My 17 hens are eating 50lbs in less than a day , is this normal ?

[Quyen Le]

I used air gun and shot 1 dead and then other rats try to hide from me. I rarely see them but I know they were there. I put rat poison in burrows and then use dirt to fill them and next day, I see the burrows just like before.

 

[hollys chooks]

I was having a problem with wild doves eating my girls feed. This solved the problem.

This is where I got info to build it - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/building-a-treadle-chicken-feeder

I haven't had problem with mice and rats so I don't know if it will deter them.

 

[nok13]

actually if u want to poison rats (ifu dont worry about wild predators eating poisoned rats, which i do because they would rather eat rats then chickens in a pen) u have to use pvc pipes, u put a piece of metal screen about half a meter inside to block off the end and tie a piece of red poison block *not sure of chemical name, but it is one of the few that are legal here* then u tie pvc pipe along one wall or ground level, put peanut butter in there... rats go counterclockwise if i recall (they prefer going in one dirction only agains walls, and they are very very smart, they learn there is poison, and they report back to their friends... anyone who has worked with rats can tell you this... so it is important that they always eat the poison and leave, to die somewhere else. the poison is not nice but doesnt kill large mammals if ingested in small amounts, we used it all the time in our aviaries and chicken houses...
the other method is to get some guys to shoot down lots the rats iwth slingshots (hubby from a thai village, is a pro. only the thais that work here wont eat these rats, in their villages they do eat field and water rats. they claim the rats here are city rats and are filled with poisons etc...)

i have a problem with pigeons in our faraway coop and yesterday hubby brought down quite a few using a very long pole and a lot of running around the coop chasing them.

 

[3forfree]

I like traps, lets you know that you're getting the critters, and what they are.

 

[amenfarm]

I was having a problem with wild doves eating my girls feed. This solved the problem.

This is where I got info to build it - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/building-a-treadle-chicken-feeder

I haven't had problem with mice and rats so I don't know if it will deter them.

that's what i was talking about--sure helps when you spell the name right.--there is an adjustment for the weight of full grown birds, most keep it fully open for a few days then adjust it after the chickens become used to it.--add a free feeder when you have chicks. I so want my DH to build me one.

 

[Owingsia]

I have 32 and we do not go through anything near that in a week. Now mine are free range during the day but still.... Something is eating their food. Our goats dont eat 50 pounds of feed a week. Have you looked under the coop or on the ground? Are they spilling it all over the ground?

 

[aggiemae]

I don't know how much oatmeal costs but a 40 pound bag of (organic) whole oats is about $8.00 (~20 cents per pound) at the feed store. If you ferment grain you can boost the % of protein to about 18%, not only that the hens will eat about 50% less once the grains are fermented. There are already many thread about fermenting grains here on BYC if you want to lean how to do it.

Just to opposite of you I never feed the hens inside the coop because it attracts vermin. We have all sorts of predators here including a cougar, they visit looking for chickens to eat but I don't think the feed attracts them though we are in the habit of bringing the feed and water inside overnight.

We have all manner of wildlife that we don't kill or trap since it seems that the vacuum we create is quickly filled sometimes be a more aggressive predator. . .and BTW I said that I NEVER feed in the coop. We remove it at night to avoid attracting rodents, but I do want to add that predators are attracted to feed the feed we uses because it is fish based and, like domestic cats and dogs, they would be attracted to feeds that contain ground bones as well.

 

[cutechick2010]

I have 5 hens, 2 roosters and 2 ducks. I have been going thru 50lbs of food in a week. I know I have a possum eating the food and stealing any eggs laid on the floor. Some days I don't find any eggs, just the broken shells on the floor. I have also seen my cats eating the chicken food, even though they have already been fed.
If you get cats, be sure to have them fixed! I ended up with 20 cats from 1 kitten I got 3 years ago. This summer I got lucky and found a few people to take a lot of them for barn cats. I now have 7 fixed cats and 1 hobo cat that hangs out occasionally.

Uck, I hate possums! You need to get rid of that critter, as long as there are plenty of eggs you *might* be safe, but if it gets hungry for some reason it WILL kill and eat your birds.

 

[JR79]

Srry for the very long delay on the response of what we found.OK so many of you are right about the mystery critter, we found pictures of many many mice from the game camera and they only come in there to steel my feed at night so I am now putting the feeder up at night and I am still going to get a few barn cats to help get rid of the mice, as I have put down poison and traps , Im getting dead rats in my feed room now and the traps are working as well. Another thanks to everyone who has responded to my thread , I rely apprecitate the feedback . And I am thinking about getting the feeder where the birds have to step on a pedal to open the feed box. Also I now have some new additions to my flock I bought a breeding pair of black batam cochins and a banam bard rock hen.

 

[countrygirl74]

Thanks for letting us all know what it was - that must be a lot of mice!