Something is killing chickens

[StefanThunder5]

First things first it is best not to use poison because if a animal like a hawk or vulture eats the dead or dying pest they could die. Glue traps are very bad because they sometimes catch other good animals like rodent eating snakes or toads. I recommend watching “mousetrap Monday”.

 

[Al Gerhart]

First get rid of the rats by getting a decent treadle feeder with a counterweight and a spring loaded door. Rats are also prey animals that attract larger predators like weasels and bird of prey. You are not going to fence out a rat. Getting rid of the feed will make them leave unless there is another feed source nearby. Even natural foods cause a rat to have to work hard to survive and they don't have the time to come back checking to see if the buffet is open again.

 

[cmom]

You can not stop an enemy when you do not know who the enemy is! Trail cam!

I was thinking, "Wonder if they are pushing the chicken door open and entering that way", when I read you thought the same thing.

I agree. I have game cameras up. If you get a picture then you will know what you're dealing with instead of guessing and then take the appropriate measures to eliminate the predator. Since it has made kills, it will be back.

 

[cmom]

Many people will not agree with me, but that is ok. I use poison for rat control. I had a coop that was infested and when I started renovating it after I moved the birds out, dozens of rats came out. They had nests in it. No more... The rats usually dig tunnels and will go into their tunnels to die. With all of the rats that came out, after I put the poison out I only found a couple of dead rats which I disposed of. I use rat bait boxes so only the rats can get to the bait. I can check the bait through the little window on top. Good luck...

 

[cmom]

As far as secondary poisoning from my research it is possible but very rare because of the amount a rat needs for it to kill the rats is less than what it would take for a predators that feed on the rat and most rats will go down in their tunnels to die. I keep the rat bait boxes in my barn and check the baits regular. When the baits are still there in the bait boxes I guess that means no rats. If the baits need replacing I replace them which is rare now and the baits are rarely touched. New rats may move in but don't last long once they discover the bait.

 

[Ingrid A]

Okay, so, I'm sure you actually get this thread a lot from first time posters. I'll apologize in advance for being repetitive I'm sure.

I had about 30 birds. 1000 sq/ft run ish, 5000 sq/ft secondary run attached (during growing season it is a garden, chickens are allowed in about half the year or at select times).

Completely sealed (or so I thought) coop with an automatic chicken door.

Chickens are happy healthy and making great eggs with bright orange yolks and being murdered.

First time I kept finding one dead chicken in the coop at night, considering it was locked I thought okay, it was probably fighting, maybe too crowded. So I added more roosts, and I went out and checked one night and they had plenty of room. Then I read about weasels, and I built weasel boxes, and put out some rat traps under the coop. I caught 1 rat with a trap under the coop. The killing stopped. I read that rats actually kill chickens. I would have never thought it, I had three roosters originally (one was one of the first victims), I thought the roosters would fight them off.

The weasel boxes never caught a thing, sometimes I'd find them tossed around the run like a coon wanted to get in them, always I'd find the bait gone and the trap sprung and no dead animal inside. But after I killed the one rat the killing stopped. I bought some supplies to fence in the coop more (the eaves were open up top, there were some small gaps, nothing big enough for a coon or opossum or something, but I didn't know about weasels and rats). But no more deaths and I sort of procrastinated. Two months pass, no deaths, and then now they've started again.

I've lost 5 chickens the last two days including my two remaining roosters, I'm down to like 9 birds. I've put sticky traps under the coop, got nothing. I've done weasel boxes again and again, got nothing. I've used a havahart trap with a jar of peanut butter in it and I wake up and the jar is gone but the trap isn't even sprung. I put out a rat bait station under the coop, I find it strewn across the run in the morning, no bait eaten. Three dead birds.

I tossed some rat poison in a sandwich baggie filled with peanut butter under the coop, I think it was eaten. I put some rat poison in a tupperware with peanut butter outside the run, that got eaten. I know you're not supposed to try to poison other things, but eff it, I'm tired of losing birds. We've also potentially lost 3 outdoor cats (they may have run off, not sure).

So here is the thing. I see coon poop, and tracks, and obviously they're tossing the weasel traps about and the rat bait station about but there is no way they got into the coop, no way, unless they did it before the door was closed at night. But the chickens are barely eaten, just the necks gnawed on. The metal feed container had its lid off several times, a five gallon bucket of feed was destroyed. I put a cement block on the metal container, and the next night I lost two birds, the next night I lost 3. I feel like the animal was pissed it couldn't get into the feed container, but what animal was it?

So after I lost the two I spent 6 hours outside reinforcing the coop, every last little gap and crack I sealed or covered with 1/2" hardware cloth. A small mouse could get in, maybe, but nothing larger, and yet, the next morning I had three dead birds. I looked all over outside, I see no way anything could have gotten in... unless again it was right before dusk. The door didn't close soon enough. I was out planting in the garden around 7:30 and heard some noise but I thought it was just chickens getting up on the roost, maybe it was a rodent? IDK.

How likely is it that it is a rat? How do I stop them? I'm putting all the rat poison out. All of it. I'm going to go out with a chair and a shotgun tonight. I'm going to build a cage for the feeder with a second automatic chicken door on it (not tonight, in the next week or so)...and I'm ordering more chicks because I'm going to need them if I lose any more. 30 was too many but I knew I'd have some losses, this has gotten out of control though.

The runs themselves are fenced in at 8' tall, not that it matters because things can climb. I am thinking about running a single electrified wire at the top. I never thought I would have to protect my chickens from things so much smaller than them. What if I used glue in the weasel box? What about a self resetting drowning rat trap? I'm thinking about pouring concrete under the coop to cut down on potential rodent habitat.

Trail cameras too, of course the memory card will get filled with chicken pictures. I'm very frustrated.

Is it normal that rats would be this aggressive, and if not what else could it be? The rat traps aren't catching things (though I know there is at least one rat because I saw it) and the only main animal sign is raccoons, but the chickens were not fully eaten and a raccoon definitely did not get inside the coop.

So tonight, more random pb poison, pb poison in the weasel boxes, pb poison under the coop, pb poison outside the run, livecatch trap set again (probably won't catch a damn thing again), and a man with a shotgun.

Use 1 cup plaster of Paris, 1 cup flour & 1 packet powdered soup, mix well & place out on trays at night once you have secured your hens in a safe coup.
Remove trays in the morning and save left over "mixture" for the next night. Continue to do this until you observe that NOTHING has been eaten from the "mixture" at nite...Usually takes about a week of doing this ..no more rats !!
Do this once a week thereafter ,
Once every 2 weeks &
Once a month to keep the rats away & their populations depleted...