud that and we'll some Greek god strumming a lyre and lueing maidens to the clouds lol. He's such a hunk. How big is he next to you? He seems smaller than my three chocolate cuckoo boys.

Last spring I had a horrible mouse problem by the coop.   A neighbor that owns 2 houses, has had a house vacant for the last 15 years and was using it for storage. Well, his niece was going to move in so he had to empty all the storage out. Well the house was loaded with mice and my next door neighbor was sitting in her yard and said these mice would just come from the neighbors yard under her fence and then under my fence by the coop. I had started paying attention and it was crazy. At first I was trying all different kinds of traps and none of them worked. I finally broke down and bought the poison. I only put it out at night time. I slid pans of it under the coop and removed every morning before I let them out. I also gave some of the packets to my neighbor to put along her fence line. Within 2 weeks neither of us saw any more mice. I wish I would have done it to begin with and saved myself the money of trying snap traps, glue traps, live traps.

 What kind of chickens do you have?

RIR, Buckeyes, Delawares, SLW, Naked Necks, leghorns, black australorps, buff orp, barred rock, rosecomb, a few mixed breeds, and one I have no idea what kind he is.

No EEs? You need some blue and green eggs

Oooh! How do you like the buckeyes? Are they heritage? Do you have a roo? How are their temperaments? Sorry for the million questions DH2B chose them this year to get so we are ordering some this spring. They're supposed to be good mousers from what we've read. Then again so were the guineas what a flop lol.

Our cats were totally freaked when the rat was in the house. Lol they're good mousers but only indoor cats and they were like "OMG Mom! That's the biggest mouse ever it must be nuclear!" Lol

If/when you're able you should post a pic of the mixed breeds and unknown birds on here. There's a whole area for it but you might find some help here too or post the link to the thread after you make a post.

Oh, no. Rats. I'm having that problem. My closest neighbor has what is pretty much a junkyard, so...they found my poultry yard. I moved all of my coops to the other side of my property, but they are still around, chewing through a coop. I'm afraid to use any poison, there's a lot of hawks and owls that would be happy to snatch up a rodent, and I REALLY don't want to hurt anything....I don't even want to kill rats, but I'll have to figure out how to do it. They are crafty creatures, avoiding traps...and if you relocate them, they can find their way back from like 5 miles away. I have a great big tomcat, but he's not as tough as he looks, and is no help. My little terrier is only telling me where they've been. So...I'm at a loss. They gotta go, dead or alive, for the sake of the flock, I'm just not having any success.
My most secure coop is a converted resin shed. The wood ones are getting chewed. I need to put hardware cloth on the ground under the wooden ones. I have even tried used cat litter around the perimeter thinking it would deter them, but no luck.
What I've read about rats is that they are even more apprehensive of new things than mice. So, just place unset traps around, keep them along walls. They use their whiskers to feel their way about, and stay close to walls. After a while (a couple of weeks maybe?), start setting the traps.
This is what I'm trying. I can't afford an exterminator, so hopefully I'll have some luck.I'm sorry for your troubles, I wouldn't wish rats on anyone.

Just want to say thanks guys I'm glad we're not the only one's that have had this problem. Unfortunately we live very ryrally and they've been cleaning more fence lines in the last year by our house. They've also been cleaning up some shed on our property which of course you guessed it probably made the things show up.

While mice are annoying and I draw the line at the kitchen counter they usually don't make it too long in our house courtesy of the cats but now the rats ove got all sorts of things against. I hate rats now ever since they killed a chick and nearly killed the little lavender boy. I have no doubt if we hadn't brought him in treated him and them moved him that night I believe it would have killed him. He was not a small chick when it happened either he was about 10 weeks old maybe older idk have to check. He also wasn't the smallest chick in the run that night. I have no doubt that the rat attacked the chick and tried to disable it so that it could eat it alive.

It was just terrible. I wouldn't wish being eaten alive on anything it's just sick and terrible. I like wildlife I really really do just not when it interferes with my animals. I am thinking we well have to go with poison next although I hate it. I am not sure we have much choice. It's possible we can stick something over the holes to make it so they can't come out.

I would never have thought before seeing it with my own eyes that a rat would eat through a foundation, or eat a corner out of a building, or burrow under a building to come up in the walls, or disable, kill and try to drag off a chick. I knew rats were bad but even though I've lived in a pretty rural area my whole life or most of it this is my first real encounter with a rat and I must say I could've done without. I feel as though I need to completely wral my house coops and car in 1/4 in thick hardware cloth. Lol

Good luck to us all in ridding our coops of these dangerous pests. Anyone have a large snake? Perhaps that's the best way to rid us of the rodents... So long as they don't get in the coop. We'll just send the snake down the hole lol

 

[Louise Waffles]

Welcome!!!! I explain this to all newbies so they don't get confused lol but I'm actually in Wisconsin but I'm pretty close to Illinois and more importantly I've found some good friends on this thread. I love these people!
Of course I know your birds are big but these are the first cockerals I've grown out from you(the two cockerals we got in 2015 we lost to cocci remember so this is crazy!) I wonder if they will get as big as Moose?! I hope they're as sweet as Mr Dummy and Brick. Gosh I love that roo. You ever move him out you let me know. he always makes me think of a cloud that and we'll some Greek god strumming a lyre and lueing maidens to the clouds lol. He's such a hunk. How big is he next to you? He seems smaller than my three chocolate cuckoo boys.

No EEs? You need some blue and green eggs

Oooh! How do you like the buckeyes? Are they heritage? Do you have a roo? How are their temperaments? Sorry for the million questions DH2B chose them this year to get so we are ordering some this spring. They're supposed to be good mousers from what we've read. Then again so were the guineas what a flop lol.

Our cats were totally freaked when the rat was in the house. Lol they're good mousers but only indoor cats and they were like "OMG Mom! That's the biggest mouse ever it must be nuclear!" Lol

If/when you're able you should post a pic of the mixed breeds and unknown birds on here. There's a whole area for it but you might find some help here too or post the link to the thread after you make a post.
Just want to say thanks guys I'm glad we're not the only one's that have had this problem. Unfortunately we live very ryrally and they've been cleaning more fence lines in the last year by our house. They've also been cleaning up some shed on our property which of course you guessed it probably made the things show up.

While mice are annoying and I draw the line at the kitchen counter they usually don't make it too long in our house courtesy of the cats but now the rats ove got all sorts of things against. I hate rats now ever since they killed a chick and nearly killed the little lavender boy. I have no doubt if we hadn't brought him in treated him and them moved him that night I believe it would have killed him. He was not a small chick when it happened either he was about 10 weeks old maybe older idk have to check. He also wasn't the smallest chick in the run that night. I have no doubt that the rat attacked the chick and tried to disable it so that it could eat it alive.

It was just terrible. I wouldn't wish being eaten alive on anything it's just sick and terrible. I like wildlife I really really do just not when it interferes with my animals. I am thinking we well have to go with poison next although I hate it. I am not sure we have much choice. It's possible we can stick something over the holes to make it so they can't come out.

I would never have thought before seeing it with my own eyes that a rat would eat through a foundation, or eat a corner out of a building, or burrow under a building to come up in the walls, or disable, kill and try to drag off a chick. I knew rats were bad but even though I've lived in a pretty rural area my whole life or most of it this is my first real encounter with a rat and I must say I could've done without. I feel as though I need to completely wral my house coops and car in 1/4 in thick hardware cloth. Lol

Good luck to us all in ridding our coops of these dangerous pests. Anyone have a large snake? Perhaps that's the best way to rid us of the rodents... So long as they don't get in the coop. We'll just send the snake down the hole lol

Haha! I was thinking about a snake. One of those big blacksnakes I sometimes see crossing the road in my semi rural area. It is not an easy thing for me to say poison is the answer. One:where are they going to die? Flailing in the field for a bird to eat? And then that bird dies? Oh, my heart is sad. Or UNDER MY HOUSE? I've seen/heard no evidence of them in my house, but I don't KNOW. I wonder about electric traps? That seems the most humane...
I love and respect all animals. I kept rats as pets years ago as a teenager and when my kids were little. They're smart and lovable. But these? Yes, they have their plave and it's not near my chickens.
I put bricks under a coop, a whole brrick floor....A DAY LATER, they had a whole new tunnel system umder it. LINED WITH STRAW. Try to take away their food source? They eat poo. Theirs and anyone else's they can find.There is no way to clean your property enough to make it unappealing to them.
On Buckeyes: all of mine are hens. They're a heritage breed, the only one developed by a woman, if I remember correctly. No health problems, not nervous. They aren't lap chickens, though. My favorites are the naked necks. They are very sweet, and naturally resistant to a lot diseases. So I've read. I've never had one get sick. I think my RIRs are the mousers here. But Buckeyes are supposed to be good mousers, and I would definitely recommend them.
If you ever want to do a heist, maybe we could meet up and find a truckload of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I'm up for it.

 

[NotAFarm]

New member,jumping in to say hello from St Clair county, IL!

and to the Illinois thread!

 

[4stakes]

You people need to figure out what is more important, your chickens or the predators that want to eat your chickens? Whatever it takes I would get rid of rodents and all predators that attack your chickens. You have to be the hunter, it's in your genes. Good luck

 

[Molpet]

Haha! I was thinking about a snake. One of those big blacksnakes I sometimes see crossing the road in my semi rural area. It is not an easy thing for me to say poison is the answer. One:where are they going to die? Flailing in the field for a bird to eat? And then that bird dies? Oh, my heart is sad. Or UNDER MY HOUSE? I've seen/heard no evidence of them in my house, but I don't KNOW. I wonder about electric traps? That seems the most humane...
I love and respect all animals. I kept rats as pets years ago as a teenager and when my kids were little. They're smart and lovable. But these? Yes, they have their plave and it's not near my chickens.
I put bricks under a coop, a whole brrick floor....A DAY LATER, they had a whole new tunnel system umder it. LINED WITH STRAW. Try to take away their food source? They eat poo. Theirs and anyone else's they can find.There is no way to clean your property enough to make it unappealing to them.
On Buckeyes: all of mine are hens. They're a heritage breed, the only one developed by a woman, if I remember correctly. No health problems, not nervous. They aren't lap chickens, though. My favorites are the naked necks. They are very sweet, and naturally resistant to a lot diseases. So I've read. I've never had one get sick. I think my RIRs are the mousers here. But Buckeyes are supposed to be good mousers, and I would definitely recommend them.
If you ever want to do a heist, maybe we could meet up and find a truckload of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I'm up for it.

Glad to see you in the IL thread

I put aprons of HWC going out about 2'.. but I don't have rats that might tunnel that far..., just everything else.. My BR and ISA browns eat the mice.
The least expensive HWC I found was :
http://www.windscreen4less.com/24-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html
http://www.windscreen4less.com/24-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html
http://www.windscreen4less.com/48-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html

 

[Louise Waffles]

Glad to see you in the IL thread:cd

I put aprons of HWC going out about 2'.. but I don't have rats that might tunnel that far..., just everything else.. My BR and ISA browns eat the mice.
The least expensive HWC I found was : 
http://www.windscreen4less.com/24-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html
http://www.windscreen4less.com/24-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html
http://www.windscreen4less.com/48-i...h-galvanized-hardware-cloth-chicken-wire.html

Thanks so much, I was just getting ready to see what prices I could find!

 

[cavemanrich]

When Moose crows, his comb is at my hip level. I doubt he'll get any taller, but he's slowly adding more muscle weight.

Do you think these would color match Moose???

Good luck to us all in ridding our coops of these dangerous pests. Anyone have a large snake? Perhaps that's the best way to rid us of the rodents... So long as they don't get in the coop. We'll just send the snake down the hole lol

If I would have known earlier, I would have rented this guy out.

Well probably this one would have done a BETTER job.

 

[Faraday40]

Do you think these would color match Moose???



If I would have known earlier, I would have rented this guy out.

Well probably this one would have done a BETTER job.