Leghorn-PLEASE HELP!

[Aunt Angus]

It did say to water it down and I’ve read others say same. I just like to double check especially with stuff like that when it comes to my chickens because I would feel awful if I ever did anything to make any situation worse for them. Im going to get a super soaker equivalent to a fire truck hose and get real nuts on everything

Yea rats are hell on earth i’m finding out. It seems like my flocks health issues are connected to these rats. Im not sure if they can cause death in chickens..but we have had one chicken after the other become so sick they passed or we had to cull because they were suffering! This has never happened to us i just feel like their has to be a connection. Or its just a huge coincidence. We have all their feed including treats stored in tins we always have. Our garbage any time we have to bring it out before dump is stored inside metal garbage cans as well all the way on other side of yard. I made fiancé get rid of his bird feeders he’s always had and everything and make sure any treats or scraps they didnt finish in run are cleaned up and disposed of. I really dont want to have to resort to poison but im not sure the traps and all we've done to help rid around the coops of rats is really working

Couple of things have helped us (besides putting their feeders away). One is electronic traps. You can only catch one at a time, but they are killed without poison, so I just chick their bodies out on the property - far away from my coop - for other critters. The other is the bucket trap. You can catch more than 1 at a time with those. We haven't had a problem in several months (knock on wood!).

They can bring disease and lice and mites. I think that's what caused the mites I dealt with last year. They can vote chickens, too, even kill them, esp younger birds. That never happened to me, but I've read accounts.

I may just surround their entire run with hardware cloth one of these days, esp now that avian flu is looming.

 

[B_Chickle01]

Couple of things have helped us (besides putting their feeders away). One is electronic traps. You can only catch one at a time, but they are killed without poison, so I just chick their bodies out on the property - far away from my coop - for other critters. The other is the bucket trap. You can catch more than 1 at a time with those. We haven't had a problem in several months (knock on wood!).

They can bring disease and lice and mites. I think that's what caused the mites I dealt with last year. They can vote chickens, too, even kill them, esp younger birds. That never happened to me, but I've read accounts.

I may just surround their entire run with hardware cloth one of these days, esp now that avian flu is looming.

I will try electronic traps. Ive read mixed reviews on them. I just worry also with how quickly rats multiply using something like traps like those that will catch only one or two at a time if any. My fiance has made bucket traps. Have worked wonders on mice have yet to catch rat. Maybe can have him try switching bait to something else that would peak rats interest more? We have fixed all holes we saw them chew within coop and I haven't seen any in coop at night while doors are sealed or rat droppings or even rats for that matter. Like before when I went out with flash light I saw a few scurrying under the pallets we have stacked to raise the coop off the ground back into ground where the tunnel they dug was! Then when we kept fixing holes I would open the damn coop after doors were shut at night and id see feeder swinging and then rats scurrying out into yet another hole they chewed through within what seemed to be over night. But like I said After fixing those none inside any more but we have caught a few in traps near run. Now that the weather is warmer and such and can have them outside of coop during day more we plan to do exactly that. I just went and purchased a bunch of 1/2in hardware cloth were going to cover inside and outside and make a skirt.

Haven't tried the treadle feeder but after reading on here a good effective one I am going to purchase this weekend. If any are entering coop during day when little run door is opened for chickens to come and go through I can eliminate that way. Is it common to not find any more rat droppings inside or in feeder but still have them getting in and eating out of feeder when door is opened?

 

[Aunt Angus]

I will try electronic traps. Ive read mixed reviews on them. I just worry also with how quickly rats multiply using something like traps like those that will catch only one or two at a time if any. My fiance has made bucket traps. Have worked wonders on mice have yet to catch rat. Maybe can have him try switching bait to something else that would peak rats interest more? We have fixed all holes we saw them chew within coop and I haven't seen any in coop at night while doors are sealed or rat droppings or even rats for that matter. Like before when I went out with flash light I saw a few scurrying under the pallets we have stacked to raise the coop off the ground back into ground where the tunnel they dug was! Then when we kept fixing holes I would open the damn coop after doors were shut at night and id see feeder swinging and then rats scurrying out into yet another hole they chewed through within what seemed to be over night. But like I said After fixing those none inside any more but we have caught a few in traps near run. Now that the weather is warmer and such and can have them outside of coop during day more we plan to do exactly that. I just went and purchased a bunch of 1/2in hardware cloth were going to cover inside and outside and make a skirt.

Haven't tried the treadle feeder but after reading on here a good effective one I am going to purchase this weekend. If any are entering coop during day when little run door is opened for chickens to come and go through I can eliminate that way. Is it common to not find any more rat droppings inside or in feeder but still have them getting in and eating out of feeder when door is opened?

I never found droppings in my feeder or run. I always found them on the various surfaces in the run - like their perches and the roof of the duck house, which opens into the same run, so I couldn't say. I would think the hardware cloth and the treadle feeder will make a huge difference. Many folks on BYC say that if you take away the food source, the rats will leave. I'm sure that's true, but it's easier said than done. But between the removal of the food, the traps, and plugging holes, I've managed to keep them at bay.

Funnily enough, I think having ducks helped. Ducks don't really go to sleep at night. They'll sleep for a bit but wake up frequently to root around and get into their water buckets. My husband hears them "talking" when he leaves for work around 3:30am. I think they kinda scare the rats off. My Runner, in particular, is pretty territorial and will chase off anything she thinks doesn't belong. I think between her ire and the fact that it's never quiet in the run scared off the rats. But that's just a theory.