Chickenmama_
In the Brooder
- Apr 10, 2025
- 23
- 9
- 21
First time chicken mom here- I’ve had my chickens since last spring. I started with 6 and recently have 4. One of my hens passed to due egg yolk peritonitis and the other one was an unexpected death. She was fine one night then the next morning she was acting off and died within hours. I’m starting to wonder if it possibly has something to do with the rodents.
We are experiencing a major issue with rats & mice. They are tunneling into the run of our coop. They also seem to be going underneath the coop as it is slightly off the ground. I don’t know how to get rid of them. We have tried the jaw like traps as well as the cornbread and baking soda mixture.
A lot of times my boyfriend sits out there with a pellet gun and tries shooting them when they come out of their holes. We have gotten probably 6-7 in total. I have seen many more with my eyes.
The rats are huge. We take the food out of the run at night and lock it up in our garage. I try to make sure we pick up what food is on the ground as well.
Sometimes at night we can even see the rats running in our back yard and we have even seen one go into a hole in our retaining wall on the side of our house. We have an old house and it was pretty poorly built. In our basement we have a “dirt room” due to the way the house was constructed. We have dug out all the dirt we can due to foundational issues and plan to finish it with concrete but it is not in the cards at the moment. Unfortunately this room kind of butts up to that retaining wall outside and I’m worried the rats may dig into the house.
I really need to get rid of the rats. I am worried for my chickens and them possibly getting into my house or garage. I don’t feel comfortable using poison and I really don’t know what to do.
I included a couple photos of my coop set up. We have pulled up some of the tarps under white rock and can see some of the tunnels. I don’t know how far/ exactly where they go. I can attach more photos of that tomorrow.
Sorry for such a long thread but- What can I do?
Edit: they have atleast 4-5 tunnels in the run and we have also seen them go underneath the coop. The coop is constructed well and no signs of anything in the coop itself.
We are experiencing a major issue with rats & mice. They are tunneling into the run of our coop. They also seem to be going underneath the coop as it is slightly off the ground. I don’t know how to get rid of them. We have tried the jaw like traps as well as the cornbread and baking soda mixture.
A lot of times my boyfriend sits out there with a pellet gun and tries shooting them when they come out of their holes. We have gotten probably 6-7 in total. I have seen many more with my eyes.
The rats are huge. We take the food out of the run at night and lock it up in our garage. I try to make sure we pick up what food is on the ground as well.
Sometimes at night we can even see the rats running in our back yard and we have even seen one go into a hole in our retaining wall on the side of our house. We have an old house and it was pretty poorly built. In our basement we have a “dirt room” due to the way the house was constructed. We have dug out all the dirt we can due to foundational issues and plan to finish it with concrete but it is not in the cards at the moment. Unfortunately this room kind of butts up to that retaining wall outside and I’m worried the rats may dig into the house.
I really need to get rid of the rats. I am worried for my chickens and them possibly getting into my house or garage. I don’t feel comfortable using poison and I really don’t know what to do.
I included a couple photos of my coop set up. We have pulled up some of the tarps under white rock and can see some of the tunnels. I don’t know how far/ exactly where they go. I can attach more photos of that tomorrow.
Sorry for such a long thread but- What can I do?
Edit: they have atleast 4-5 tunnels in the run and we have also seen them go underneath the coop. The coop is constructed well and no signs of anything in the coop itself.
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