Long time since I've been on. Things have been a struggle here. Never enough time and all.
Been dealing as most of you may remember with rats in the coop since early this year even last winter. They escalated and our flock has suffered. First we had to rebuild our nest boxes two weeks after we had just rebuilt them. The rats getting in and eating eggs was teaching the flock to eat eggs and we are still dealing with that. The new nest box build feature
features roll out nesting boxes and a tray. Which is a Good since our eggs went from about 2 dozen a day to zero. We are now getting more and more each day again but they aren't yet used to the new nest boxes.
We are also identifying positive egg eaters which we will try to rehab. They may have to be processed if they don't stop.
Furthermore the rats caused even greater problems when they(we later discovered) moved in under our juvenile coop which we had surrounded with tin to prevent predators from getting in. This is our only coop or run without a concrete foundation. The rats then began attacking the juveniles in that coop.
The following details are horrific if sensitive please skip down until you see several blank lines...
We began finding chicks(the juveniles) dead or in shock in the small coop. In a matter of only a couple hours we may come in and find a dead chick. Or worse a living breathing chick with a gaping hole where it's vent used to be it's insides literally eaten out of it. Yes that's right we were literally losing birds as they were being eaten alive. Without question all of those with even just their vent missing(some we caught early) were put down immediately for humane reasons. It was incredibly horrible. The chicks themselves began to prey upon their injured siblings. Finding the color and taste to their liking. This has been our first experience with cannibalism and a horrible one it is too. We lifted the tin and found a pair of rats living in tunnels below it. Huge rats!
We had been trapping and killing the rats for months but only made a little headway. Fighting the problem at the little coop we didn't lose any birds from the big coop. Until the last straw. At bed check one night last week we found my beloved EE, Belle and sister to my sweet Pebbles in the corner. Our oldest birds I know their routine well and Belle was not next to Pebbles I knew immediately something was wrong. When I picked her up and saw the massive hole from pelvic bone to pelvic bone I gasped and then sobbed. My poor poor Belle. It was the last straw. We had avoided poison until that night, worried about the possible impact on local wildlife. We couldn't wait any longer. As I said Belle roosted next to my dearest Pebbles. What I didn't mention is that roost is part of the roost ladder and a good four feet off the ground. They also slept in the middle of the roost not on either end. I couldn't believe that Belle had gotten attacked. I was horrified that we had to put down our sweet girl. We layed poison out that night under wire milk crates that only rats or mice could access, one in the small coop one outside the big coop. The next morning 8 total cubes were gone. There was nothing left to pick up. We continued to put out poison and for days there was nothing left each morning. In the last few days we have finally been having to pick up poison in the mornings. We have also found the bodies of 4 massive rats and are sure there are more down in their burrows or even in the walls of the coop.
The fight continues but we no longer see rats hardly ever out there. Thank goodness. We have lost so many chicks and my wonderful Belle. We were able to save one of the fist chicks injured a Buckeye cockeral (some of you may remember that they were DH2B'S birthday gift and we sent out to a heritage breeder for them) up until the rats they were all doing alive and very well. Now we are down to four pullets and a number of cockerals (we had 8-9 pullets to start).
Below is a photo of Belle and a photo of one of the largest rats taken next to one of my reusable water bottles. The water bottle measures ten inches end to end.
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Yikes Chickendreams- are you in the city?
I haven't seen rats like that since I lived there. Maybe you need a Jack Russell. Or Schnauzer.
@chickendreams24
WOW! That's some rat! Hopefully you put a good dent into their population at your place.
I'm so sorry the rats killed your special Belle. I know she was your favorite.
Is your grandpa doing a little better? Did his infection respond to treatment?
Hi guys thanks for the responses.
No we don't live in town scarily. No joke I know there's rats in the country it's prime habitat but until last summer here(about 1 year ago)in this home I've never seen a wild rat. Period. We've never seen any of their large droppings or seen them at all. I've lived in several places and most of my life in the country and seen nothing. Even when I lived in a small town(not a city) we never saw a thing and there was a vacant barn behind our property line.
Now since the problem here we have also found evidence(rat droppings) on my grandparent's property that they have rats too. But they have barn cats and we've never seen a rat there(or any piece of one).
Not going to lie I wish I knew someone with a pack of ratting terriers. I saw some videos on YouTube of it and it would have been our preferred method to the poison especially since they became very bold. Since we don't, we had to do this. I hate poison but having lost nearly a dozen juveniles when all was said and done and Belle it was our last choice.
@Faraday40
Thanks for the hug I've definitely been in need of one.
Thank you for your concern. Yes Belle was a favorite but it could have been worse if they had attacked Pebbles, roosting next to Belle, I think I might have just given up on chickens all together. I know I shouldn't play favorites but I think we all can't help but have a few and Pebbles thinks she's a dog I swear. Lol she also wants to be a house chicken. Every time we carry in groceries and have the doors propped open Pebbles and two of my OEGB Minnie and Crocket have to be carried out. Lol Pebbles has made it clear through the porch into the kitchen on a number of occasions lol.
Belle was such a sweet beautiful chicken especially after she was treated for a slow crop this spring after eating some overly long grass.
Pebbles was quite upset by the loss of Belle her last sister but has come around. Pebbles gets along with everyone so that helps but I can tell she misses her. I don't think Pebbles has resumed laying. In fact bc of the rats and lice(despite only finding lice or nits on 6 birds)we are doing poorly with egg numbers. We also have several premature molters most of whom are at about the right age but I was expecting them to wait until fall. Perhaps the stress and crazy weather are to blame. It's been very cool here at night.
Egg numbers are beginning to pick up and I think that has a lot to do with the lack of rats which not only ate the eggs but stressed and scared the birds. Thank goodness we haven't seen any. We are still being super careful with the juvenile coop in case the losses start again. It's frustrating how many babies we lost that I wanted, and of course mostly females. Ugh.
My Grandpa did respond to treatment but he still has the infected bed sore. We are told it could take up to more than a year to heal completely but it's likely that he will have it for the rest of his life. He is in a different facility the third one he's been in this year not counting the two hospitals and the facility that regulated his Alzheimer's meds(which he was in three times bc the other facilities were screwing him up). It's been long and hard and scary.
Grandpa is more like a father to me and I know we're coming down to the wire. We were told that the treatment could cause his Alzheimer's to worsen. We weren't fully prepared for how much. He's there locked inside his own mind most of the time. He spends much of his time looking at the floor. He's still mobile and most of the time continent if they listen when he says he has to go potty. If he could see himself now he would be ashamed. He wouldn't want us to see him like this. My Grandpa is a strong and handsome man humble and proud at the same time. This is his worst nightmare come true.
It's so very hard. He still enjoys helping the staff out he wipes tables after lunch and folds linens for no other reason than he wants to. He wants to be useful and he is. He feeds himself and sometimes he's lucid. When he looks at us there's recognition most of the time but he often doesn't connect.
Some days are better and those make it worth while. I know when he's passed on and is up in Heaven he will know we were there and that's the important part. He will know we kissed and hugged him and told him how much we love him. He will know we are not ashamed of him. Never. I've never been ashamed of him. I can't imagine that. Sadly Mike and I are the only grandchildren that visit. Although my sister in law did once before he was moved to bring my nephews and we've taken one of my nephews to see him. He responds more to the baby(my youngest nephew just turned one). He's always loved children.
So we're coming down to the wire and I wonder how much longer we'll be blessed with my Grandpa. I see the pain in Grandma's face as she sits beside him in front of a window soaking up the sun. She knows that soon he won't be here. I ache for her and for my family and for my Grandpa. I know if he's still aware locked in there that he's hurting just as we are. Aching to hold us and dance and laugh and tell us he loves us. Wishing to speak our names and tell us he hears us. Some people including a select few in our family might say that Grandpa is already gone. I know they're wrong I see him in those tired eyes when he makes a joke only he gets and a glint of mischief flashes through them before vanishing again.
Grandpa has lost a lot of weight despite eating all of his food at every meal. I fear his body once that of the strongest man I knew is starting to give out.
In truth there is no way to describe the fear and heap of other emotions. This is agony that surpasses any physical pain I've ever felt.
I apologize for the long post. I set out to update you guys on Grandpa and I suppose I got a little carried away. I know some of you can probably relate and others may be able to in the future. I pray daily that a cure for Alzheimer's is found. I hope that I can help you all to understand this disease in a different light and someday if you are ever touched by it I hope you can find a little hope from our family's take. Grandpa has and continues to show us all a humility and kindness, an innocence and a love we may not have known otherwise. Not all of you may know that I lived with my grandparents as one of their main caregivers for over 4+ years. In that time I can't tell you what all I learned. Despite it's many trials it was all worth it. I now worry my Grandma will deteriorate quickly once Grandpa goes but I hope we will keep her longer. They were school Sweethearts and are as in love today as ever.
As hard as this is I thank God for the time we have had with Grandpa. Originally when he was diagnosed I was 11 and he was only given a max of seven years. I'm turning 27 and it's been 16 years. It's a miracle.