So winter is well and truly here. My run expansion has to be on hold for now while my war on rats heats up!
I have 15 9 week chicks who are getting locked in the brooder at night and need to not be, they are getting too big. Some might roost but some won't yet I'm sure, and I don't think they would be safe piling on the floor with rats getting in there.
They were definitely digging in under the built in brooder floor so I tore it apart and dug wayyyy down and installed galvanized lathe. That held.
Then they dug under a horse stall and ate through some old slightly rotted wood. So I dug up the entire 20+ foot wall adjoining the barn and installed more galvanized lathe. That held too.
They found their way through a few broken welds in hardware cloth under one exterior wall. So I retrenched and installed galvanized lathe. That held.
They dug out some old loose concrete in the 3 inches next to the fresh concrete collar patch that was poured this summer. Patched with wood. They ate the corner of the wood.
And the kicker? They somehow have made a hole in the concrete sidewalk in front of the coop. Now everything is frozen solid here so maybe just maybe there's a crack or seam there I can't see under the ice. But seriously now.
I haven't patched the last two, seems futile. I devised a way to keep snap traps safely in the coop with the birds. Box within a box, offset entrance holes etc. All I'm getting is mouse-sicles in the mornings. Considering poison but very reluctant despite previous conversations about it's safety. They laugh at my live traps, ate doughnuts out of them all last week without triggering them.
Sooo, I wish I could pour concrete but that's out for a few months. I'm considering either
A. Dig up the dirt floor, lay HC or lathe run up the inside walls a bit, cover with a layer of gravel then the dirt.
B. Install pavers squeezed in seamlessly tight and anchored to the walls with construction cement. Nothings square here so this might be tricky.
Anyone have an opinion of which could get those chicks out of he brooder soonest? While I try to figure out how to kill them. They are making weasel sized holes. I've caught a mink in my barn on a hens back years ago, have to fix this asap and I'm getting real tired of digging trenches!
I have 15 9 week chicks who are getting locked in the brooder at night and need to not be, they are getting too big. Some might roost but some won't yet I'm sure, and I don't think they would be safe piling on the floor with rats getting in there.
They were definitely digging in under the built in brooder floor so I tore it apart and dug wayyyy down and installed galvanized lathe. That held.
Then they dug under a horse stall and ate through some old slightly rotted wood. So I dug up the entire 20+ foot wall adjoining the barn and installed more galvanized lathe. That held too.
They found their way through a few broken welds in hardware cloth under one exterior wall. So I retrenched and installed galvanized lathe. That held.
They dug out some old loose concrete in the 3 inches next to the fresh concrete collar patch that was poured this summer. Patched with wood. They ate the corner of the wood.
And the kicker? They somehow have made a hole in the concrete sidewalk in front of the coop. Now everything is frozen solid here so maybe just maybe there's a crack or seam there I can't see under the ice. But seriously now.
I haven't patched the last two, seems futile. I devised a way to keep snap traps safely in the coop with the birds. Box within a box, offset entrance holes etc. All I'm getting is mouse-sicles in the mornings. Considering poison but very reluctant despite previous conversations about it's safety. They laugh at my live traps, ate doughnuts out of them all last week without triggering them.
Sooo, I wish I could pour concrete but that's out for a few months. I'm considering either
A. Dig up the dirt floor, lay HC or lathe run up the inside walls a bit, cover with a layer of gravel then the dirt.
B. Install pavers squeezed in seamlessly tight and anchored to the walls with construction cement. Nothings square here so this might be tricky.
Anyone have an opinion of which could get those chicks out of he brooder soonest? While I try to figure out how to kill them. They are making weasel sized holes. I've caught a mink in my barn on a hens back years ago, have to fix this asap and I'm getting real tired of digging trenches!