Strange Tunnels

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Just to see what I'm fighting. I see that the rats somehow removed the hardware cloth on the left-hand part of the screen. I'll fix that when I get home. Little buggers. That hopefully will keep them out of the run and therefore out of the coop for now. I am still working on a new coop/run.

That’s a big rat I hope you can get rid of all of them really soon.

 

[lazy gardener]

So 1/4 to 1/3 rd pound per bird per day translates into roughly 3/4 cup of dry feed per bird per day by volume. If you are a bit shy of that, say 1/3rd cup and 1/3rd cup (2/3rd cup), fed twice daily, they won't starve, but they will be eager to gobble up whatever you give them on the spot and in a hurry. Meaning they eat it all with no waste. Even more so if you sweeten the pot by wetting the feed with a little warm milk. One feeding in the morning, the second about 1/2 hour or so before they go to roost. Do that, and you will assure yourself of almost zero waste. Only two feedings means the birds will be starving when the dinner bell is rung vs. being allowed to nibble at it all day long.

The remaining feed being stored in metal container like a metal trash can with a lid. Rats can't chew their way into that.

Excellent advice. I ferment my bird's feed almost all the time, though I've been giving them some dry during the winter months b/c of the nasty cold weather with many days that don't even get UP to freezing temperature! But, wet feed is far less likely to be transported back to nest by rodents.

 

[Creteloc]

I have my bait trap built and the anticoagulant poisons come in today. I'm fighting a losing battle right now. I reinforced the chicken run last night with a 2nd layer of hardware cloth, so today I watched on security camera as 5 rats got into the run anyway and took over the chicken coop so the chickens won't go inside now. There's no chicken food in there but they eat chicken poop so they go in anyway.

I'm wondering about a temporary option.

So my coop is two resin sheds with a hole cut in the side so my two chickens can get into the run. What if I unhook the run and seal off the hole. Then I lock the chickens in the run while I'm at work.

I unhook the run (which the rats have taken over and dug tunnels beneath to eat chicken poop out of) and toss it off to the side. I put the bait trap where the run was, where the rats used to get their food.

Then I move the sheds to the deck, which can't be tunneled beneath. I could even wrap those suckers up in hardware cloth like a Christmas present, but where I can open the top up. The resin sheds have lifting tops.

I can let the chickens out to free range when I get home. It would only be for an hour or two before it gets dark, but it won't be forever. As soon as I have the new shed built and the new run (which won't be on the ground), things will calm down, God willing. By then, hopefully the poisons will have kicked in too.

Thoughts?

 

[Kessel23]

Our chickens were very skiddish and I saw digging against the hardware cloth that surrounded their run for a while. Last weekend I saw a tunnel that managed to go under the hardware cloth that we buried 2 feet out around the run! So I hurried and created a floor out of the hardware cloth. It's not permanent, I'm building an entirely new coop and run, so their hardware cloth floor is temporary.

Anyway, what do you make of this tunnel? I've seen shadows of a critter, but no one in my family has seen what it is. I have a live trap coming today, but it'd help catch it if I could figure out what it is. Nothing has attacked the chickens and no eggs are missing that we know of. Now though, nothing can get inside.

BTW, the spilled food in the tunnel was there long after the tunnel was made, so they aren't after the chicken food.

View attachment 1259935

Northern Utah Common Predators :

Skunk
Weasel
Mice
Rat
Vole
Raccoon
Fox
Mink
Hawk
Magpie
Dog
Cat
Fox
Coyote

It is either a mink or a rat.

 

[Howard E]

Looks to me like you are on the right path. As you have observed, they can survive on things you wouldn't think they would eat. But if they are down to eating droppings, then the bait blocks might look better to them than if they still had access to the chicken feed. The anti-coagulant baits build over time, so expect it to take about 3 to 5 days to notice any drop off in consumption of the blocks.......and about 8 to 10 days to put a serious dent in the herd. You will notice that as bait blocks being left untouched. That may be the end of it, but don't count on it. Leave them out even after it looks like the threat has been diminished.

Your experience is also one of the reasons the A#1 preferred floor for a chicken house or run has always been concrete. Rats can tunnel under it, but not through it. A rat proof coop placed on top of a cement floor/foundation will go a long way towards creating a fortress of protection to keep them at arm's length.

 

[Creteloc]

Howard E? How would you Rat proof this then? It's the new chicken run. Don't worry about the roof. That'll come later. It's 5x10x6'. I was going to double decker half of it, but I'm open to suggestions. I've never poured cement before.

 

[Lostchicken]

A good cat dosent care if it is a rat or vole. My Canadian Timber wolf dosent either he just kills them and then lines them up so I can see them. The cat is to small to harm my chickens but I don't trust the wolf alone with them.

 

[Creteloc]

My daughters are allergic to cats and northern Utah's too cold for an outdoor cat, otherwise I'd be all over that! Hmm, someone needs to loan me a cat.

 

[Howard E]

Pouring cement is easier than you might think, but you could also hire someone to do it for you. Craigslist comes to mind if you don't have someone you already know. For a 5 x 10 pen, I'd be tempted to pour a 4" thick slab of 7 x 12, leaving you a 1' margin all the way around. I calculate that to be about 1 yard of concrete. As cement loads go, pretty dinky. The average cement truck holds about 10 yards. You need only 1.

It is also about equal to 45 to 50 - 80 pound bags of quickcrete, which is not so dinky if you are mixing by hand. Start mixing and start dumping? So that size of a cement pad is awkward either way.

Or, for that size, you could also use landscape pavers. Say the 18" to 24" square plain jane versions. Also about 7' x 12'. Bed them in sand or light chat gravel.......put down one layer.....which is about 2 inches. If you think that will work, stop there. But also know that pavers mean cracks, and with cracks, feed can fall through and rats can be living in the safety of tunnels below the pavers (first clue is they start becoming uneven). So you could also consider a double layer of pavers, 2nd layer offset from the first so any cracks on the top level stop at the lower level. No feed now falling through the cracks.

But as to the dog pen.....what size wire is that? I should think no larger than 1" x 2" and 1" x 1" or smaller would be better. And what kind of gap is being created between the support posts and bottom horizontal bars? Should be absolutely flush. If not, perhaps a course of some type of bricks pilled up around the perimeter? The same for the gate? No gaps or openings larger than 1 " and 1/2" is better. And the top has to be every bit as tight. Rats can climb like ........well rats.

As for the coop, in general I'm not a big fan of metal siding and roofs, but for defeating rats, there is probably nothing better. Cement foundation with metal clad building on top......metal door and hardware cloth over all opening windows and vents.

Back to the question of cement floor in run and/or coop, if you would be doing the coop and run floors both at the same time, and both of cement, one partial load could easily be delivered in a truck to do both at the same time. A really easy job for guys who know their cement....and even for some who don't.

 

[Creteloc]

I thought I got the big one! He spent 3 hours one night running from the poison bar to the shed, back and forth and back and forth. Nope =/

Go to about 1:25 and watch the lower left corner. He's HUGE!