Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

What kind of feeders do you have that they are rat-proof?

Here. Al is on BYC and has been helpful to many of us in setting up his feeders, training the chickens etc.
I won’t link him here but you can message him. He is Al Gerhart (that is his BYC user name and I believe also his real name).
https://ratproofchickenfeeder.com/Medium-Ratproof-Chicken-Feeder_p_1.html

 

[Shadrach]

Rat trap for overnight when the chickens are closed up? Or is he too smart for that?

It's a she. I know her. She's been there the past two years to my knowledge. She's a noticeably darker brown than her offspring or other rats I've seen here. These aren't one foot long river rats. These are small country rats, body length maybe six inches fully grown.
She moves from cover to cover and rarely makes a dash across open ground unlike most of the others.
Honestly, we could come to some arrangement; I could leave some food out for her if she like if she would just stop destroying the coop.
I'm not a kill every threat type of person and the rats feed the foxes and some birds. I've upset the balance by having chicken food available.

I would in other circumstances put snap traps down. The problem is, if the trap isn't sprung it's a risk to the chickens if in the run, and a risk to other creatures if it's not. I would need to be there every morning to check the traps before the chickens came out. It isn't a set it and problem over next day solution in my experience.
As BDutch points out below.

 

[Shadrach]

Is the fingernail paint designed to discourage people from biting their nails still available? might be worth a try? It certainly would be simple enough to paint onto any vulnerable plastic and maybe it works on rat taste buds too.

I brushed permethrin on the coop pop door last night and there were no new chew marks today on the door.
I don't know about the finger nail stuff; I've never bitten my nails.

 

[Shadrach]

Rats (in common with other mammals) avoid capsaicin (the substance that makes hot chili peppers hot). Chickens (in common with other birds) lack the pain receptors that make capsaicin unpleasant and therefore are fine with it in their environment and in their feed.
A common practice is to put hot pepper in bird feed to deter squirrels, and you can also add it into chicken feed to deter mice and rats.
Some believe that rodents are particularly sensitive to capsaicin versus other mammals, but I have not found a good source to support that.
What seems to be the case though is that the way they explore the world with their nose and their frequent grooming behavior means that it is very distressing for them to come across it or walk on it.
I think it is worth finding a bulk bag of cayenne pepper (the hottest that doesn’t fall in the category of super expensive specialty hot peppers), and scattering it on the ground in the area outside the chicken door. I think you have mentioned Asian markets in the area - that should be a good place to get a 2-3lb bag.
Capsaicin sprays are commercially available as pest deterrents and chili oil painted on the door would likely also work, but both would be more expensive than bulk buying cayenne powder.
Bitter apple (which I believe is the ingredient in the nail polish to deter nail biting) is also generally disliked by rodents but more variably (and I imagine more expensively). It too is available as a spray to deter pets from chewing on things.
Remember to wear gloves!
I didn’t do an extensive search for sources as the sensitivity and use as rodent deterrent is a long-known fact that has been supported by scientific research but not really a ‘hot’ (sorry) research topic, but here are a couple if anyone is interested.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867402006372
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12974352/

Tax: after a week of practicing, Mr. Chips seems to have mastered crowing.

After a rummage through the cupboards the best I could come up with today (I read your post this morning) was some piri piri stuff in a bottle. I don't eat it so I've brushed loads of that on the chew areas.
I've got chilli flakes and fresh chillies but no cayenne pepper.

 

[kattabelly]

Fair enough if you aren't desperate to kill her but I have multiple snap traps set up 24/7 inside the runs and chicken plot and they've never caught anything else but rats. They just need to be under or inside something, far enough to be out of reach of curious beaks on extendable chicken necks as well as not able to be stepped on, and whatever is hiding the trap needs to be heavy enough to stay put.

(Killing is really the only option with the amount of rats here but I do leave the bodies out to feed local wildlife)

 

[kattabelly]

Rat tax (this one is obviously Bertha's, all eyeliner and attitude)

 

[RoyalChick]

After a rummage through the cupboards the best I could come up with today (I read your post this morning) was some piri piri stuff in a bottle. I don't eat it so I've brushed loads of that on the chew areas.
I've got chilli flakes and fresh chillies but no cayenne pepper.

I think the reason cayenne pepper is so good is that as well as being super hot, it is also a fine powder. So if they sniff it some will fly up their nose. It will cling to whiskers and toes. Get in their eyes.
Miserable and a reason to move on elsewhere!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I think the reason cayenne pepper is so good is that as well as being super hot, it is also a fine powder. So if they sniff it some will fly up their nose. It will cling to whiskers and toes. Get in their eyes.
Miserable and a reason to move on elsewhere!

Have you been watching me while I cook?!

 

[Shadrach]

Three hours today. It stayed dry with sunny spells, 8C maximum, while I was at the field. The wind though was gusting at 30mph plus. Everyone did venture out for five minutes then a gust came, almost taking mow of her feet and everyone went back into the coop extension. Glais came out on and off but Mow and Sylph didn't come out again until twenty minutes before roosting time to eat some greens.

I had hoped to spend some time with Glais. We've done the on roost bar crop check bit and the more recently the finger touching beak bit. Next is taking him off the roost bar while he stands on my hand.
Thanks to the psycho rat I had to attend to further damage limitation. It seems the rat wasn't fond of the permethrin I brushed onto the pop door, so, it went round the back and made a start on the ventilation holes there.

This is the front damage. I'm going to have to cut all this out. Make a new mounting plate for the door controller and I'll need to do the same to the back. It doesn't seem interested in tackling the stainless steel mesh, it's harder than mild steel wire and harder than aluminium both of which a rat will chew through.

 

[Shadrach]

Fair enough if you aren't desperate to kill her but I have multiple snap traps set up 24/7 inside the runs and chicken plot and they've never caught anything else but rats. They just need to be under or inside something, far enough to be out of reach of curious beaks on extendable chicken necks as well as not able to be stepped on, and whatever is hiding the trap needs to be heavy enough to stay put.

(Killing is really the only option with the amount of rats here but I do leave the bodies out to feed local wildlife)

You're right unfortunately. It's got to go. I will probably end up setting snap trap enclosures.