Neighbor hates my chickens- will she do them harm?

[earlybird10842]

My sweet, cross beaked, chicken Sophie died today. I am going to miss her so much. She laid olive green eggs and she was almost 5 years old. The winters were very hard for her and it has been so cold. Her beak made it difficult for her to get enough food. The last few days I noticed that she was snuggling up with Janet. She never snuggled, she always wanted to be alone. Today at 5 when I locked up the chickens she was gone. I found her dead in the run with the same horrible damage to her neck as Chrissy. Rats!
My chickens are very upset. They are on edge and not making happy, content noises anymore. I hate seeing them scared. Since catching the big rat I have seen a single smaller one in the coop. No more nests since the tiny one I found. No more new holes. Finally tonight the small rat is hopefully history. DH removed the cabinet off the wall that I use to store chicken supplies. And there she was and away she went. She ran on the top beam next to the ceiling all the way around the coop. Then she vanished into the eave. So I went outside and finally found what I hope is the last entrance. It was between the window frame and the cinder block. I positioned the dogs outside the window just in case she jumped out. DH blocked the entrance from the eave into the coop with a big square of hardware cloth. Then he went outside and emptied 1/3 of a can of rat/mouse repellent expandable spray foam into the hole. 15 minutes later when he went to take out the trash he heard a loud noise coming from the coop. It was the sound of the rat throwing herself up against the hardware cloth trying to get back into the coop! The wet spray foam will stick like glue to her face if she tries to go out the way she came. I’m not sure what I’m going to find in the morning.
DH blocked up every crevice and crack we could find and entombed the one rat we saw. But then I started thinking. Why aren’t these things eating my chicken food? There are enough rats that they are bolding eating my poor dead Sophie in the middle of the day. Where are they living? And why when I fill my chicken’s water dish outside is all the water disappearing? They have a big heated dish inside so I didn’t really worry about it. I thought maybe it was the sparrows. But why am I finding sunflower seed shells all over the place when I’m not feeding any seeds? And why are the dogs dashing to the wood fence every morning when we go through the goat pasture? They seem to be hitting on something that is coming under the fence.
Then it hit me! The rats could be coming from Crazy Lady’s yard! She’s got a dozen birdfeeders over there. That’s the food source, not me! That’s why the rats are not chowing down all my chicken food. Sunflower seeds taste better. Her shed is right on the other side of the fence where the dogs are hitting. Those rats could all be living under that shed and coming over here to drink my chicken’s leftover outside water every night. Maybe the two rats I have seen were just branching out from the large colony and looking for a new home!
So here’s the plan. The chickens are staying in tomorrow. I’m going to fill their outside water and throw some cracked corn around. Then I’m going to set up the game cam so I can see if the rats are coming from our wood pile or from the direction of Crazy Lady’s house. Then if I can get any evidence of large amounts of rats coming from under her fence I’m calling the health department!

Ugh, how I hate it when rats move in. We've had problems with them in our woodshed (And consequentially, our chicken coop nearby) for years, and discovered live traps work better than the type that looks like a very large mousetrap--they can sometimes escape from those.

 

[lalaland]

live traps? for rats? love to hear more about those...

 

[CJreef]

My sweet, cross beaked, chicken Sophie died today. I am going to miss her so much. She laid olive green eggs and she was almost 5 years old. The winters were very hard for her and it has been so cold. Her beak made it difficult for her to get enough food. The last few days I noticed that she was snuggling up with Janet. She never snuggled, she always wanted to be alone. Today at 5 when I locked up the chickens she was gone. I found her dead in the run with the same horrible damage to her neck as Chrissy. Rats!
My chickens are very upset. They are on edge and not making happy, content noises anymore. I hate seeing them scared. Since catching the big rat I have seen a single smaller one in the coop. No more nests since the tiny one I found. No more new holes. Finally tonight the small rat is hopefully history. DH removed the cabinet off the wall that I use to store chicken supplies. And there she was and away she went. She ran on the top beam next to the ceiling all the way around the coop. Then she vanished into the eave. So I went outside and finally found what I hope is the last entrance. It was between the window frame and the cinder block. I positioned the dogs outside the window just in case she jumped out. DH blocked the entrance from the eave into the coop with a big square of hardware cloth. Then he went outside and emptied 1/3 of a can of rat/mouse repellent expandable spray foam into the hole. 15 minutes later when he went to take out the trash he heard a loud noise coming from the coop. It was the sound of the rat throwing herself up against the hardware cloth trying to get back into the coop! The wet spray foam will stick like glue to her face if she tries to go out the way she came. I’m not sure what I’m going to find in the morning.
DH blocked up every crevice and crack we could find and entombed the one rat we saw. But then I started thinking. Why aren’t these things eating my chicken food? There are enough rats that they are bolding eating my poor dead Sophie in the middle of the day. Where are they living? And why when I fill my chicken’s water dish outside is all the water disappearing? They have a big heated dish inside so I didn’t really worry about it. I thought maybe it was the sparrows. But why am I finding sunflower seed shells all over the place when I’m not feeding any seeds? And why are the dogs dashing to the wood fence every morning when we go through the goat pasture? They seem to be hitting on something that is coming under the fence.
Then it hit me! The rats could be coming from Crazy Lady’s yard! She’s got a dozen birdfeeders over there. That’s the food source, not me! That’s why the rats are not chowing down all my chicken food. Sunflower seeds taste better. Her shed is right on the other side of the fence where the dogs are hitting. Those rats could all be living under that shed and coming over here to drink my chicken’s leftover outside water every night. Maybe the two rats I have seen were just branching out from the large colony and looking for a new home!
So here’s the plan. The chickens are staying in tomorrow. I’m going to fill their outside water and throw some cracked corn around. Then I’m going to set up the game cam so I can see if the rats are coming from our wood pile or from the direction of Crazy Lady’s house. Then if I can get any evidence of large amounts of rats coming from under her fence I’m calling the health department!

Sorry for your loss. I recently lost one of my ducks to a predator, may be an owl, during the night or early morning. It was a horrible sight. Glad DH disposed of the left over and I didn't have to see it.

 

[SixChickFlock]

Last week I picked up a pair of traps from tractor Supply , for a buddy with squirrels in his attic...

The pair, a raccoon sized trap with a squirrel sized trap packed inside, cost just $25 on sale. The squirrels were captured and relocated within a few hours. I imagine the small trap could work for rats... I'm not a trapper.

I suppose rats could be dispatched rather than relocated. I've used CO2 to quickly dispatch mice who had fallen into a live bucket trap. A tasty poisoned bait might work...Keep them from dying elsewhere and becoming part of the neighborhood food chain.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Bummer! All that my game cam took pictures of today were some cute little Juncos! The chickens were locked up their coop. I gave them extra food and some corn chips. They love corn chips. And a tomato. DH wasn't happy about the tomato. Friday is taco night. Tomato-less tacos are still good right? I felt the chickens needed that tomato more than we did. This morning several of them were peering nervously up at the corner where the rat was locked up. I heard some rattling in that corner early in the day. Interesting was that the rat/mouse repellent spray foam has not been touched anywhere inside or out! I had my doubts that it would work but even the puppy rejected it. She sniffed a glob that had fallen to the ground outside and didn't touch it! My puppy tries to eat everything (including regular spray foam if she can get any) but she would not eat the new stinky foam! So maybe the rats won't eat it either!

It's going to snow tomorrow! So finally, since this whole rat thing started, there will be little rat tracks in the snow which should tell me just what they are doing outside The plan is for DH to hardware cloth the rest of the eaves and then take down the little shelf behind the roost. That's the one place left that a rat could hide under. Then hopefully they are 100% shut out of the coop! It only took 7 cans of spray foam.

My coop is about 12' x 15'..plenty of room for 28 chickens. Plenty of windows and light. They are staying in for now. The rats need to move on. There is nothing for them to eat outside my coop anymore except bird seed on the other side of the fence! I want Crazy Lady to come outside to fill her birdfeeders and have a line of rats sitting there stomping their little feet because she's not feeding them fast enough.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Holy Rat! We've entombed the entire colony! I went to check on the chickens and heard loud chewing up in the corner so I thought our one little rat was still stuck in there. But whatever was chewing was chewing with so much strength that the gutter was vibrating. Then when DH took a look 15 minutes later he saw three BIG rats looking through the hardware cloth into the coop. He said there were more behind the three that were looking at him. By the time he came and got me they had disappeared back into their lair. It's been 24 hours and they apparently can't get out! No water was gone outside today at all. Maybe because all the rats are entombed in the coop? They are living in the overhang between the reddish brown facial board and the cement wall. The tunnel DH filled with the rat repellent spray foam was just to the right of the window. Puppy Mimi was jumping up on the side of the building trying to get at them! It was so noisy. There is a 2 inch thick board that separates the overhang space from the interior of the coop. And it's flush with the roof and non-chewable EXCEPT for the spot they chewed to get in that is in the eave area. That little spot is where the rat poked her head out to look at me last night! It's probably a toasty little spot. A great place to be a rat especially with the big tunnel they had that went to the outside! This is horrible and wonderful all at the same time. Oh please don't let them get out!

 

[aart]

Oh yeegawds!!!

What is this 'rat repellent spray foam'...does it have poison in it or just a repellent?
Be careful, chooks love to peck and eat foam.

P.S. No tacos are not as good without tomatoes, sorry.

 

[WthrLady]

That expanding foam in a can company has about 6 types: large spaces, door and windows, normal, fireproof, and pest repel. No idea what's in it, but it works.

Sprayed high enough, or deep enough, chickens can't get to it.

Dh uses it where we run cables through conduit so we don't have free loaders.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Usually Saturday AM I would be doing something related to cleaning up after an animal. However, today I am in bed with my leg elevated above my heart. I took a good spill in the woods as I walked over the ice with snow on top. Upon landing I unfortunately smashed my shin on a rock. Now I have a swelling some where in between a golf ball and a baseball on my calf. One of those injuries where you can feel it swelling bigger and bigger because your boot is getting tighter and tighter. Hurry up and get back to the house! Man. What a way to ruin a good Saturday! But if I don't just lay here with ice on my leg I will pay for it later.

The rats are still entombed as far as I can tell. When I fed this morning one chicken got spooked, made a weird noise and looked at the rat corner and then all the chickens looked at the rat corner for about 20 seconds. It seemed like an eternity. Then they went back to eating. Those rats have got to still be in there! I did the flock block test this AM. I put a small one down with the chickens. Last week I put the same size one down and it was gone in 2 days. And when it was tiny the rats dragged it across the floor and tried to pull it out the hole in the corner of the coop but it was still too big.

The spray foam is not poisonous. The brand DH used is called "Great Stuff". The type is "PESTBLOCK". The can says, "No pesticides, contains bitter ingredient." It does not expand as much when it's really cold but if you use 7 cans it doesn't matter! My chickens really have never bothered with the spray foam. This is such as old farm that there are little pieces of ancient garbage, glass and metal everywhere. I have picked a great deal of it up, but I can't get everything. Especially after a good rain there is always new debris to pick up. I was very concerned that the chickens would get a hold of some farm debris and hurt themselves. But I have not seen a chicken running around with a shingle or a broken bottle yet! They seem to have a "that's not food" instinct that is much better than my puppy's.

No tracks in the snow this AM. No water gone from the outside water bowl! Game cam did get set off once in the night. DH says it looks like a mouse to him. Here's Lyla waiting to be let in the coop this AM so she can try to steal the eggs from the bottom nest boxes! Puts the scene in size perspective for the mouse pictures. I need to fix the time on the camera...haven't quite figured that out yet! The mouse is next to the tree. He moves!

 

[WthrLady]

Great Stuff.. ya that's it.

Sorry you have a bumpy boo boo.

But i am laughing heartily at the image of chickens running arou d with broken bottles a la west side story.

They going to rumble with the rats?

Maria!