Official BYC Poll: How Do You Keep Rodents Away From Your Coop?

[birdnotbint]

We have a rat pack visit to our allotments scheduled for Sunday morning. They only use dogs but smoke out rats when they find a nest. I know my ladies will be safe as I have no nest sites or signs of , around my enclosure but I’m wondering what effect the smoke bombs may have on any birds as there are chicken,geese and ducks on site. Does anyone have any knowledge of the uses and any side effects of the smoke bombs used by rat packs?

 

[culturalinfidel]

We have various traps in and around our coop/run. I am adding one of the bucket water traps tonight. Sometimes I like to go out to our coop pretending I'm Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits... and try to pick off the rodents when I see them. Got my first confirmed kill a few days ago.

 

[froggyphore]

the only rodents i get are chipmunks stealing scratch when the coop door is open lol. i’m hyper paranoid about predators so i made sure everything is 100% sealed, the only holes are 1/2” hardware cloth. i’m honestly pretty lucky that i haven’t had mice, i leave feed and eggs on the coop floor all the time haha

 

[0die]

I used to have to put lots of traps out. Then I got a second cat who likes to roam outside near the coop a lot. The rats just disappeared so I quit messing with traps.

 

[1Bigloop]

I giggled at the dog roaming near the coop.
We have a border collie female that claims the flock as hers. She and my lab got i to big trouble 7 years ago when I first got chickens. They killed 3 of them and I beat them with the dead birds
Until the day my sweet lab passed she wouldn't come within 20 feet of the coop without an ok. But Riata went to the opposite end and would sit all day, hours on end outside the coop. She has managed to get herself locked inside and doesn't hurt anything. She just sits in there with them.
We had 1 that hatched chicks 2 months ago and the chicks think Riata is just the norm. Where most people try to keep their dogs away the dang chicks run to her as base when I try to put them in.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

My dogs do a good job of catching the odd woods rat that gets too close to the farmyard. The dogs have also wiped out the local muskrats.

Concerning mice, I have snakes out the wazoo. Not that I recommend purposely keeping snakes around. A water moccasin wiped out a clutch of bitties yesterday.

 

[SueT]

We eats em!

 

[clickncluck]

I have rat traps, I seal cracks and holes, and I have rat proof feeders.

What kind of feeders do you use? Picture please

 

[Miss mooshka]

I lock them up at night. With predator proof locks and use hardware cloth under runs and coops

 

[sera phine]

I have hav-a-heart traps and I kinda hold my own. I bring the critters down to a sewer drainage area that goes directly to the LA River, by a golf course... after I set them free, they are on their own to become fodder for the winged ones.