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Hello fellow Oregonians! I'm in Amity, Oregon here in the Willamette Valley. We are working on our coop and are wanting to know what predator issues anyone local to us may have experienced. We don't have snakes. Curious if you put blockades under sides of coops. Do we have those type of predators? Thanks in advance!
 
Hello and welcome! I live across the river from you a few miles, so we pretty much have the same varmint problem. In a nutshell, the 4 legged kind include Raccoons, Opossums, coyotes, dogs, and assorted others. For all of those you need 1/2" hardware cloth on windows, vents and at least around the bottom of the runs. The other option around the run is to run an electric fence. Lots of good threads on here to peruse for ideas on that. One I liked in particular was the Omak Coop by Dave Omac, go to post 49 on page 5 for his how to. Sorry, I can't cut and paste at the moment, will come back later and add. Here it is. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/915975/electrifying-my-coop-with-an-electric-fencer-how-i-did-it
For Hawks and eagles you can give them lots of shelters nearby to get under quickly, or use wire overhead, again, lots of different methods here to research and see what works for you. Owls are another potential problem, but if you have a secure coop they go into before dark they should be safe. Good luck and have fun.
 
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Chipper Chicken said:
Hello and welcome! I live across the river from you a few miles, so we pretty much have the same varmint problem. In a nutshell, the 4 legged kind include Raccoons, Opossums, coyotes, dogs, and assorted others. For all of those you need 1/2" hardware cloth on windows, vents and at least around the bottom of the runs. The other option around the run is to run an electric fence. Lots of good threads on here to peruse for ideas on that. One I liked in particular was the Omak Coop by Dave Omac, go to post 49 on page 5 for his how to. Sorry, I can't cut and paste at the moment, will come back later and add. Here it is. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/915975/electrifying-my-coop-with-an-electric-fencer-how-i-did-it
For Hawks and eagles you can give them lots of shelters nearby to get under quickly, or use wire overhead, again, lots of different methods here to research and see what works for you. Owls are another potential problem, but if you have a secure coop they go into before dark they should be safe. Good luck and have fun.
Click to expand...


Thanks!!
 
I am trying to find a humane way to kill off the rat population in my yard. I currently have 10 hens, 1 rooster, 2 almost 6 week chicks and 16 7 week old chicks and one of my hens is broody on a clutch of 16. I generally do not feed them inside the coop. But I just moved my broody last night from her not so stellar nest location into the coop. I placed a small container of food in there for her and about an hour later my 6 year old said there were a ton of rats in the coop. As a rule I do not leave food out for my chickens. But they spill it on the ground and the rats are great scavengers. My neighbor has ducks, bunnies and goats and there is a constant stream of food left out for them. I do not want the rat to suffer but I have to start killing them. I saw a slew of babies today. My neighbor is of the non killing kind. She traps and relocates...clearly that is not working.
I do not want to find the rats have eaten the baby chicks due to hatch in 10-12 days. Any ideas are welcome. Thank you.
 
Here's two...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/543648/mouse-water-trap

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/183374/no-more-rats-whee-hee


Maybe not the most Humane from the neighbors standpoint, but you'll have to decide for yourself your tolerance to the method used or the destruction caused by the predators.

I'm so sorry you have such a troublesome neighbor. It's hard enough dealing with "our own" varmints , but having a non stop stream from the place next door must be a nightmare. Hope you can prevent any losses.
 
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I bought plaster of paris and peanut butter today. I will be setting out balls tonight.and hopefully they will eat them and expire. This seems to work for some and not others. Crossing my fingers! If this fails I will resort to the sunflower seed and water bucket. I have enlisted someone else to check and empty the buckets.
I have noticed a new cat in the field on the other side of me. Ever hopeful this kitty will help eliminate the varmints. Although most of the time when he is in my yard he seems to be stalking my 6 week old chicks.

I actually get along well with my neighbor. We just do not see eye to eye on the varmints. She feels ever critter has a right to live. And with the warm winter we had we have an enormous number of rats! She has 5 cats and none of them go after the rats. 1 of her cats loves to catch squirrels.
 
sktlmt said:
I bought plaster of paris and peanut butter today. I will be setting out balls tonight.and hopefully they will eat them and expire. This seems to work for some and not others. Crossing my fingers! If this fails I will resort to the sunflower seed and water bucket. I have enlisted someone else to check and empty the buckets.
I have noticed a new cat in the field on the other side of me. Ever hopeful this kitty will help eliminate the varmints. Although most of the time when he is in my yard he seems to be stalking my 6 week old chicks.

I actually get along well with my neighbor. We just do not see eye to eye on the varmints. She feels ever critter has a right to live. And with the warm winter we had we have an enormous number of rats! She has 5 cats and none of them go after the rats. 1 of her cats loves to catch squirrels.
Click to expand...

We are having a few more rats this year. My young cats are almost 4 so I guess they are slacking a bit. I may try the peanut butter ball idea... let us know if it works for you! I made a rodent proof feeder which I like a lot but I have some broody apartments in my shed next to my main coop that are throwing out quite a bit of food and feeding the rodents.

This is the feeder... the chickens peck at the trigger to feed themselves, it is really adorable : )

 
darkbluespace said:
We are having a few more rats this year. My young cats are almost 4 so I guess they are slacking a bit. I may try the peanut butter ball idea... let us know if it works for you! I made a rodent proof feeder which I like a lot but I have some broody apartments in my shed next to my main coop that are throwing out quite a bit of food and feeding the rodents.

This is the feeder... the chickens peck at the trigger to feed themselves, it is really adorable : )

Click to expand...

Interesting feeder. My Alpacas would be in LOVE with that! They are my biggest scavengers! A couple of them like the chicken feed more then their own feed. And if I am not standing there will push the chickens out of the way and clean the plate in a second.
I was unable to make the PB balls tonight. 2 of my 7 week chicks disappeared...They were loose in the yard and when I went to collect them 2 of the roos were not there. I am guessing they found a spot to sleep for the night. I am hoping they show up for breakfast. I do not want to leave the balls out if any of the chicks are loose.
Tonight my neighbor who does not kill anything said tonight she was thinking of calling an exterminator to get rid of some of the rats...OMG!!!
 

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