So, what now?!

[RaisingGentlemen]

Bare with me here. When we first got our chicks they were very little obviously and we had them in the run (which at the time wasn't buried very deep and it wasn't my idea either to have baby chicks in the run)! Anyway, something dug under and attacked! We lost 3. One completely disappeared and the others were ripped apart and of course I found them! We put traps out and caught a pretty large rat.

We still have traps out, all around the run and coop and they get knocked over all the time. Now, 2 of the traps completely vanished!! Uhhhh, so what now?!

Has this happened to anyone else? They're (whatever they are) are stealing the traps?! I rarely let the chickens out (we added 3 more) because I'm terrified. We added a metal roof to the run and buried the appropriate wire deeper now, but still!! I don't want to let them out in the run unless I'm out there, at least until they're full grown. Am I crazy?!

 

[SueT]

Everything rat traps here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-better-rat-trap.1212757/
Good luck!

 

[llombardo]

What kind of wire? How far out is the wire?

 

[RaisingGentlemen]

We have the regular chicken wire and then hardware cloth around it and buried deeper now.

 

[pennyJo1960]

You should be pretty safe from most someone must have stole your traps
do you live close to others?

 

[RaisingGentlemen]

You should be pretty safe from most someone must have stole your traps
do you live close to others?

I don't actually. That's what's so weird about it.

 

[pennyJo1960]

think it might be time for a outside camera system

 

[llombardo]

We have the regular chicken wire and then hardware cloth around it and buried deeper now.

So did you have hardware cloth before?

 

[TwistedSteel]

Always secure your traps to something stationary or very heavy with cable, wire or such. As you have seen they can be dragged/carried away.

 

[RaisingGentlemen]

So did you have hardware cloth before?

We did not. So, should I relax and let them out more? I did see something running back and forth on the side the rat was caught and the side the hole was found the first time but I'll be honest, it looked like the huge squirrel we have in our yard. I was far away though so I didn't see the tail. It was gone by the time we ran out.