Predator safe floor ideas needed

[Ruralhideaway]

Oops crossing messages. I hate to leave the chicks dark for that long. Bigger pullets are roosted by 4:15 and still roosted at 7 lately. Long night.

 

[Sublight]

I tried everything. I tried traditional traps, bucket traps, poision etc. Nothing really works.
I then decided to make a spill proof feeder, and rat proof my coop. It worked like a champ.
OMG at the feed that I saved. Im not exaggerating, my feed consumption must have went down by 70%.
At one point after building the feeder, and getting it to work right, and rat proofing the coop.... I was convinced my chickens weren't eating out of the feeder and were going to starve to death. The difference was so big I didn't believe it for a long time.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Maybe I'll do wood over wire, might be quickest and least digging in single digit temps.

 

[Patinas]

I think pavers over wire would work great! Even though I have a concrete run floor, I still left 12" of wire mesh on the ground. I have a couple places I laid pavers over the wire mesh on the ground but eventually, I would like to lay a row of pavers all around the run to cover the wire and make sure nothing can get in!

 

[TexasSam]

Has anyone suggested guinea fowl they love to eat mice and rats. Put snap traps out in places the chickens can't get to. They don't have to be in the coop they can be 20 feet away and the rats will find it especially in warm places. Also peanut butter is the best bait

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I'm using peanut butter actually. Traps directly in the coop inside boxes. Only catching mice so fat

 

[ChickEngineer]

Have not had a rat problem in the coop. It is on pavers covered with sand. All the wire is 1/2 hardware cloth. We have rats, possums, raccoons and an occasional coyote, never had a problem in five years. See "Lil Red Chick Palace".

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Very cute build! My coop is ground level on a dirt floor. Rats seem quite inventive.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I caught a big beastly mama rat last night.
So excited I was inspired to dig up more floor to reinforce.

I WILL get these huge chicks out of that brooder within a week if it kills me!

 

[radar-jack]

Concrete would be a good floor as long as you pour a stemwall that's about 2 feet high. Local grass seed farmers do this to keep rats out of their seed. Put metal siding on the walls overlapping the concrete to prevent them from getting a "handhold" if they manage to climb the stemwall. But YOU still have to get in, and they will get in through the weakest link, which will likely be the door. But if you have metal siding on the walls and door and concrete everywhere else and put down a metal plate in front of the door so there isn't a big enough gap with exposed wood to gnaw through, you should be ok. I built my coop on 6x6 treated skids with the floor 2 ft. off the ground. Then I put down composite decking for flooring. The ramp I walk up is hinged and I hooked an old barbwire stretcher to the side to hoist it up and down. It seems to be harder for rodents to chew through the decking and it never rots. A flatnose shovel also slides over it very easily making cleaning the coop a fast job. I've had rats in the yard, but never in the coop with this setup. Also, I found by accident that if you leave a tall plastic bucket about 1/2 full of water with some way for rats to get to the edge, like a board laying over an edge, they will climb up to get the water and will fall in and drown. The water has to be deeper than the rat is long or they will jump out. I've found up to 3 dead in the same bucket! And make sure there are no piles of wood or pallets, etc. around that they can nest under. I've had a really hard time getting rats to take poison. One thing that works pretty well is a raw egg with strychnine in it. Or mix it with cat food (making sure the holes in the trap allow rats but NOT cats!) Get one of the feeders that chickens have to stand on to open (so rats and birds can't get in) and make sure all other sources of food are eliminated. It kills very fast - often the rats don't get more than 2 feet. But this poison is nasty stuff! You have to keep really tight control over it and keep it locked up. Try the buckets of water first. You might also get a rat-terrier. They LOVE to kill rats! It's what they are bred for. During rat season, I also carry a revolver loaded with snake shot. If you get close to a rat, it will put them down fast. Good luck.