Moles????

[jeria]

OK, I have my coop and run site partially done, much to go yet. 40 bags of dirt hauled to level it. Now my dogs are digging in the site after a mole, glad it's not leveled yet. Mole tunnels go pretty deep going after earth worms so are they any danger to chickens?

 

[firestomp]

OK, I have my coop and run site partially done, much to go yet. 40 bags of dirt hauled to level it. Now my dogs are digging in the site after a mole, glad it's not leveled yet. Mole tunnels go pretty deep going after earth worms so are they any danger to chickens?

nope, unlike rats and mice they have few parasites, i have never seen any on the one I caught, I have live caught them for study and presentations to people. They are amazingly soft and powerful little animals.

 

[jeria]

That's good to know as when we have had any amount of rain the moles seem to come up higher and into our yards. My dogs are mole hunters and go crazy after them. I hadn't thought about that until today.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

no they should not be a problem themselves, however we have tons of mole hills in our horse pasture with all the moles they brought in the badgers. now we have at least 2 at the moment (could be more could be less)

 

[firestomp]

no they should not be a problem themselves, however we have tons of mole hills in our horse pasture with all the moles they brought in the badgers. now we have at least 2 at the moment (could be more could be less)

Those are the fiercest animal I think there is other than a wolverine in the US I believe. The tiny shrew is afraid of nothing. It was said once by a biologist," if a shrew was as big as a lion, man would be extinct" I kept one as a kid, they need to eat all the time. Their metabolism is so high they will starve in hours, I forget the number, and don't have a long life.

 

[Chickassan]

Your chickens will eat the moles but it isn't a problem except for the moles of course.

 

[aart]

Moles/voles won't hurt the chickens.....but the holes they dig can be used by peskier pests like rats.

The mole/vole tunnels will make easy digging for the chickens too. I get them in the run and the chickens love to dig in the soil loosened by tunnelers.

 

[jeria]

no they should not be a problem themselves, however we have tons of mole hills in our horse pasture with all the moles they brought in the badgers. now we have at least 2 at the moment (could be more could be less)

Badgers are nasty, even my horses used to avoid them they would go a bit nuts if they were near and they killed one of my cats. That was years ago when I lived in the country. Be careful.

 

[jeria]

Moles/voles won't hurt the chickens.....but the holes they dig can be used by peskier pests like rats.

The mole/vole tunnels will make easy digging for the chickens too. I get them in the run and the chickens love to dig in the soil loosened by tunnelers.

Thanks. My dogs are amazing mole dogs so they stop most of them pretty quickly. Glad no disease or other issues from them. I was concerned when I saw them hunting in the coop space. The moles seem to invade from the park behind me when we have heavy rains as it is a slope going down to a creek.