Renovation, integration, rats and DRAMA!

kimntep

Songster
9 Years
Dec 30, 2010
423
5
113
Ocala, Florida
Hubs cut a big pop door out of the babies' side of the coop yesterday for more access and ventilation and installed their new roost in the covered part of the yard. They are 15 weeks, and all big for their age, so we thought it was time to give them access to the coop and introduce them to the ladies. They have been free ranging together for about 2 weeks and doing great, plus the babies were outgrowing the roost bar in their hutch..so it was time for a little remodel action. It took about 15 minutes for all of them to figure out how to get up to the roost last night..we installed the hutch roost bar on the outside of the hutch as a boost, then all but two hopped onto the top of the hutch and onto the new roost. The two bold ones decided to roost with the ladies inside the coop! I can only assume that they stayed there and did alright overnight as it was getting pretty dark and everyone had quieted down when hubs and I headed back inside.

So I go out this morning cuz I can see the two largest WLs in what used to be the babies' yard, chasing everyone around and acting like bi@ches! Most of the babies are on top of the hutch staying out of the big girls' way and the others are being chased and pecked, but seem to be holding their own for the most part. The big girls have eaten most of the littles' crumbles, so I run them back to their side..

THEN I notice the big, dead rat in the corner. EEEEEK! The chickens didn't like it either! At least it was the third dead one so far!! I hope that's all the drama for today!
 
eek! I hate rats. They are so nasty. Our cat brought a small one home a few weeks ago. We do have them though, because we feed cattle and hogs and have an entire room of feed. Luckily a stray cat lives in there too. Glad to hear chickens will kill them too.
 
They didn't kill it..I've been battling rats for a couple of weeks and resorted to the Motomco pellets. It took a few days to start working on them, but three days ago we found our first dead rat and we've found one every day since! Our cat is too old to care, so I gave up on him being any help at all. I have considered getting another to be strictly an outside cat, but hubs is totally against any other animals.
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Yours sounds like mine. We have 1 cat, 1 dog, and 2 rabbits. I want more cats but he says no. All of our pets are outside. I'm never upset when a stray cat shows up as long as it doesn't come up to the house (or else our anti social cat will run it off). My kids really want another dog but he insists 2 dogs get into a lot of trouble together. And our dog gets into enough on her own.
 

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